Greetings from Austin Street

Happy Monday!  All is well here at 811. Bruce is stepping out once again and has returned to Bible Study Fellowship.  He seems to be really enjoying it. I am not sure how much he discusses in his BSF group, but I know he devotes time each day to studying the lesson for the upcoming week. Way to go darlin’!

I received in the mail today my application for ordination, paper topics and search and call papers. Even though I do not yet feel called to serve as a congregational leader I most assuredly feel and believe I am called to the ministry of Jesus Christ as a ministerial presence  in representative ministry.  Please be in pray as I prepare these documents for presentation to my local committee, the area and region of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ in preparation for my final ordination interview to be held at the end of April 2015.  Thank you all.

The candle is lit…

God, in you is my all in all. My worth, glory and joy is because you loved me first making me a part of Your good creation.  I thank you for accepting me and loving me. I praise you for delighting in me and leading me in a path that leads right back to you. Thank you for your words of encouragement. As You encourage me I become the person you created me to be. Thank you for looking far enough inside the sacred space of my heart strengthening my skills…even the ones I don’t know are there.  I love you Lord so very much. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Do you ever have days when you think that you are an epic failure? I know that is a really awful question, but I have those days. Those are the days when I want to sing the song we used to sing to the kids when they were down in the dumps…”Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I going to the garden and eat worms!”  We all get down in the dumps every now and then and when those days happen we need to stop and remember something or better yet…someone very important. We need to remember our Creator.  Our Creator; God created us out of great love for us and cares for us deeply. God has created us for a deeply personal relationship with Him through the life of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.  One of the reasons this relationship is so important is as we each commit acts of sin, God does not approve, but because of this relationship we have with God we are empowered to turn from those sins and receive forgiveness.  When we receive forgiveness our feelings of failure and doubt are turned into streams of victory and we know the delight God has in us once again.

“The Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with salvation. Let the godly celebrate in triumphal glory; let them shout for joy.”

Psalm 149: 4-5

Take joy in the journey praying, praising, laughing and encouraging  others as you go. Wear comfortable shoes, pray for yourself and others and get some sleep. Love you all, Bruce and Gaylene