Happy Valentine's Day to me :)

So The Brother had told me about this band last year that I HAD to go listen to, and seeing as he doesn't often rave about local bands, I was intrigued. Then we found out that they were having a select pre-CD launch gig on 14 February, and he'd get arrange for five tickets, so that I could invite someone, and that he could invite two. Who else to invite than Princess Sarah? We decided to all meet up at church and head to the concert all together.

There'd been Miscommunications. But this only became clear on the evening. Princess Sarah arrived at church with her Lovely Joe who she thought she'd mentioned would be down here this weekend. I'd misunderstood completely, and thought he wasn't coming down at all. Oh dear. Scanning through the options, I decided to tell her to take my ticket for him, 'cause it would be easier for me to hang around church afterwards with all the other friends (whereas poor Joe would be kinda homeless as he'd driven through with Sarah), and it'd be lovely for them to be able to spend time together. [I'm sounding rather blase about me having to give my ticket away, but I wasn't as unaffected as I sound. I was quite disappointed 'cause I'd been really looking forward to finally spending time with Princess, and was quite curious about the band.]

Anyway. At least I'd come to a solution. I go inside, and head to the back of the church where The Brother is sorting out power point slides. Explaining that he's to give the extra ticket to Joe, I did not expect what he said next. "No, you go. Take my ticket."

My heart is undone by human kindness, and it broke a little (in the best way) at my brother's generosity. He'd really been amped to see them play, and he was the driving force behind us going to see them. Now, here he was, giving his ticket away to me. "Are you sure?" I asked. "Yeah, no sure. You go watch them, I've seen them before."

Wow.

And the most wonderful thing is, as I was singing with the congregation during the service, I realized again that my brother isn't just generous 'cause he was born like that. He has become like that because of his love for and obedience to Christ. Having said that, he makes being generous seem really easy in a way that is so encouraging.

Happy Valentine's to me. My brother is the coolest guy I know.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down:
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross
All who gather here by grace draw near
And bless Your name

Were the whole realm of Nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all!


PS I include the above, because that was the last song of the evening.
PPS When we finally got there and set up blankets and pillows on the venue floor (lovely, hey:) ), another friend mentioned that his one friend wasn't coming through anymore, and he'd just told my Brother to come get that ticket. So he got to come after all :) God is generous like that too.

I am happy as a pig stuck in mud at Bible Study

So this year, I decided not to lead Bible study. "Good", I thought. "I'll get a bit of a break.""Not so good", whispered my conscience. "You know that in the past you were under-stimulated and thus got highly distracting in bible studies."

So it was with a little bit of trepidation that I decided to join a Bible study group that was led with two good friends of mine. But last night, I realized it's going to be a WONDERFUL year of growth and learning!

Why? Well. Apart from the two leaders, there are only TWO members! (Actually three, but the one's going to England soon to have her baby there). And so, we have time to work through the passage thoroughly, and also to nut out practical applications. And because we all know each other quite well, it's a very comfortable environment within which to share and encourage and rebuke, if necessary.

Another lovely thing is that because all of us in the group have at one time or another led a group, it's also easier for the leader to lead, because our levels of exposure to the Bible are quite similar - we've all been Christians for a while, and there aren't any new family members etc in our group (which isn't a bad thing, it's just an easier thing in terms of practicalities: there aren't different levels of exposure to the bible in the group). And it's not really that we're being taught by one leader- it's that we're all teaching and leading under the facilitation of one.

So many 'ands'. This is a good thing :) Yay, my heart is happy. It's going to be a great year!

Social reform or word ministry? A thought [yes, just one]

Something I've been worrying about in the last few months is how I ought to choose the projects that I spend my time on. The difficulty comes in choosing between projects which focus on social reform or projects which are word ministries, e.g. Habitat for Humanity versus serving as a Bible Study leader at church.

Not that there is a real divide between things. On one hand, everything we do as Christians is ministry. On another, as people hear the gospel, they are (socially) reformed.

But my concern was about discerning where I'd be most effective. I've been told before that I have gifts that should be used in word ministry. Having dropped nearly all the ministries I was involved with this year, I started doubting if this had been a wise choice. Surely, the only true lasting change one can effect on this earth is to be a part of leading someone to Christ?

So, at this point in time where I find myself with two big social reform projects for the year, I feel slightly guilty. [okay, I know that the phrases 'word ministry' and 'social reform' have been repeated ad nauseum to this point, but I can't think of other ways to describe them.]

Am I doing the wrong thing? Am I 'wasting' my time and gifts? Should I rather drop these projects and go back to my ministries? I wasn't sure, because I believe that God uses our gifts, likes, preferences, passions to guide us in the ministries we should be involved in, and my heart is definitely for projects that focussed more on social reform.

Worried, I talked to Princess Sarah about this, and then she said the most illuminating thing that has eased my guilt-flecked conscience: that knowing Jesus has resulted in my love and passion for people and social reform. If it is Him that has brought about this change, then I should not worry about whether I'm doing the 'right' thing or not.

A little bit of a (sad) confession:

I decided a long time ago to never invite my non-Christian friends to my Christian friends' parties. Instead, I try spend one-on-one time with them, or tag along to their parties.

This isn't a hard and fast rule, but generally, if there's an open invite, I pitch up alone. For one, this allows me to meet and speak to the strangers and friends-of-friends that come along, but for another it's because I've learnt that most people don't really make the effort to get to know my people. [I'm not saying that no-one makes effort. I recognise that at these types of parties there are tons of people around, and that you can't always get through to everyone - I have just observed in the past that we could all do better at meeting others, and developing those friendships.]

Anyway, last night, friends of ours had an open-invite house party, so I pitched up, started chatting, eating other people's chips, you know. The Sister comes in a bit later with some of her non-Christian friends. They stay for a little bit, and then leave. "Did they enjoy it?", I ask her this morning. "No one really made effort with them", she responds, so I was a bit sad."

That too makes me very very sad.