Being the Church
Last week God gave me three opportunities to serve and reveled to me what it means to be the church in action.
The first opportunity came when a guy in his early 50’s and who is mentally disabled came to our church and showed me a citation for $1,050 because of garbage in his yard. He stated that if he didn’t clean up his yard they would throw him in jail. (Apparently they have been trying to get him to clean up his yard for quite some time).
Last Friday two guys from our church, a thrift truck driver and I went to his house with a John Deer (brush hog on wheels!), weed-eater, shovels, and a thrift store truck and cleaned up his yard.
Another opportunity came when a guy was unable to collect his SSI check from his payee. According to him, the payee stiffs him every month and only gives him money when she feels like it. I went with him and collected his remaining $100.
I am now his new payee. I’m working to get free from having a payee altogether.
The third opportunity came just last Sunday morning. God had given me a word that he wanted me to share with a lady in the hospital. So I dropped by the hospital before church to give her the word. Unfortunately the lady was sleeping (due to heavy medication) and I was unable to give her the word. Come to find out, God tricked me. He had something else for me to do.
On the way out of the hospital a guy stopped me and asked if I could help him. He had been living in a hotel and his wife left him because he could not find work. She took his car and left him stranded with no place to go.
I visited with him for about a half an hour, took him back to the hotel and paid for one night. His mother would come the next day and pick him up. I prayed with him and went to church.
On my way to church, God said to me: “Bret, through what other organization can you do all that?”
There’s no doubt that we face many challenges within our organization. But if we will just listen and obey the Spirit of God we can find incredible opportunities to carry out His mission and be the church. With all the restrictions, we still have incredible freedom.
The first opportunity came when a guy in his early 50’s and who is mentally disabled came to our church and showed me a citation for $1,050 because of garbage in his yard. He stated that if he didn’t clean up his yard they would throw him in jail. (Apparently they have been trying to get him to clean up his yard for quite some time).
Last Friday two guys from our church, a thrift truck driver and I went to his house with a John Deer (brush hog on wheels!), weed-eater, shovels, and a thrift store truck and cleaned up his yard.
Another opportunity came when a guy was unable to collect his SSI check from his payee. According to him, the payee stiffs him every month and only gives him money when she feels like it. I went with him and collected his remaining $100.
I am now his new payee. I’m working to get free from having a payee altogether.
The third opportunity came just last Sunday morning. God had given me a word that he wanted me to share with a lady in the hospital. So I dropped by the hospital before church to give her the word. Unfortunately the lady was sleeping (due to heavy medication) and I was unable to give her the word. Come to find out, God tricked me. He had something else for me to do.
On the way out of the hospital a guy stopped me and asked if I could help him. He had been living in a hotel and his wife left him because he could not find work. She took his car and left him stranded with no place to go.
I visited with him for about a half an hour, took him back to the hotel and paid for one night. His mother would come the next day and pick him up. I prayed with him and went to church.
On my way to church, God said to me: “Bret, through what other organization can you do all that?”
There’s no doubt that we face many challenges within our organization. But if we will just listen and obey the Spirit of God we can find incredible opportunities to carry out His mission and be the church. With all the restrictions, we still have incredible freedom.
posted by Bret at
8:05 AM
4 Comments:
Hey Bret,
Nice post. I completely agree with you. There are a lot of restrictions and traditional values that we don't all value, however, there is no organization or body of believers where I could even begin to imagine having the same opportunities.
I love The Army, and I'm so glad that I am an officer.
Thanks for the reminder.
In His dust,
Johnny
By
Johnny, at 8:49 PM
Please understand that this comment comes in complete sincerity. I understand that we do not know each other, so this may be more than I should say. But here it goes...
After reading many of your comments on other blogs (particularly Larry's recently, with the "an army that no longer needs God" & "territorial events make my stomach turn") it's refreshing to hear a positive word from you. God bless you and your ministry.
By
bedemike, at 11:20 PM
Bedemike,
Thanks for commenting. I understand your concern. My comments, however, are taken out of context. Larry’s questions evoked my response.
Have you ever had a bruise or cut on your knuckles . . . and every time you turn around you find yourself hitting the same bruise again and again? It takes a while to heal and can be very annoying and painful.
Larry’s blogs are certainly relevant and they challenge the army (and me). But many times, his thoughts and questions hit a sore spot . . . a bruise that hasn’t quite healed.
Bumping your knuckle for the first time is one thing, but hitting the same sore spot again and again is frustrating.
I don’t know if that makes sense or not. I apologize if my personal feelings and opinions are offensive, I really don’t mean to be . . .
Blessings,
Bret
By
Bret, at 4:49 PM
Thanks for writing this.
By
Anonymous, at 3:42 PM
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