Mentoring Groups

Well, it's been a year and a half since I blogged. I was reading a blog today and it hit me - I have so much I want to share but no one to listen. So I'm writing it down and maybe someday my great-grandkids will wonder "What do you think Granny thought about this?" and will look at the long forgotten blogs. By then they'll have some futuristic name for it, I'm sure. One of the things I'm working on right now is loosely organizing a mentoring group at our church. We have started small with only a few groups who are meeting a few times a month to get to know each other. We began in January (sort of) and then more officially in March. We will go on with our groups until December and then evaluate how it has gone. The purpose of these groups is to develop relationships between women to have someone on your side as you walk through this year of life. Some of the women are "older" women and some are just a little bit age-difference. So, to help on this mentoring group, I attended a conference in Colorado Springs a few weeks ago sponsored by the Network of Christian Mentoring or something like that. It was held at Glen Eyrie (The Navigators) at the back of the Garden of the Gods. It was exciting enough just being in the beautiful spot, but the conference was very well done and very practical. I found that the plans and organizing we have made so far are right on track. We are not "over-structuring" or trying to manage these groups, but allowing God to develop the relationships Himself - with our willingness only. The one thing that we need to do now is find a goal for each group. Or rather, they should find their own goal. How will you know if you were effective if you don't have something to move toward? Some need spiritual disciplines and accountability. Some need to know God in a way that shows His involvement in everyday life. Some have major problems. Some have minor problems. Everyone has a need for a mentor - or to be a mentor. This is a function of the church body. I'm glad to see ours moving that way. If you are in one of our mentoring groups, let me know how it's going and if you need help in developing goals. We will be having a "group-wide" fellowship toward the end of June. I hope we have lots to talk about then. Until the next coffee break - "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength - and your neighbor as yourself."

Christ in you, the hope of glory

Is it just assumed that Christ is "in" you or do some of you have to think about it? For me, it was a conundrum that had to be sorted out. I knew intellectually that when I was saved that Christ indwelt me but after that tidbit of information, I was lost on understanding it. As I study Scripture, though, I am seeing more and more that His life is actually in me, not like "possession" (like demon possession) but rather like His spirit made my spirit alive (which was dead in sins) and with His life in me, I can now think like Him and be what He is.

Now I'm thinking through the appropriation of that life and how to explain all that Scripture and experience has revealed to me over the last couple of decades. The central verse for this is Galatians 2:20 - "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I love by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."

More to come..

The Hope of Glory

Do you care if you bring "glory" to God? We know that we have fallen short of it according to Romans 3:23. I always "hope" I do. But what is it and how do you really know if you do?

The formal Bible definition is "opinion, judgment, view" and "splendour, brightness" but that's not real clear to me. I can definitely give my opinion, judgment and view of God's splendour and brightness with my mouth but can you know for sure that people see the glory of God in you?

This post is not a theological discussion of glory per se, but rather what I'm studying right now about God and His glory. Colossians 1:27 gives the foundation of our hope of glory - which is Christ in you. Christ is the express image of God and as He lives His life out through us, the glory of God is seen. So much of what we do is "trying" to show God's glory by our actions and works, but our self works do not bring glory to anyone other than our self. In the grand scheme of things, if you want to bring glory to God, you must have Christ in you. More on this later.

Study of the Book of Micah

We just finished a study of Micah - one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. We saw a picture of God that we rarely hear about these days. I remember in my childhood, preachers would talk about the wrath of God and the reality of hell. It was one of my foundational beliefs and even though I strayed from the Lord later in life, I never doubted for a minute that God would not tolerate sin. This study reminded me that God will judge my sin - just as He did and is going to judge the national sin of Israel. We in America will also be judged with all the nations of the world. My hope is that in that national judgment (because of abortion, gay rights, and other laws passed that are out and out sins against God) I personally will remain close and obedient to Him, bearing the reproach of my people in America, just as Micah did in Israel.

How abou you? Do you think America deserves the judgment of God? The judgment He passed on Israel was captivity by other nations and being scattered throughout all the world - losing its identity and becoming a joke to all the world. It wasn't just a threat - it actually happened. I hope we don't think America can escape judgment if Israel didn't, and what form that will take will be an interesting thing to see. Will another nation come over and take us over? A very real possibility today.

If so, how will you react? Will you be angry with your fellow Americans? Will you be sad that they sinned and pray for God's forgiveness for them? I hope we don't wait until it happenes to begin caring about our fellow Americans. Let this care and conern begin in the house of God - the church.

Shopping trip with Annie

It's been a long time since Annie has been with me "alone". She mostly wants someone else to be with her when she stays the night. But this time she asked if she could come by herself. Of course I said yes. She asked if we could go shopping so we went to the mall and I continued our ongoing lessons of how we shop. We look at everything first and then decide if there's something we really want, have the money to buy and then go back to get it. Of course what she wanted to look at first was jewelry. I think she would have a room full of jewelry and stuffed animals and nothing else if she could get away with it. We looked at necklaces, bracelets, earrings (she can't have dangly earrings yet!). She found a couple of things around $290 and said we'd have to save our money for those! We looked at wedding rings and other stuff. Then we found a "treasure box" with a cute pair of stud earrings. She decided to carry those around the store while we looked at everything else. Needless to say, those came home with us and a happy little girl and her Granny.

Priesthood of Christ

When was the last time you studied (or even thought about) the fact that Jesus is our High Priest. We had a very interesting study this morning in our study of Hebrews about it and it got me to thinking. In Baptist theology, we don't "do" priests. So trying to apply a priesthood to ourselves is all theory. We acknowledge the facts that it exists - of course the Bible teaches it - but as far as it having anything to do with us personally - I wonder how many actually know how it operates.

We hear about Catholics who go to confession to a priest, receive "penances" and then go on their way. We sort of don't think that's Biblical. So do we just ignore the priesthood or do we know the truth about what we are supposed to do?

A straw poll: do you regularly appear before your High Priest? If so, what do you do there?

Heading Home

It seems that Wednesdays get longer and longer. I try coming in early and getting stuff done before Awana but still find myself having to do some last minute things for the Bible Study on Thursday mornings. Here I am at 9:25 p.m. just getting ready to head home. I can't leave though until I know I'm ready for tomorrow. Once in a while I forget and think I'll just finish up my Bible study when I get home but something very strange happens when I leave this building. I get into my car and drive out of the parking lot and my mind immediately goes to Ron, my babies, Lindsay, Landra, or something going on in my family. I don't even think about my Bible study again until just before I fall asleep. Not to say I get up to finish it. I think, oh, I'll finish it in the morning. I never do. I just go on with what I've prepared and I'm always sorry.

I'm sure that all of you reading this do everything you should on time and in the proper order. If I did, I'd have my Bible study done on Monday afternoons so that on Tuesday I could concentrate on VBS and Wednesday, Awana, etc. How do you do it? Tell me your secret please!