Fellowship is so much more than just getting together with other people to
share a meal or make small-talk. True, deep fellowship happens when
people of different backgrounds, cultures, ages, income levels and social
statuses come together out of a shared experience of brokenness. This
brokenness happens within our souls as we discover a Savior who made the
ultimate sacrifice for us all. As a wise person once said, "It's all level
ground at the foot of the cross."
And so we come together, bound in unity by our need for grace. We can
share our joys and our sorrows, our faith and our fears, our strengths and
our weaknesses, our victories and our failures; for in each other we find the
compassion of Jesus, the love of His Holy Spirit, and most importantly, the
forgiveness of God. As members of this fellowship we may have seemingly
little in common, but in the only way it truly counts we have this; we were
lost, but now we are found; we were blind, but now we see; we were dead,
but now we have life! And because of Jesus Christ we are adopted into the
"Family of God!"
Thank you Lord for this great fellowship.
Pastor Daelyn L. West
friendship, shall we? Too many times, when we find ourselves at our
lowest, the people we think of as "friends" might toss us a rope, but when
we try to pull ourselves out of the pit we're in...the rope falls into the hole.
It's connected to nothing.
A true friend will jump down into the mud, despair, the tears, and the
heartbreak with you and PUSH you up out of there...that's what Jesus
does. A true friend will then trust you to toss him the rope, and he'll
know that the other end is tied to something solid, and you're ready to
pull with everything you have. THAT my friends...is friendship
M. MacDonald
H.E.B. supermarket a while back.
There was an announcement over the intercom. It was a woman’s voice;
somebody’s mother.
She said, “Jenny, it’s Mommy. I know you’re lost and you’re scared and
you’re probably looking for me. Jenny, you can stop looking for me
now. Just sit down wherever you are. Don’t worry about finding
Mommy. Whatever aisle you’re on, just sit down, Jenny girl, and I will
find you.”
That’s how the finding happens, God has a mother’s way.
Kenny Woods
Your favor... why is my life so filled with setbacks and problems?”
Why indeed...
I truly believe that we all…each one of us…has to take a few steps on our
own Via Dolorosa in our walk through life. How better to understand the
awesome peace and beauty of eternal salvation, than that we first
understand suffering. Jesus endured a savage scourging that slashed and
tore His body. His blood left a crimson trail in the dirt as he was dragged
off to be crowned in mockery with piercing thorns. He struggled His own
cross up to Golgotha where He was nailed to it, raised up and left to die
after hours of unimaginable agony. He did this for us…and it was
finished…our healing and salvation assured if only we’d believe.
No...life isn’t fair, but our little trials...and sometimes big ones...bring us
ever closer to understanding a tiny bit of what Jesus endured in our place.
When we accept the fact that it's OUR blood that should be staining the
ground under that cross, and that the debt was paid for us by the innocent
Son of God, then finally we're on the road to salvation.
M. MacDonald
hope that we’ll show when it gets down to hard
decision time. Pastor West hit it right on when he
reminded us that bravery is NOT the absence of
fear, but the fortitude to do the right thing in spite
of the fear. Sometimes it’s more like the kitten in
the mirror with us though; we can psych ourselves
up to believe we can handle anything that comes
along and present that tough image to others,
actually making it believable. Schoolyard bullies do
it all the time.
him about courage once, and he said: "You give me a kid... I don’t care how
small he is, how fast or slow he is, or what his IQ is...if he’s got the heart to
get out there and do exactly what I tell him, he’ll discover he’s got courage,
and then I can make him into a football player."
Maybe that’s really where it’s at then...not in the size of our muscles or
whether or not we can intimidate others...but in the size of our heart...and if
we do what our heavenly coach tells us to do, we’ll discover that we have
courage too, in facing any difficulty.
