Monday, June 15, 2009

Blessed Sunday!! What a wonderful day! Worship was so wonderful today. Our team of volunteers returned from Mexico with the wonderful stories of building a house for a family. But mostly the stories of the “little miracles” from God that happened throughout the week were the one that touched my heart. One of the stories was that someone in the neighborhood who ran up to them told them “Don’t you know you are hammering for Jesus?” They gave thanks for things like shade, a breeze, a bathroom and hot meal and other simple gifts that we look at as everyday occurrences and conveniences.

2 Corinthians 5: 16-17 ‘So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come.”

Our team, Advent, who worked through the Casas por Christo, were 17 people who were not master builders, not contractors or even devotees of Home Depot. They were however, people who were empowered by the Holy Spirit and the God who loved them to go and build a house for a family who now has a sturdy house with a set of keys that they can call their own. These amazing people were the “ambassadors for Christ” spoken about in this passage of scripture and the following verses. They took something old, unsafe and falling apart and replaced it with a wonderful house that this family could call their own. The old has passed away and the new has come.

They did this wonderful act as apostles. Apostles are disciples who were trained and taught by the Master and empowered to speak and act in His name.

But it was not only a house that was built. It was a mustard seed faith that as the week progressed bloomed and grew so did their faith as did the faith of the neighborhood, the local church and the family who was to receive the house. With each board that was cut, each nail hammered and each room laid out there were prayers of thanksgiving and ecstatic, exhaustive joy was expressed. One of the team members summed up the trip in these words, “How can I be so exhausted and feel so refreshed.” The Holy Spirit kept the spirits, minds and bodies focused on the task at hand.

When is the last time we have been so exhausted and at the same time felt so refreshed? When was the last time we emptied ourselves in the name of Jesus? When was the last time we showed “grace in action” and expected nothing in return? Christ emptied Himself for us out of the love for us given by the Father. By the time Jesus reached Golgotha’s hill, He was exhausted and still had a few hours to go. Just before He died Jesus looked to the heavens and said, “It is finished.”

I don’t know what the team did when the last nail was hammered and the keys were handed to the family. I don’t know if the team said, “It is finished” or not, but they completed their task. They emptied themselves for the lives of others. For just a few short days, this wonderful team became Jesus.

They took joy in the journey. Let us do the same. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

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