Shepherd

Today should be an interesting one. It's OneCreek at the Creek and that means everything is 35% off! What this really means is why yes, I'll come in and work the opening shift. However, it's been raining since about 2:00 am, how do I know this? Yes! I have been up that long! Nice thunder and lighting, scared herd all in the bedroom, Preacher man slept through it all! So far this is turning into a Yes kinda day!


Today I wanted to share with you what the spiritual gift of shepherding looks like. A lot of folks think this is mainly for pastors, it is a gift you hope your pastor has, but alas, not all of them do. Preacher man and I both have this gift, which is a good thing for our future church. 


Shepherding: Persons gifted in the area of shepherding have the unique ability to take responsibility for the long term spiritual growth of a group of believers. They see guiding, feeding, and protecting a flock of Christ's followers as their responsibility. They are motivated by a desire to see those under them enjoying spiritual health and growth. If you scored high in this area, you should look for an area of ministry where discipleship is emphasized and in which you can guide others to greater spiritual maturity. 


This means walking beside people as they grow their faith and ask the hard questions. This is what has slowing been happening to me, not through the church, but with friends. They are telling me they are having a hard time hearing from God, or that He seems so far away. The next thing that happens is you start skipping your daily time with God and you wonder why your living in a desert. I think we forget that God isn't just God on Sunday, he's God even in the  darkness of our lives. In fact, for me he is more God in the darkness of my life IF I will but seek him. If I wait on the feeling of wanting to spend time with God to come, I would be backing up. I have to seek him everyday where he will be found. So where do you find him? Are you giving him 10 minutes a Bible time? Or do you sing a song on the way to work and call that worship? The important thing is to start somewhere. If it's 10 minutes, Great! If it's singing a praise song on the way to work, crank it up! But don't stop or settle with that, because that isn't growing in Christ, that's living on milk toast! Our teeth don't become strong when we live on milk toast.

I have decided that my faith will not be determined by the church I attend. Church on Sunday is where we go to celebrate and praise God. Sunday school should be about keeping short accounts of how is it with your soul, not where we learn. That's not what Wesley intended it to be, but we have decided that we would rather spend 45 minutes chatting about some book that someone wrote about something in the Bible, than talk about how the Bible rocked our world this past week. Do you know why it has turned into that? Because we don't spend time in the Bible and allow it to rock our world. 


So when I get woke up at crazy early times, I drag myself out of bed and I sit in my big chair and I open up my Bible and I spend time with the Creator of the universe. He is showing me His plan for my life in small patches and I'm digging it! He is the master of my day today. 
Did you send time with the Creator of the universe today? He's waiting on you to show up!