Mike spoke about Christian suffering today.  After being at the fabulous women’s retreat last week where Angel spoke about suffering as gaps in our lives, I’ve been thinking about this concept and the Biblical teaching that Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness.  It is amazing that God’s power shone greatest at the seemingly weakest point of Christ’s life.  His suffering and death.

Well, today Mike spoke about the continuation of Christ’s sufferings through His people, the Church.  He asserted that we are called to suffer for others.  Christians are to suffer for the Church.  This always strikes me as I examine my life and see that I am not suffering.  I am working to live as comfortably as possible as a follower of Christ.  This is not what the Christian life it supposed to be.

We are called to sacrifice our time, energy, money, plans, and more.  We are bid to come and die as followers of Christ.  What a great charge for me to hear.  What a great message for our church as we move forward.  What amazing hope that suffering actually makes me better, makes others better, and makes Christ more beautiful. 

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This past weekend was the UPC Women’s Retreat in Daytona Beach. It was a great weekend. I learned new things, was reminded of old truth and enjoyed spending time with other women at the beach. One of the things that the speaker Angel Richard spoke about briefly was meditation. Meditation is something that has always seemed so nebulous to me. I have heard it explained in the past as thinking about scripture or mulling it over in your mind. This type of definition kind of made sense to me, but I wasn’t ever sure how to do it. Angel explained meditation as simply “asking questions” while reading scripture. When she said this, the “light bulb” went on in my head. “Oh,” I thought “well I can do that.” During our Saturday morning devotion time, she gave us a passage of scripture and four questions (written by Martin Luther) to use to meditate on the passage. These questions really helped me think about and absorb the truth that was presented in the psalm that I had just read. I plan to write these questions out on a note card and put them in my bible so I can remember them and use them as a guide to come up with my own.

1. What is this psalm (or passage) saying?

2. How does this truth lead me to praise God?

3. What sins do I need to confess?

4. What do I need to ask God for in light of this text?

I really enjoyed Sunday sermon on Colossians 1:1-14 and I thought that having the quiz was a great way for us to see if we are living lives driven by the Gospel. Mike asked, “Whats are the center of your thinking in our day to day life? What drives you? What makes us who we are?”

I thought to myself, “paying the bills is what I think about most these days, hope in God is what drives me or keeps me going really, and I don’t know what makes me who I am”. Maybe I got the second question right? I don’t know.

Those were some pretty hefty questions - ones that I believe we need to really think about and being honest with ourselves about. The point of these questions is that most of us are driven by things other than the Gospel. And this means that the Gospel has not penetrated our hearts.

Below is the quiz from the sermon. They are True/False questions. If you haven’t taken it, do so now.

Quiz:
1 - I tend to compare myself with other people.
2 - Most of the time I’m anxious about friends money school, family, etc.
3 - I rarely say I’m sorry.
4 - I need to be in control.
5 - Prayer is usually my last resort.
6 - I often feel discourage and defeated.
7 - I tend to get defensive when told I’ve made a mistake
8 - Most of the time I feel guilty and condemned.
9 - It’s all up to me.
10 - I often focus on the weaknesses and failings of other people.

As Mike said, these are all symptoms of life not driven by the Gospel. If you answered True to 1 or 2 statements then you’re doing pretty well. If you answered True to 3-5 then you’re doing okay but need help. If you answered True to 6 or more then you need to listen to the sermon.

I was in the 3-5 category: doing okay but need help. I need to be reminded constantly to keep Christ at the center of my being. It’s so easy not to do so.

What about you? Are you living the Gospel Driving Life?

Yesterday was Vision ‘13 at church, and we heard an amazing Odes Project Concert during the first service, and then listened to Mike cast a vision for the next five years during the second service. 

What I appreciated most about the sermon was the way that our church is desiring to be a blessing to the broken people of East Orlando.  As I have just learned that my unbelieving grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack last night, I am reminded of the need for the Church to grow and bring in God’s Kingdom.  I thought it was powerful how Mike told that even though there is poverty, homelessness, violence, spiritual lostness, and so much more that makes us wonder where God is, that Christ is King and that He is using His church to reign in His kingdom.  The world needs the gospel and every broken area needs redemption, which is offered in Christ.  What an honor to be called to be God’s hands and feet to impact East Orlando for Him.  I am excited to see how UPC can continue to be a blessing this year. 

It was great to hear from Ande today! So refreshing with his witty sense of humor and vulnerability.

When he first started, I was struck by his comments about resting. This seems to be a continual theme in my life recently and it was really confirming to me that I need to rest. As you can see from my personal blog, I have been reflecting on that concept a lot lately. And it is amazing how hard it is to implement, and not fall into the trap of our society that places such high importance on busy-ness.

I was then struck by his thoughts on storms and looking to Jesus to calm those storms in our lives. I like how Ande confronted us with our use of dixie cups to conquer the storm. I do that so often! My dixie cups would be my self-reliance, and logical thinking. And then if I can’t figure it out or solve it, then I pull out the escape cup.

So, what dixie cups do you use when faced with a storm? Let’s try to rest in Jesus, knowing that He is our protector and provider!