Morning reflections

Morning reflection spurred on by reading Jen Hatmaker's book Interrupted.

"Why aren't people compelled by the church anymore? The come to us system is no longer an appropriate response to the paradigms that exist in our world." #Interrupted pg. 122 #Jenhatmaker

Due to this, what can/(do we need) to do differently to reach people for Jesus, sharing the Gospel with them?

If people aren't coming to us, how do we change that or how do we reach them within our communities?

Thoughts?

Focus

Why is this something that seems so hard to achieve and maintain?


In this day and age there are so many things that are vying for our attention and our energy. This attention and energy which we have good intentions for, tends to get drained away. With so many things that are at our fingertips, it makes it hard to not allow things that are not beneficial to us or our community to drain our time and energy. Then when it is all said and done, we wonder why we have nothing left to give.


How can we become more aware and discern what to do with these potential and seemingly inevitable distractions? Why do they entice us so much?


It is time for us to reclaim our lives and the what we truly value most within them.


Does the way that you spend your time and live your life reflect what you see as important?

If you were to make a list of the things you are spending your time on, would you be proud to share that list with others or would you be embarrassed about the things you have or not have spent your time on?

Are you doing anything to help keep yourself from being distracted?
If not, why?


It is time for us to go back to our values and what we see as important.

What is your time reflecting?



Share your story: What do you do to stay focused? Any tips? thoughts on time management or focus?

Impact

Are you aware of the ways that you are impacting those around you through your actions, what you say, and what you write? For me it is time to reevaluate, perhaps refocus as sometimes we end up just going through the motions without even realizing it.  


When you are going through your day to day are you thinking the effect you might have on others?


Thinking about the way that I go about my day to day, there are times where I might be thinking about the way I am effecting others around me, but am I constantly aware of the example that I am setting for others? What about the times when we say we will be there for someone but we don't end up following up with them or make them feel as if maybe we don't care as much as we said we did? What about the tension of being authentic as well as leading others with a loving example, what does the balance look like?


We need to remember as we go through life we are not only communicating when we are saying words or writing them down but in fact every aspect of our lives is communicating something. 


How do we become more aware of the way we effect others and also become more aware of the pain and hurting people around us in such a way to be moved to action?


What does that action look like?


Some thoughts I have been wrestling with today and encourage you to wrestle with them alongside of me. Lets discover a way to make a more positive impact on the world around us and become more aware!


Will you join me?

.No Words.

When I woke up this morning, I was excited at the mere fact that I was up and out of bed by 7am. I went about my morning routine of hitting my snooze button several times and then finally rolling out of bed after I could no longer take the buzzing of my three different alarm clocks, strategically placed around my room. Excited about the fact that i was up early and ready to head to the church by 7:30am, I knew that today would be a good day but I had no idea what was in store for me this morning. When I went upstairs Ken (one of my host parents) had even noticed that I was up early and inquired if I had a busy day and that I did.

After sharing with him that I was looking forward to turning over a new leaf (and try to wake up earlier each day), I began putting on my shoes and preparing myself for about a mile walk to the church, double checking my ipod for the sermon that I would listen to on my way. As I was getting ready to head toward the door, Jan (my other host parent) offered to give me a ride to the church after I informed her that I was thinking about walking to the church this morning. She offered again and insisted that it was not a problem for her to give me a ride. (This in itself is difficult for me, because I have a hard time accepting things from people) I accepted her offer and then shared with her that I had a flat tire and needed to find a place to get it looked at and fixed (if possible). She offered to drop my tire off and then take me to the church. I was unable to get the tire off with the help of Ken and Jan, so we pumped the tire up and I followed Jan to Goodyear. We arrive at goodyear and proceeded inside. We talk to the manager and talk about needing to get a flat fixed, he explained that it would be 32 dollars, if they were able to fix it. Then I ran out to the car to get my backpack before I had to give them the keys. Jan was talking with Tim and explained to him how I was studying to be a youth minister and interning at Richwoods. Also mentioned that fact that I was going to walk to the church, since my car was mia. Then he had said that we have to take care of our minsters and opted to cut down the cost to repair the flat from 32 dollars to 16, which was awesome and to top it off Jan said that her and Ken would take care of the cost!
  This right from the start blew me out of the water, through the willingness of Jan and Ken to help me and then meeting this guy from goodyear with whom we just had a short conversation was willing to cut the price in half. We left goodyear and Jan got me breakfast from Hardees then dropped me off at the church. From this alone, It was great start to my day and I was blown away by the kindness shown to me. Then after being very excited about just the fact that my tire was getting fixed and I would be able to drive my car again I get a phone call from Tim. He informs me that they were able to fix the flat but that I have an additional bigger problem. Both of my front tires had no tread on them and were showing steel. He commented that he wasn't sure how I was able to stay on the road. At this I was blown away by God's protection of me through all of the time that I had been driving on these tires that had no traction whatsoever. Then he explained that I was going to need to buy two new front tires in addition to fixing the flat. In my head I was panicking a bit trying to figure out how I would go about paying for all of this. He went on saying that the tires would be 80 dollars a piece but that he would cut them down to 60 dollars a piece (what they pay for the tires), also that he would fix the flat for free and cut out labor! This brought the cost to about 134 dollars. Understanding that this was something that I had to get done, I told him to put it on Jan's card. After that I would get some money from the bank to pay her part of it and work out a payment plan for the rest. After that he suggested if I wanted him to call Jan and I replied, Yeah if you could explain to her the situation and that I will work out some type of payment plan to pay her back that would be great. He said Okay and I hung up. At this point I was freaking out a little about how I would pay for it all but realized that this man was helping me out so much!
   About ten minutes later I get a call from Jan. She talks about the fact that it seemed like my car was in pretty bad shape and that I was lucky with my tires. Then goes into what Tim had told me about the tires being marked down and giving me the two new tires and fixing the flat for 134 dollars. I was about to ask her how she wanted me to work with her paying it off and what type of "payment plan" I could set up. Before I could get a word out she said well Ken and I would love to help you and we'll pay half and then she said that Tim, the man from goodyear we had met that morning was going to pay the other half! I was speechless and didn't know what else to say other than thank you, over and over again! She kept telling me how they enjoy doing it and that it blesses them. I got off the phone and didn't know what to do, I began to go around the church and tell anybody that would listen to me at this amazing blessing and the protection that God had over me. I called Abbi, my dad, and walked around the church building about 10 times! When I went to pick up my car after all of this, I was talking with Tim and signing papers expressing my gratitude for the huge blessing that he had given me. He went on to say that my brake pads were so small that they should have actually been 4 times the size they were. Then he said that he went ahead and took care of that as well! So I got two new front tires, a fixed flat tire, and two sets of new brake pads cut down to the price of 134 and then Jan and Ken (my host family) pay half and Tim who we had just met that morning paid the other half! The total work would have cost around 250, which was cut down to 134 and then paid on my behalf by Ken and Jan, and Tim from goodyear.

Such a blessing and I have no other words than thank you!

.love.