6:03 a.m.
Coffee has been consumed.
Let the games begin.
I'll leave to go to the church here in a few minutes.
Set up for tonight's meeting of Vineyard ReCovery.
Prayer over the room...
I know that God will show up. I never presume this or take it for granted, but I know that He will come.
Now what it is He will do, that I do not know.
Every week is like unwrapping a Christmas present, only you don't get stuck with some sweater that doesn't fit.
Each week, the meeting takes on the personality of those who come. Some weeks we may be more of a hospital that at other times. We have people in need of healing....physically, emotionally, and spiritually. So our focus is to seek God for the healing needed. Some weeks we are more of a school. We have a simple philosophy that life with Christ is a practical endeavor, not a religious one. We believe that the Bible is a practical book that shows us how to live a practical life of following Jesus in our daily decisions.
Some weeks VRC is more like a home. A place where family gathers to swap stories of what the past week held for us. We celebrate the good times and share in the bad. We encourage one another and lovingly correct when needed. We are about growing up in Christ. We are about becoming mature and wise in our daily affairs. We are about learning to love as God loves. In other words, there is a purpose, and hopefully an end to this journey we are on. We are learning to live on the "economy" of heaven, rather than that which is found here in our society. We are casting off old ways and old thoughts to embrace this new call to life Jesus has offered to us.
Our mission statement for VRC is "Learning to follow in His steps". We have set ourselves to walk out this life with Jesus. At the same time, recognizing our need for discipline in our daily lives, we have committed ourselves to walking out the Twelve Steps. We truly believe that the Twelves Steps are found in HIS STEPS.
Steps #1 through #3 --- Making peace with God...
Steps #4 through #11 -- Making peace with ourselves...
Step #12 --- Giving what we have found away to others who are in need.
Life in Christ is our goal. We recognize that our old ways and habits, if continued, will result in physical and spiritual death. We have come to the ultimate truth that God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It is this truth that binds us together as a community of believers. This is the message we want to take out into our community.
If you're looking for a safe place, and you don't mind doing something weird like going to church on Saturday night...we're your place. Come join us. Meeting starts at 7 p.m.
And don't forget...tonight is "Sandwich Supper"...
See you there!
God on you...
mb
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