For those of you that know me, you realize that I am not a musical guru. I might be able to carry a tune in a bucket if someone helps me carry the bucket, but for the most part I am not musical. So the question comes to one's mind, why would an untalented, unmusical guy like myself be attending children's music camp?
The good news is that I did not attend children's music camp to teach any of the classes. I did not teach intro to guitar or keyboard. I did not teach beginning voice or band or choir. Neither did I teach clowning, creative movement, puppets, or even signing. I served as camp pastor to the children's music camp at Greenville College.
Of course I also asked why did I serve as camp pastor? After all when I was asked to serve, no one knew me and I had only been in the state about 6 or 7 months. Surely there was someone else more qualified than me. Then a thought came to my head, maybe everyone will be at the Southern Baptist Convention and no one else is available. Or perhaps everyone else has already served and I was the last one on the list. After all my name does start with a W.
In reality I do not know why I was asked to serve? But despite my doubts and lack of understanding God was still able to use me in His service. I preached four sermons during the camp and taught three bible study classes as well as led us in three devotionals. We all poured our lives into the children during this week and God blessed our efforts with 8 children responding to God's call on their lives. I thank God that I had a hand in helping these children discover a new found relationship with God.
The point is that often times we find ourselves in situations that we cannot understand. But God can still use us in those situations if we will remain faithful to Him. God does not call us to understand, but to obey Him. What we will discover is that as we are obedient to Him we will eventually understand. God worked in the lives of the children at music camp and we will never know what will happen with these decisions until much later in life. Ultimately that is the way it is with every decision we make to follow Christ. If we knew what tomorrow looked like we might not be as willing to obey today.
So for me, I am glad that I do not know what the future holds, because it makes living in the present so exciting. I can live with the anticipation that God is going to do great things. Even if those great things do not happen today, I can know that they will happen eventually. I did not know what God was going to do at children's camp, but He definitely showed up and even showed off. 8 decisions for Jesus. It doesn't get much better than that.
What do you think? Do you have some situation in your life that you cannot understand and even begin to see the purpose? Just be obedient today and trust God for tomorrow. It will sure make the day much better. I am looking forward to what God is going to do. I hope you are as well.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Watch Value
Last year I was given a watch by a good friend of mine. It was a beautiful watch, but it was a little large for me. I did not recognize the name brand, you know such as Timex, Bulova, Sieko or Rolex or some of the other brands that are available. So I kept the watch and thought it would be a good watch to keep around for an emergency or something. I have a nice Sieko watch, which my wife bought me several years ago and it was a beautiful watch. It keeps good time and has been very reliable with no maintenance required. I have always been a Sieko man even though there was a time when I used other watches. So because I had a good Sieko watch I placed this other watch in my nightstand and if my Sieko ceased to function I would have this other watch as a backup. Of course I still needed to get it sized to fit me. I had tried a few times to have the watch adjusted, but every place I took the watch they were unable to take the necessary links out of it.
The only place that could adjust this particular watch was Jarrod's Jewelers. You know the one with the commercial where the women go crazy because the man bought the jewelry at Jarrods. The only problem was that Jarrods was not local to us and when I would find myself where the Jarrods was located, my watch just happened to be in my nightstand back home.
This past week my wife and I celebrated our 28th anniversary, but that is not the content of this post. While celebrating I knew we would drive by the Jarrods, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to have the watch adjusted. We entered into the Jarrods and asked the lady if she could help us and she said that she could. She took the watch and proceeded to take 2 1/2 links out of the watch so that it would fit.
As she was adjusting my watch I got to noticing the similar watches on display and then I saw my watch right below my eyes. There it was in the glass display case next to a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio. No I am not a big fan of his, but I do recognize his face and he was wearing my particular watch brand. I then noticed a price sticker on my same watch and I could not believe my own eyes. I want get into how much it cost, but suffice it to say it was much more valuable than I originally thought.
I began to think several different things. First I said it must be a knockoff but the lady assured me that it was a the genuine real deal. Then I said well certainly my friend did not pay that much for this watch. If he did I needed to return the watch because I do not deserve something of such value. But of course I realized that my friend gave it to me as a gift and a gift is something that is accepted with the grace and love for which it was given. I was humbled by the gift of the watch and I realized that I had this beautiful watch that I could have been displaying the whole time, and all I did was leave it in my nightstand.
I wonder if we treat Jesus the same way? Do we realize the value of Jesus Christ? So many times we decide to leave Jesus out of our everyday life. Perhaps we decide to place Jesus in a nightstand and will only use him when our own efforts break or fall short. So like my watch, we place Jesus a way to be used another day. The only thing that we forget is the value of Jesus. We need to watch value, because value matters.
What do you do with Jesus? Do you display him for all to see? Or do you keep Him hidden and only pull him out occasionally to look and see if He is still ticking. Learn the value of Jesus. He is priceless and was given to you at a great cost. People should be able to see your life and know that you have been to the cross and received the greatest gift that one could ever receive. What is the value of Jesus to your life?
The only place that could adjust this particular watch was Jarrod's Jewelers. You know the one with the commercial where the women go crazy because the man bought the jewelry at Jarrods. The only problem was that Jarrods was not local to us and when I would find myself where the Jarrods was located, my watch just happened to be in my nightstand back home.
This past week my wife and I celebrated our 28th anniversary, but that is not the content of this post. While celebrating I knew we would drive by the Jarrods, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to have the watch adjusted. We entered into the Jarrods and asked the lady if she could help us and she said that she could. She took the watch and proceeded to take 2 1/2 links out of the watch so that it would fit.
As she was adjusting my watch I got to noticing the similar watches on display and then I saw my watch right below my eyes. There it was in the glass display case next to a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio. No I am not a big fan of his, but I do recognize his face and he was wearing my particular watch brand. I then noticed a price sticker on my same watch and I could not believe my own eyes. I want get into how much it cost, but suffice it to say it was much more valuable than I originally thought.
I began to think several different things. First I said it must be a knockoff but the lady assured me that it was a the genuine real deal. Then I said well certainly my friend did not pay that much for this watch. If he did I needed to return the watch because I do not deserve something of such value. But of course I realized that my friend gave it to me as a gift and a gift is something that is accepted with the grace and love for which it was given. I was humbled by the gift of the watch and I realized that I had this beautiful watch that I could have been displaying the whole time, and all I did was leave it in my nightstand.
I wonder if we treat Jesus the same way? Do we realize the value of Jesus Christ? So many times we decide to leave Jesus out of our everyday life. Perhaps we decide to place Jesus in a nightstand and will only use him when our own efforts break or fall short. So like my watch, we place Jesus a way to be used another day. The only thing that we forget is the value of Jesus. We need to watch value, because value matters.
What do you do with Jesus? Do you display him for all to see? Or do you keep Him hidden and only pull him out occasionally to look and see if He is still ticking. Learn the value of Jesus. He is priceless and was given to you at a great cost. People should be able to see your life and know that you have been to the cross and received the greatest gift that one could ever receive. What is the value of Jesus to your life?
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