God, you are amazing!

Image by courambel via Flickr

This summer we are running the 10 lessons from an old VeggieTales VBS. For the past couple of Sundays, our pastor was out of town - first at a conference, then with family. While I would have had very little luck trying to line up our pre-written curriculum with his sermon, sometimes I try. This week, though, I couldn't even find the order of service. In fact, I'm not quite sure there was one. Unusual to say the least.

Our theme of the day in VeggieTown was 'being thankful for the gifts that God has given us.' We talked about how we could use our gifts to glorify and help God.

In the adult service, our pastor, Vincent, talked about how God had put him right next to a hurting, angry, teenaged boy on a plane and had used him to minister to the boy. While the boy and his father had no idea who Vincent was (or who he worked for), the boy pointed him out and the father made a point of thanking Vincent for the time he had spent with his son.

Interestingly, at group tonight, one of our group, Cheryl, gained insight into what she had never realized was a gift. The previous day she spent quite a bit of time at a BarBQ talking with a partially deaf woman, and thought nothing of it. Since it was within her comfort zone and she was having fun doing it, since she didn't have to give anything up to do it, and since didn't put her in any danger, she didn't realize that she was working for God. Later in the day, the deaf woman's mother came up to Cheryl and thanked her profusely for spending time with her daughter. This morning, during an illustration in the sermon, Cheryl came to the realization that sometimes God uses us through the gifts he has given us, and sometimes it comes quite easily.

We can't talk our strengths, skills or spiritual gifts too lightly, however, it doesn't have to always be painful or difficult to make an awesome impact for the kingdom.

Don't forget to be thankful this week!