An Invitation to Conversation

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An Invitation to Conversation

On Thursdays, I BJ’s. I drop Isaac off at co-op, and I head just down the road to our local BJ’s. I had just started a podcast on the three minutes it takes me to get there, and as I was gathering my things to get out of my vehicle, I was tempted to grab my AirPods, put at least one in, hide it behind my hair, and continue listening to my podcast while I shopped.

Now there is nothing wrong with wanting to do this, but I just felt this nudge to not do it. I knew I could finish it later in the day, and so I left them in my car and headed in to shop. I knew what I needed to get. My coupons were clipped. And I thought this would be a quick trip.

But God had other plans.

On the cleaning products aisle, I ran into an old friend. We chatted and laughed. We hugged and encouraged one another in the Lord. We caught each other up on our “kids” — my boys, her girls. It was nice. It blessed us both and made us smile.

And that conversation led to another.

A few minutes later, back at the deli, a lady approached me, apologized if her reason for striking up a conversation seemed odd, and proceeded to tell me she was new to the area and couldn’t help but overhear my conversation with my friend moments earlier. She was craving connection. We chatted about church, community, and how different life had been for the past year and a half. We exchanged contact information, and are planning on having coffee soon.

And that conversation led to another.

After I added a few more items to my cart, as I was pulling a package of deodorant off the shelf, yet another lady approached me with a similar salutation as the last conversation. “I hope you don’t mind, I heard you talking to the lady at the deli and you seemed really friendly and approachable...” She was not new to the area, but she was new to BJ’s and had some questions. We chatted about coupons and the app and a little bit of this and that, and quite honestly, it was lovely, and she was so grateful I took the time to explain these things.

So, as I walked toward the check out and checked the last item off my list, I thanked God for the invitation to conversation He had extended to me before I even stepped foot in the store.

It made me realize how much I’m on my phone and in the zone and how much that affects my body language and tone. Saying yes to an invitation to conversation extends that invitation to others.

3 conversations. Each leading to the next. Invitations to conversations.

How will you say yes to an invitation to conversation today?

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Obedience, Faith, & Agreement will Accompany a True Believer (and not Just When it's Convenient)

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Obedience, Faith, & Agreement will Accompany a True Believer (and not Just When it's Convenient)

It’s been a couple weeks since my last blog post, so who’s ready for another Sunday sermon recap?!?

Actually, as an introduction, I’m also going to share a couple truths from last Sunday’s sermon as well. Pastor Morris Brown brought a word a week ago about God’s Word, our Absolute Truth, and Pastor Joe Green brought another one yesterday about Obedience, Faith, & Agreement.

The Word of God is not only full of power packed truths. It is the Absolute Truth. The final say. It does not return void. It will not return to the Father in Heaven without having accomplished what He intended it to do here on earth!

So why on earth would we not choose to obey it, have faith in it, and agree with what it says? I can tell you, the alternative doesn’t bode well temporarily and doesn’t end well in light of eternity.

God gave us His Word for a reason. He wants us to read it, apply it, and live by it. And the ONLY way to do that is through OBEDIENCE, FAITH, and AGREEMENT.

What does that mean?!? I’m glad you asked. Here’s an answer through the wisdom I gleaned from the words of Pastor Green...

Honestly, these three words are one in the same. Of course, if you looked them up in the dictionary, the definitions would vary, but hear me out as and you’ll better understand what I’m talking about as we look at a few passages of scripture and dig a little deeper into the meaning of and the power behind these three words.

I’ll start with the same question Pastor Green asked the congregation on Sunday morning:

Do you love love God or do you just like love God? In other words, where is your devotion?

Is your love merely lip service and maybe occasionally attending a church service, or is it all consuming so much so that it has you daily pursuing?

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o.BE.DIE.nce

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o.BE.DIE.nce

Obedience seems to be the theme on the blog this week, and I’ve learned from experience, when a word resonates, there’s a reason, especially when words within the word resonate, too. So, without further ado, let me break it down for you. That’s what the Lord did for me, and in order to live it out, it’s so important to understand what it’s all about!


o.BE.DIE.nce.

That word smack dab in the middle of the word — DIE. Die to self so I can live for Him. And then the word that comes just before it — BE. Be with God first, so I can serve Him best.

I’m a doer by nature. The word “obedience” has always appealed to my “doer heart.” God says, “Do this,” I obey. Plain and simple. But, well, it’s not that plain and simple. If I make obedience about a formulaic task, before long, I forget the heart of obedience, and make it more about my work and less about His will. I replace obedience with busyness.

And then before I know it, busyness has stolen the spotlight from obedience. Yep, we all battle busyness (to some degree). It invades every life stage and is no respecter of age. It even creeps in to the slower pace forced by a global pandemic. Busyness isn’t limited to our schedules outside the home, it can creep in to our to do’s lists at home, too!

Busyness manifests itself in the way we relate, respond, and react to others. It affects the way we cope and robs us of our hope. It even masks itself as honorable responsibility, and we wear it like some Medal of Honor around our neck hoping others see significance, when in reality, we are choking trying to make a difference.

We can organize it, categorize it, colorcode it, and try to unload it, but it attacks, fights back, and cuts us no slack. Why does it keep winning? We get a handle on it, scale back a bit, and then boom, it hits us again, this time harder and stronger. How do we battle back?

As I wrestle with it myself, I can’t offer you a tried and true 5-step plan to get rid of it or a foolproof “how to” program to manage it, but I can offer these 4 “r” words as a little piece of advice that always invite peace into my busy life. All four of them reminders of true o.BE.DIE.nce...

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Here Am I for the Great I Am: Making Sense of Obedience

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Here Am I for the Great I Am: Making Sense of Obedience

Recently, my Monday mornings have been spent pouring over my notes from Sunday sermons. When you are given such rich truths, you want to make sure they take root!

Sunday morning, Pastor Joe opens the Word and brings a word. He then challenges us with that word to obediently live the Word so we can give the Word to a world desperate for a word. We know that the only word that can bring a word worth hearing and heeding is God‘s Word, so we’ll start there again today (and every day), as we learn what it truly means to trust and obey...

Genesis 22. I’m sure you’re familiar with this passage. I thought I was, too, until I found out Isaac was much older than I had imagined him when he made the multiple day journey with his father to Mount Moriah to carry out an act of obedience that would be hard at any age or life stage.

I’ve always thought Isaac was this young boy (likely a toddler), walking alongside his dad, maybe even carried by him at times because of the long trek they had up that mountain. But as Pastor Joe recapped this story as he read and reread details from the text, emphasizing timelines and connecting the series of events with the previous and following chapters, he concluded Isaac was likely 37 years old at the time of this journey.

I know. Shocking, right? For those of you to whom this is new news, I’ll give you a minute. Believe me, I’ve taken quite a few myself yesterday and today, dissecting the text, looking for myself, seeking to truly understand that which I cannot fully comprehend.

And that, dear friend, is what Bible study is all about — reading the Word in a way that It can read us, teach us, and beseech us to live according to It. God’s Word is alive and active. (Hebrews 4:12) It changes us, from the inside out, so It’s not just something we talk about, it’s our deepest desire to live it out.

So, when I recovered from the shock of discovering how old Isaac was at the time of this event, I was able to glean these three lessons about OBEDIENCE…

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