The Church in Action

Written by cycleguy on July 11th, 2008

I leave today for Louisville, KY to perform the wedding for our oldest niece. All the posts from today through Sunday have been posted ahead of time so as to keep something new on my blog. I have no clue if I will be able to get to a computer or not so if I don’t respond please don’t be too upset, break your computer, go into a weekend long withdrawal or depression. However, I would appreciate it if you would say a prayer for my bride and me as we travel and for our two daughters & family as they make their way to Louisville. Thanks ahead of time. I will see you bright and early Monday morning if not sooner. And please try not to miss me too much! 🙂

Mike Yaconelli wrote a book called Messy Spirituality, which I highly recommend. (See my list). He takes everyday people from his church and shows how they don’t fit the “profile” of most church people and probably don’t fit the “good Christian profile” that most pastors expect their people to be. I loved it! As I grew as a pastor I realized that the one effort in futility I was doing was trying to fit people into a mold (read: my mold) of what a “real Christian” was like. Shoot, I couldn’t even fit that shoe but I sure was trying to get others into it. And the older I get and the more God works on me the more I realize there probably never was a shoe to try to fit people into. (There has got to be something there about a shoe box also). But I have also come to the firm conviction that no man or woman can or was meant to stand alone. It doesn’t matter how “messy” your life was or is, you were not meant to go it alone. I know there are some people who claim to be loners. They want people to leave them alone (or so they say). But there comes a time when we have to admit that we all need someone. That also means that those of us who call ourselves Christ-followers must put aside our preconceived ideas and take that step to be there for someone. No matter how messy they may be. Man, all I have to do is look in the mirror and see that I am one messed up dude also. In keeping with this thought I found the following blog that says it pretty well. I know you may get tired of seeing me using David Foster blogs here but when someone says it better than me…I have to use it! So here it is:

You’ve Gotta Let People Love You

I’ve been around a lot of men who say things that I wonder if they mean. That is, “I love you Bro. I’m with you. I’ve got your back.” And, like you, I’ve had those who’ve kept those promises, and those who have not. I’ve had people betray me who I thought were the best friends I had in the world, and others who have come to my aid that I hardly knew at all. Neither of these is the point. This is not about me, or you helping me. It’s about letting me help you as a friend.You’ve Gotta Let People Love You If you say, in the church, that we are connected, we’re a community, we’re a family, that we speak well of each other, it also must mean that we have each other’s back. There are times when we drop that ball, but let me be quick to say this, you’ve got to show up to let people love you. I have found that when people are hurting, when they feel let down, their first reaction is to retreat, retreat into their house, into their home, into their email, into their texting, on the internet, and wonder why no one has come to love them, to apologize, or to embrace them. The truth of the matter is, you’ve gotta show up. You’ve gotta show up and let people love you, and here’s what I’ve found. If you’ll show up – you get up, suit up, show up, and do the next right thing – you give people an opportunity to come alongside of you and do for you what you can’t do for yourself. If you want people to love you, you’ve gotta show up. You’ve got to go and be with them when you’d like to run and hide. Yeah, I know it’s messy, but people are messy, life is messy. But it’s God’s will that we love one another. By this loving, which is difficult and messy, and expensive, all men will know that we are His disciples. My question to you: Whom can you be there for? I hope both Dave and I have challenged you to “show up” for someone.

 

4 Comments so far ↓

  1. How am I going to make it through the weekend…no back and forth dialogue, no comments on my blog (www.steveheartsill.blogspot.com), no interaction, no nothing. I am going to have withdrawals, major withdrawals!

    Travel safe my blogging friend. I pray that this will be the most special wedding you've attended or performed in a long while. I hope it will bring back special memories of your own wedding, with your special bride!

  2. Well, glad you get to be "in touch" with reality and the real world! Or, is that a curse?

    Sounds like an interesting wedding for sure, and the fodder for many, many, many good posts in the next few weeks! I look forward to reading those!

  3. cycleguy says:

    Oh please don’t get too sad my friend! My oldest daughter brought her lap top. It is an interesting wedding. The groom is a non-practicing Jew who attends church with my niece. Some things we have in the wedding are from the Jewish tradition. Will be interesting how tomorrow goes.

    Thanks for your prayers.

  4. cycleguy says:

    Wedding went well. I mentioned Jesus' name a time or two in prayer and had the father of the bride tell me thanks. It was a nice service. Will tell more later. Hope your Sunday was a good one!