Oprah are you out there...

What if Oprah read my blog... would the simple effect of here brain taking in the information cause a cosmic shift in the forces of nature so that somehow every person in America was impacted by something I wrote. Probably not.

Thwapp

I had an interesting conversation today with a guy named Wayne MacLeod. He's a writer. He does commentaries on the bible, has them translated into a bunch of different language and sends them all over the world; Korea, India, Africa. He used to go to our church but God has him on a different path right now. But we got talking about some of the people that go to my church, not gossiping, the opposite in fact. He was talking about how important he saw the role some people have in the church that I have never seen as important. Now I barely know Wayne, and he hasn't really been at church since I've been there so he probably has no idea how I feel about or relate to anyone in the church. For example, we have a guy he's one of the founding members of the church. Every Sunday he and his wife are the some of the first people at the church. He passes out the the bulletin and shakes every persons hand who comes in our church. I'm intimidated by him. I don't think he knows that (unless he happens to read this post) but I've often thought "do we really need him at the door every Sunday?" I think it would be safe to say that he and I wouldn't see eye to eye on lots of things in the church. But that's not really important is it? This is my confession, I've never seen the value in what he does at door each week until the Lord opened my eyes today by a throw away comment that Wayne made. You see I have my perspective of what is important in seeing the kingdom come to earth, shaking hands is not a big part of it, but who says my kingdom view is spot on. The Lord has given him a place in our church, who am I to say it is more or less important than the job he's given anyone else. The bible is crystal clear that we need all the parts of the body if we're going to function as the body of Christ, even the hand. Did you ever get smacked in the face by the figurative "hand of God", well today I kind of got that, in a good way. Even though I know God has us going in a different direction as a church, I know he doesn't want any of the sheep left behind, or scared away. He actually has a plan and a purpose for all of his sheep. You know how Jesus says sin is sin, if you break one you break them all. Well, I think that same principal applies to our work in the kingdom. While some work in the kingdom may seem more "important" from a human perspective- like some sins seem worse from a human perspective- I think God sees it all as equal. I don't think he's impressed by what particular job or role we play, just that we are obedient to whatever he's called us to and whatever he's given us. Check out the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16. Jesus reminded me today that he's the master and I'm just another labourer. If someones role in the kingdom is to shake everyone's hand who walks through the doors of our church (not that that's the only thing he does), then that is as important as someone preaching or teaching Sunday School or going to South America to fix teeth. On Sunday morning I'm going to shake his hand and tell him I appreciate him. That'll probably be a little awkward and weird for both of us, (or maybe just me), but for some reason we need that hand to be a complete body. That's how God designed it, that's good enough for me.