What about the "IF's"

I have written about our expectations in the past. This weekend I was at Damien and Renee's for a birthday party. One of my favorite parts of staying with them is how we never seem to escape to the moment without falling into a conversation that calls our comfort into question. We talked about community, we talked about our dreams, and we talked about how it is our own short comings that impede our ability to get to the "better" that God often has in store for us.

We acknowledged that our selfishness, our expectations for how we live or where we live, and our inability to give them up prevent us from community. We spent some time considering our "if's".

I will follow you God, "if". I will obey you God, "if".

"If" this happens then I will go and do for God.

We also recognized the need to be willing above all else to sacrifice our "ifs", our expectations, and our selfishness. We are not always asked to give them up, but we are required to be willing to give them up in order to be obedient.

Marriage, of course is a sacred relationship, unique from all others, but community is in many ways similar to marriage, and brother/sisterhood and friendship are in many ways like community. Perhaps we would all benefit by approaching all of our relationships as we *should* approach marriage. We bring to the relationship who we are, and celebrate what the other brings to the relationship, and we both accept that we must and will change. Divorce and division are representative of the ultimate sin – selfishness. In the fellowship of believers we have to resolve to change our thinking . . . the Bible says something about "renewing our minds". . . . we have to resolve to stick it through for better or worse, through thick and thin, till through death are we again brought together.

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Reconciliation.tougas.net
Saturdaynightwalk.blogspot.com

In the dead of winter. . .

. . . it is warm and comforting to know that there is new life budding up in the family. We are T-minus two weeks and counting before we welcome the Hogan's join us here in the arctic circle, we are going to be spending the weekend with the Lewiston/Auburn fellowship, and plans are in the works to meet with our friends at Bellvale. Also Jerry shared with us last week that there is a fellowship in Biddeford that he has been in communication with.

The snow deepens by the foot at our house. Already, though, we are looking forward to the spring and the planting season and the time of sharing.

All of these signs of life have reminded me how blurred my vision has been and how distracted I have become in the past several months. I am renewed and excited for what God might bring to New England and specifically Maine. I am prayerfully optimistic for the kingdom to grow and flourish and for a community of believers to come together to be truly set apart from a society that is crumbling.

I look forward even more to the day when Jesus returns.

The bride and Spirit say, "Come!"

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Reconciliation.tougas.net
Saturdaynightwalk.blogspot.com