Acts 1:14
They all met together and were constantly united in prayer.....
Maybe it's because it's the Christmas season....
Maybe it's because the year is almost over....
But whatever the reason, I find myself thinking back over this year. Over the past few days, I have taken out my journals and read back through the events that have taken place in 2015.
The death of loved ones, and friends....
Some of the death's were tragic and should never have happened...
A life gone to soon. A family left to grieve.
There were many who came to know Jesus this past year. I celebrate those and pray daily that they may continue to walk out this new life that has been given to them.
But I guess the one thing I find myself thinking about this morning are the people who make up the core leadership of Vineyard ReCovery Church. There seems to be a genuine love among us, for each other and for Jesus. That is something we could never manufacture on our own. It is a gift from God to a people who truly realize how broken we are....how in need of a Savior we are.
It has been a blessing to me to watch this group grow over the past 2 3/4 years. To see them reach out each week to the hurting and marginalized that come through the doors. To watch them pray and minister to those in need. Not because they have to, or feel some sense of religious obligation....but because the love of the Father burns within their own hearts. Such love can never be contained or held back. It must be demonstrated and loosed to be effective. What better way to demonstrate than by helping others.
VRC isn't my meeting.....I don't own it....I have no rights to it. Oh, God called me to start it, but that is the extent of my call. The meeting truly does belong to God. We simply gather each week to see what He wants to do on that particular night. We come each week expecting to meet with Him and experience His touch and goodness. The funny part in all of this, we, the core leadership, come each week expecting to receive from him ourselves. We don't come and stand back as spectator's to a God movement. No! We come with our own baggage to be healed...to be forgiven....to be restored. To lay down our own grudges that may have popped up. To rid ourselves of our own unforgiveness that may have formed in our hearts. To cast aside anger, bitterness and any jealousy we may have allowed to take root in our hearts. In other words, we are all in this together, and there isn't any religious pretense on our part. If anything, we are working toward being as transparent and open as we can be.
Oh, we are not the perfect fellowship by no means. We truly are a work in progress, and that's o.k..
Phil Strout, National Director of the Vineyard Churches, made this comment at a Regional meeting in Guntersville back in 2013. Phil said, "We should never ask each other 'How's your church?' Instead, we should ask, 'How's your soul?'" I think that is such a powerful statement. It's not about counting nickles and noses in our meetings, but rather the condition of the hearts of those who attend. The real measurement of any church is not the number who attend, the size of the budget or the number of programs that are offered....no, the measure of any church is the quality of people that are produced.
Have a blessed and Merry Christmas.
From the "B's" in Attalla!
Vicki and Michael
God on you...
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