Genesis

1 - I am having some major technical difficulties with the site today. Nothing I post shows up on the main page. So, until resolved I put the post here.

2 things for this post-

1- Some thoughts from this Sunday... I know it's cliche sounding, but it is true, God does not call the equipped, He equips the called. Also, a question for discussion, what are some anchors that you see in our walk with God? (Anchors being those things that we are unwilling or feel unable to let go of, ie. sin, guilt, past...)

2- We are working on a new blog site that gives us more creative freedom. We are hoping to offer some new and different features. What would you like to see? What have you ran into at other sites that we might want to explore?

I look forward to your comments.

ben (Comment this)

2 - A couple of weeks ago you posted the "Go Deeper" notes from the bulletin. Is there an easy way to have the bible versus linked to an online bible? (Comment this)

3 - I like the way the OOZE or even the WLC Youth site is set up with categories for commentary (could still have a sermon/series area but also encourage discussions about culture, spiritual/faith questions, how about a "Send Me" ShareZone - to give people ideas on how to perhaps challenge their servanthood?) Also at the leadership forum it was quite interesting to see the results of the weekly polls so maybe some sort of weekly poll might be interesting?

Build it and hopefully more bloggers will come :) (Comment this)

4 - Time (as the excuse). MercyMe has a song lyric that sums it up “Sometimes I feel disappointed By the way I spend my time - How can I further Your kingdom - When I'm so wrapped up in mine?” I have to admit the majority of busy-ness in my life is focused more away from God than toward him so when I get bogged down in the details of every day life, its tough to do figure out what the necessary things I need to still do to keep a roof over my head, my family leveled and my work on course and still figure out where God figures into that? When it shouldn't be necessary to "figure him in" at all but understanding how to get to the relationship with him that he IS already in everything.

Trust in God’s voice. We make it too complicated to Go with God! To let go of past failures and realize that sometimes you just aren’t meant to do everything well and the relationship doesn't stop there but moves on. Could it be our failures might equip us to do something greater? And letting go of the doubt or the cynical voice in our head wondering why he seems so visible in other people’s life but not our own.

Self esteem. Being okay with being different and freely expressing our relationship with God. (Comment this)

5 - Do you think any or every person needs to be broken before identifying with their walk with God? (Comment this)

6 - An uncertainity in God's love because we think we are unworthy of accepting it?

The idea that we need to completely fix whatever is broken before moving into a relationship with him.

I don't know anyone who likes awkward conversations. The idea has been tossed out to share faith in the workplace or when opportunities present themselves. Do we stay silent? Do we speak? And what if they have a question about God? Do we stay silent so we don't have to admit everything we don't know or trust that God will equip us to eventually find the answer?

Reading Pastor Dean's message from the newsletter and anyone who heard Chuck Ripka speak at the leadership forum, Mr. Ripka said he has had no one say no when he has asked them if they'd like to pray with him. Are we comfortable in our own skin so we can be bold enough to grasp chances when so moved? Are we too careful about invading other people's personal space that we just don't do anything to reach out to them?

Something I've also been thinking about is if I'm grasping onto the "fluffy" parts of walking with Him and steer clear of the more, I'll call it "over my head" (for lack of a better term) parts of walking with Him and how that is effecting my relationship with Him? If I pick and choose what moves me or makes me feel and when I look over all that I'm looking over, what am I missing because I choose to not pay attention to it? (Comment this)

7 - Quite by accident our water-cooler discussion at work yesterday centered around a comment made by one person who's family member is having a hard time believing in God, who also created a person close to her, who abused people in her family. This spiraled into more difficult scenarios that all lead back to the question or anchor in my opinion, how do you recognize sin and not somehow blame God for allowing it to exist and not let that taint your expanding and exploring your relationship with God? (Comment this)

8 - One way to respond to this type of a question is to look at sin as the absence of God rather than God "allowing it to exist". After all, he gave us free will, and out of that we have chosen not to have Him in all areas of our lives. This keeps us from blaming God for the bad things that happen to us and can end up drawing us closer to Him through the difficult times. (Comment this)