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!

Caught not Taught

So I've been looking at the benefits and barriers to what I've been calling "family life groups." My regular group consists of 4 adults and three children. This week, however, the group extended to include 2 teenagers. So we ranged in age from 5 years old to 51. For the first time, the kids opted to stay with us instead of bolting outside to run around, and the discussion turned to 'hearing God speak.'

While several of the adults and teens discussed their experiences with hearing from God, the kids continued to play with lego on the other side of the room, interjecting at will. When the older children were prompted to give their input, they didn't really have anything to say.

At first glance, my reaction would be to say that the kids didn't really get anything out of group tonight. We didn't elicit deep responses or teach them anything specific. And therein lies the barrier to family life groups and the place where faith comes in to the picture. We can't see God working in the hearts of those in a group who choose not to talk, those who we deem are 'too young' to understand the discussion.

In our group the children are like flies on the wall, seeing, hearing, feeling and occasionally participating in our discussions. Had they been relegated to another room in the house or sent outside to play with a babysitter, they would not have heard the adults and teens talking about the different ways God had spoken to them. They would not have seen teenagers - role models - discussing the place of faith in their lives. We would have hindered them from seeing the ways in which Christ works in people's lives.