Who me?

In worship we're going through the book of Exodus and taking a close look at how the book provides a foundation for the rest of the Bible and also how it shows us the relationship between God and us.  The stories of Moses and God's call, the whole plague deal in Egypt, the flight to the wilderness and then the wandering are wonderful stories with lots of stuff to teach us about God and how God relates to us.  I'd highly recommend joining us to hear some more about this fantastic book!

The past couple of Sunday's we spent time on Moses and his conversation with God on Mt. Horeb.  The familiar story of the burning bush has been discussed.  In a nutshell God tells Moses that he has been chosen to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt and that God is going to work through him and help him.  Moses first says, "here I am God," and then eventually says, "send someone else."  The conversation between Moses and God where Moses brings up excuse after excuse why he can't do it and God patiently, for awhile at least, answers every doubt Moses has is fantastic.  I love the story because it reminds me that God gives us what we need and that God promises to work through us.  I also admire the guts Moses had in talking directly with God and throwing excuses at God.  

After the two sermons this past week on Moses' call I have thought a lot about our call as Christians.  Two questions come to mind:  how does God call us?  And how do we respond?  The how God calls us part is kind of hard because I think it is different for each person.  I firmly believe that God calls each one of us for some sort of service to God, and I also believe that call can come from anywhere...even a phone call asking one to serve on a church board!  I heard a sermon last week at the St. Patricks Catholic church that has stuck with me.  A visiting priest was talking about the call of Samuel and he made a statement that made a lot of sense to me.  He said that God's call is found in the little things in life.  He compared listening for and following God's call is a lot like a diet.  We fail a diet not because we eat mountains of fried food each day, but because we sneak that extra cookie when no ones looking.  It's easy to say no to the obvious foods that will not fit into our diet, but that one extra snack or can of soda won't make that much of a difference we think.  The same is with God's call.  We are not very good at identifying where God is at work in our lives because we're waiting for the voice, the blinding light, the 2x4 upside the head that says here dummy do this.  We don't see God in the big things because we don't see God at all in the little areas of life.  If we can't find God in all areas of our lives, even the little things, then we can't expect God to trust us with the big stuff.  We're so busy with life that slowing down to recognize where God is at work in our lives is almost unheard of.  If you want to find God's calling in your life then start seeing God at work in the little areas of  your daily life, and soon you'll see God's plan for the big things in your life too.  

Responding to God's call is easy.  We just say yes and let God take over.  Simple as that!  We all know it isn't as simple as that, but that's how we answer God's call.  We don't make excuses, we don't try and weasel our way out...we simply say yes and trust that God will help us out.  Once we simply let go and trust it's amazing how we can experience Got at work in our lives.  First though, we must learn to recognize God in the little things and then we'll see God in the big things too.

Happy New Year!!

Ok, so I admit that I'm a little late to the party.  It's already 5 days into the new year, so please forgive me for being a little late with the new year greetings.  I've never been real big into celebrating the beginning of a new year.  That's not to say I don't enjoy spending time with friends and family ringing in the new year...I do.  I guess I don't get all caught up in the new year resolutions and stuff because I know they most generally don't stick.  I also don't really get the thought that the new year offers all of us a clean slate and a chance to do things differently in a new year.  For one thing habits are very hard to break, and just because a calendar tells us we can start something new doesn't magically mean all our habits go away!  I guess you could say I'm a scrooge when it comes to the new year!  Although I positively love all the football on!
I think I don't get to caught up in the new year hoopla because I'm too old to stay up to midnight!  HA!  Seriously though I know that we have a chance to start over any time we want.  I also know we have the ultimate power to help us make any changes we want at our disposal any time of the year.  Jesus is always waiting with open arms to welcome us back to him.  He wants to hear our regrets and our shortcomings.  He will offer us forgiveness and the strength to make changes if we ask and IF we listen.  You see the easy part is declaring what we would like to change and then asking Jesus to help us.  The tough part is listening to Jesus and then making the necessary changes in our lives to actually see change happen.  Sometimes we want Jesus to magically change us, when what we really need is Jesus' help in making the changes for ourselves.  That's why I think new year resolutions are so popular and also so easily broken.  As soon as we sense some work, or tough decisions, in keeping the resolutions we tend to give up.  If we honestly and earnestly ask Jesus to help us make changes, and we honestly and earnestly do our very best to listen to what Jesus has to say to us to help make the changes and again do our best to implement them, even if they're hard, then we'll be a lot better off and a lot better at making the changes.  So let's do away with new year resolutions and instead ask Jesus to help us make the changes we want.  Or better yet, let's ask Jesus what changes we need to make!