bags of mulch around on Saturday. The rain let up long enough for us to spread 40 bags into a couple of beds. After that, it was pretty much a given that we were headed to the remote kitchen, not only for food but for medicine, IYKWIM.
Class and church as a whole were great yesterday. BIL made it again and fingerpicked In His Time, just a wonderful song for prayer and peace. Class was back to the normal summer size and the discussion was quite lively.
We talked about the ministry of reconciliation that Paul outlines in 2 Cor 5:18-6:2. As in all of us believers should be pointing others to Christ. I tell you what, studies like this will make you think about the things you are doing on a daily basis and how they reflect upon Christ. Very good discussion.
One of the things we talked about was how Christ himself never coerced anyone, browbeat anyone or begged them to reconcile themselves to God. He said what he had to say and then let people decide for themselves. And he never, ever made it easy, which is what so many of us (and our churches) do today in the name of felt needs or marketing to the crowd.
Last night after church, I went and had coffee with one of the guys in the class. Very nice conversation, he’s dealing with an awful lot of issues and getting better every day. It can be a long struggle to overcome some of the baggage that we end up with over time. One of the issues he is struggling with is sex. The church teaches no sex outside of marriage – he is a very healthy male that likes to date. Just one of the dilemma’s faced by a Christian.
Told him I’d be praying for him. 🙂
american woman says
July 9, 2007 at 7:27 pmMy friend Esther decided to get her life together about 23 years ago. She started going to alanon…….. realizing she came from an alcoholic background and had married one. With strength she divorced. She was catholic and wanted to know more about the bible….. so Esther founda bible study class and joined. She also told me she made a list of the qualities she wanted in a man, and she would settle for nothing else. As she read me the list, I was thinking ” oh brother, this will never happen! You will never find a guy with all these wonderful qualities” YES she did, and guess where , Bible study class. He had been married before also. the next stunning thing she told me was ” We are going to wait until we are married to have sex”. I thought omg you need to try it on before you buy it…….. and said that much to her. She said the bible says wait, and we have both failed at marriage once. We are waiting…….. and they did……. These years later they are still happily married. They were strong and dedicated Christians. Esther has taught me a lot.