VICTIM OF GRACE

                                                                    
                                               

"You are not  a  victim of circumstances. You are a Victim of   Grace."   Robin Jones Gunn

Why does this keep happening to me? It's not fair. I never asked to be treated this way. I did nothing to deserve this. And yet Every moment of every day, Completely unprovoked, God pours out His love on me. He blesses me in unexpected ways. His mercies are new every morning. No matter what I do I cannot stop Him. Even in the worst situations His goodness prevails. He is relentless. I am a victim of grace.        - From "Victim of Grace" by Robin Jones Gunn Why is it so easy to see the bad things in life but so hard to see the graces? Grace, for me, is nothing more than undeserved kindness. In spite of our daily trials and struggles--no, in the midst of them--we look for eyes to see. May you behold God's undeserved kindness in your life this week. Greg P.S. No Monday night this coming week. We will see you on Monday, March 4th for a pot luck Meal and Message based on Eph. 6:10-18, "Wake Up! Armor Up!"

At Home in His Love

                                                       

I have    LOVED  YOU    the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. John 15:9-10 The Message

How very odd that this Valentines Day, which is all about Love, directly follows the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday), which is all about Love. I think there is nothing quite so mind-boggling about our Christian faith as trying to grasp the way the Father loves us. Rick Warren once said, "You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense." To know you have been made by God and for God means that you are created out of Love, for Love. More mind-boggling still is that Jesus invites us to "make ourselves at home" in that love. (see John 15:9-10 on the left) Our lives make sense and find peace only when we know his love, only when we can grasp it and embrace it and live in it. Everything that we know about the Father--his grace, his faithfulness to us, his forgiveness--all flows out of the center of His Love for us. And there we make our home. And it is safe. Happy Valentines Day from your Father who loves you with an everlasting love! Greg    What is Lent? In the traditional church calendar, Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter. It began with Ash Wednesday yesterday. Lent is the time that we prepare our hearts for Easter. Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days that he might overcome the temptations of Satan. We take these 40 days before Christ's walk to the cross so we, too, might face our enemies. You might do this through a special daily devotional reading or podcast....or by giving up some activity you are very attached to in order to use that time with the Lord instead....or by prayer and fasting. The important thing isn't what we do or how we do it, but that we take this time in our distracted lives to turn our faces toward the Savior. Ann Voskamp calls it a season of preparing our hearts "....for a deeper appreciation of Mercy, the need of the cross, the miracle of Easter, the sacrifice on the Grace-tree that made us worthy..." Here are some resources: www.24-7prayer.com/podcast is a great 5-minute daily video clip for Lent taken from the Gospel of John (if it doesn't come up, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Podcasts) Catch up on the one you missed yesterday--it's at the bottom of the page! Reliving the Passion by Walter Wangerin Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter (devotional readings from various authors) Seeing and Savoring Christ by John Piper www.daniel-fast.com is helpful info for those of you who are considering a fast during this time. Susan Gregory also has a free Kindle download on Amazon (just for the next couple of days) called The Daniel Fast Daily Devotional for Lent

The Fellowship of Followers

"Jesus wasn't looking for leaders at all. Jesus was looking for followers.     Leadership is a function. Followership is an identity."        Leonard Sweet

A year ago this month I started the Fellowship of Followers, a focused, purposeful group that gathers together one Sunday night a month to learn more about how to go from believer to follower--how to take on the followership of Christ as an identity. Something was stirring inside me as I started this group. Over the previous couple years we had studied Spiritual Warfare, Law and Gospel, A Life Beyond Belief, The Power of a Whisper, and Spiritual Formation. Now we needed to grasp more fully just what it meant to be a follower of Jesus and boldly step out in our gifts, putting some practical skin on what we had been learning. Our emphasis was on prayer. I had been feeling for some time that in addition to our ministries of DivorceCare and Grief Recovery we were supposed to start a ministry of prayer; but I had no idea what shape that would take. Now, a year later, we have stepped into two nights per month of prayer opportunities: Pat has opened her home one Thursday night a month for Intercessory Prayer, and on the third Monday we are offering a Soaking Prayer and Healing service. Our next Fellowship of Followers meeting will be this coming Sunday evening. (See the info below.) If you would like to take your faith-walk deeper, please join us. You will be challenged to do some reading and homework from time to time. There's usually a lot to discuss. Bring your Bibles! I quote Leonard Sweet: "Jesus wasn't looking for leaders at all. Jesus was looking for followers." May it be so, Lord, for all of us, Greg