at church today. Sittin’ here watching SRV live at the El Mocambo, checking the latest models on Dean, reflecting on the day. Like I said, it was a wonderful day.
Started off with a great class. JM is back and we had fun, even if BIL mocks my rhythm! After a couple of quick songs, I did something different for our group, played a music video. It’s by Casting Crowns and worked in well with our lesson plan. Taking those first steps back to Christ are the hardest and oftentimes we, as Christians, make them harder, much harder than they need to be.
I’ve had a real tough time with this series of lessons as far as getting an outline and coherent thought process going. I feel more like I’m preaching because I’m not guiding the discussions very well. Perhaps the material is just too close to home, I’m not sure but I have struggled with it. Could be the other Bible study that I’m doing is taking away a lot of my focus too.
Anyways, the discussion/preaching session went pretty good. The guys did talk and did raise some interesting points. I was really happy to see CH join in the discussion. It was almost as if a light bulb went off in his head when I read 1 Corinthians 7:9-10.
9 Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.
10 Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.
You could hear in his voice that he knew exactly what the life of regrets is about, that deathbed that he’s been living in. It’s so, so hard to forgive yourself for what you’ve done, especially when it involves tearing your family apart. He’s making such strides on the road home. It’s nice just to see him smile, even if it is fleeting.
In church, I felt like I had an extra kick in my step while singing. It gets like that some days, I just zone out and worship by myself, even if I’m on stage with a mic. It’s a wonderful, joyful, uplifting thing to worship with the body.
The pastor’s message was once again full of passion. It’s almost as if he’s reliving his youth but with the wisdom that comes from 40 years of being a pastor.
Tonight was a time of joy and fellowship. I spent most of my time talking to people, meeting people, allowing the body of Christ to revive and renew me. RS kicked the heck out of a song he did, very uplifting.
Looking forward to the week, a fresh start, a renewed mind, opportunities abounding.
I hadn’t ever really thought about it but I suppose that’s true. Thinking back through the distressed times of my life – which are thankfully few – I can see where I’ve reacted in both ways; sometimes driven to God, sometimes away from God. I’ll have to give that some more thought.
I think that if we are honest, we’d all have to say that we’ve been driven both ways. The key is that we recognize that we’ve stumbled down the wrong path and turn around. And that we study and learn so that we do not repeat the mistake.