Day six…almost there

I’m on my phone again. No fire alarm this time. I just really enjoyed getting to use my cool Swype keyboard to type a full length blog entry. I’m a nerd like that.

First, I apologize for posting a link to the facebook page yesterday and telling all of you that there are pictures there. They are actually not there. I assume they will be. That’s where the photographer told me they were going to be. They just aren’t there yet.

Lots of crews finished houses today, and we got the news that if we make it through tomorrow without one, we could be the first World Changers team ever to finish a week with no injuries! Pray that the dream becomes a reality.

The teams that are finished with their projects are spending the day tomorrow with teams that are a bit behind. Some houses were still having shingles ripped off as of today. Pray for speed. Safe speed, but still speed.

The girls have yet to send me all the pictures and video they claim to have. The video I can’t upload without wifi, and the pictures I can’t upload until they send them. If you are family or friends and would like to see their media from the trip, you have my permission to harass them.

Tonight Ron was talking during worship about putting God first in our lives. This wasn’t the verse he used, but it’s the passage that came to my mind on the topic:

Luke 14:15-24 NKJV

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed  is  he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”  Then He said to him,  “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,  and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’  But they all with one  accord  began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’  And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’  Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’  So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here  the  poor and  the  maimed and  the  lame and  the  blind.’  And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’  Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel  them  to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”

Every one of the people in the parable had a reason to miss the occasion. The reasons weren’t even bad things. Real estate, livestock, and matrimony aren’t normally on the list of heinous, horrible sins. But it was not those actions themselves that upset the man who had invited them to dinner. It was their blatant disregard for his affection and preparation for them. The consequence was that they lost their seats at the table.

If at any point in our lives or ministries we disregard God’s affection for us and His preparation for us, we can expect consequences. I’m not saying that a believer gets punished for a moment of weakness. Believers don’t get punished. All our punishment was dealt with on the cross. What I AM saying is that life can get considerably more complicated when we put something before God as the object of our praise and adoration. Our God is a jealous God and will share His glory with no one and nothing.

Just ask Abraham. God promised He’d take care of him. A famine set in, and instead of trusting God, Abraham fled to Egypt. He bowed to the idol of security. He then, still worshiping the same idol, lied and said that Sarah was his sister. Pharaoh took her, God let Pharaoh feel the power because he was ripping off His boy, and Pharaoh gave Sarah back along with tons of stuff…including male and female servants. Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, was an Egyptian servant. Ishmael and his descendents STILL oppose God and His chosen people, Israel. Consequences for not trusting. Not necessarily punishment, but consequences nonetheless.

Our lives, ministries, jobs, hobbies, traditions, and even churches can become idols of we put them before Jesus Himself. And there are consequences for doing that.

We’ve got one day left. We need energy. Encourograms are officially closed as of tomorrow, so thanks for the encouragement through them! Still feel welcome to send your own brand of encouragement through blog comments, facebook, and the Contact Us page.

Thanks guys!