Stuff Needs Doing? You Bet'cha!

"Doing the Stuff"....
That is what hooked me.
I had spent the better part of my life watching.
Doing was for those special people who had received a divine embossed invitation to be on the A-team. To be up front teaching...leading...praying for folks. They were the A-team.
Me?
I was C-team material.
My job was to watch and cheer on the A-team people.
That all changed when I came home to the Vineyard.
Jim Bentley called me one afternoon, I had just gotten home from work.
"What'cha doing?"
"Nothing, what's up?"
Jim: "Can you go with me? I suppose to take some groceries to some folks who don't have anything to eat."
Me: "Sure."

Sounds innocent doesn't it?
Jim came and picked me up and we made our way to where the couple was staying. Oh yeah, he forgot to tell me that not only did they not have anything to eat....they were living in a tool shed behind a man's house because they had no where to go.
Tool shed?
Yep! The real deal, pre-fab tool shed.
Jim already had the groceries loaded up on the back seat of his car.
We pulled up and began to unload the groceries, all the while Jim talking to the couple in a very casual way. Me....I was the C-team remember. I was cheering him on.
One thing lead to another and after a while the woman told Jim that she was suffering from a physical ailment. I don't remember much other than it wasn't something terminal or life threatening. But it was causing the woman a whole lot of pain.

Jim asked if we ( I looked at him as if to say..."Don't forget...I'm C-team) could pray for her.
He asked me to join him, telling me to place my hand on her shoulder. I couldn't figure out why, but I complied. After all, I was the C-team and he was the A-team.
He began to pray...
I backed him up with a few "Yes, Lord's".
He stopped and asked the woman if anything was going on inside. The woman shook her head and said, "No."
Jim reassured her that was o.k. and asked if we could pray some more.
She agreed.
I don't remember how long we prayed...
But after a while the woman said that the pain had stopped.
Now I had to make a decision.
Had God actually done something in response to us praying for her.....
Or was it just a coincidence.
I think maybe it was God.

I was hooked.
I wanted to learn how to do this "praying thing".
Turns out it was part of what God intended for every believer to participate in.
God wanted His children to "Do The Stuff" a.k.a. the works that Jesus did.
Jim told me that we are all called to share our story...share the Gospel..and then ask God to back it up with what Jim referred to as "Power encounter".
Tell the story...
Ask God to validate what was shared by coming and interacting with the people that are prayed for.
Then see what happens.
Over the past 20 years, I have seen God do some pretty incredible stuff.
Now don't get me wrong...
I don't run around searching out Power encounters.....
I merely let God do what He does so well and then watch what happens.
I learned to listen as I prayed and then simply said or did what I heard God say.
I know what you're thinking....
How did you know whether it was God or not?
Most of the time I didn't know...
But I was crazy enough to reach out and try...
I learned over time how to tell the difference.
I learned to "Do The Stuff".
I think maybe the church would be better off if we did away with the A-teams and just taught everyone how to "Do the Stuff".
What do you think?

God on you...
mb