Dear Friends,
These last few weeks are going to be fast and furious! I know you all have so much on your plates. Well here’s more. But this stuff is like dessert! It’s fun.
Here is some important info:
- Tonight we are going to move with the cheese some more. We will continue to look at what change can teach us and how it can be a good thing.
- This Sunday night we will have our Ladies Tea Party. I already bought the food, and it is going to be good! We will meet at my house at 7pm. Call me at 842-2880 or e-mail me if you need directions.
- Next Sunday night will be our Guys Cookout. Since the girls get their own tea party, guys we’re going to grill out. We’ll probably meet about 6pm so we can enjoy the outdoors. Again meet at my house.
- Sunday, May 7th will be our Senior Worship service at the Wesley Foundation. Come and help us bless and commission our seniors as they step out into the world.
Also, did you know we will be visiting some area churches in the next three weeks, sharing about what God is doing at the Wesley Foundation? Come and join us:
April 23 (This Sunday)—Christ UMC, meet there at 8am (8:45a & 11am services). Food provided after church.
April 30 (Next Sunday)—Mt. Union UMC
May 7 (Following Sunday)—Faith UMC
Whew! Enough announcements. How about some of:
Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus!
Last week my computer was out of commission. I had to have it worked on because it was running incredibly slow. After I got it back, Tim (my husband) suggested I try to delete some things off of my hard drive to free up some room and make my computer run better. After finally finding a CD I could burn info to, I began clearing out my desktop.
Wow! I never knew I had so many pictures on my hard drive! And not those little thumbnail things either. These are the high resolution, takes a hundred minutes to download by dial-up, kind of pictures. No wonder my computer has been so slow. It’s been carrying a heavy load. I’ve notice that the heavier my load, the slower I make it up the hill to campus. Same is true for computers. Got to let go of some stuff so that better stuff can get done!
The spiritual life is like that too. Some of us are carrying heavy loads. It can be seen in eyes that are weary, angry, teaming with emotion or grim resolution. We just can’t let go of some stuff. Well, there’s always a reason. I guess the part of cleaning out our spiritual hard drive begins with finding out why we are still attached to things we should have let go of a long time ago. Then I guess we have to take an honest look at how much hanging on to that burden is costing us as we try to navigate our daily lives. The big question is: “Is it worth it?”
Even as I write those words I am hit by the memory of when that question changed my life. I was alone on an interstate, driving home by myself, four long hours ahead of me. I had just walked out of the exit interview for my application to be ordained Elder in full connection in the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Six people who had looked at my paperwork and observed my day-long interview had just delivered the verdict that sent my head spinning in ways I couldn’t imagine: Not at this time. “What do you mean ‘not at this time!’” my insides were screaming. I had come so close, just to walk away with nothing. Except a question.
That long drive home was a spiritual passage for me. It began a process of cleaning out my spiritual hard drive. Up to that point I didn’t even know my hard drive was overburdened. I just knew in those long moments driving home that I was miserable, and I didn’t want to fight for the life I was living. It was as if my eyes were opened to the truth that pastoring in a church was taking away more life than it was giving. That’s when God set me on a path to be where I am and who I am today. I love being a campus minister; I’m passionate about it; I’d fight tooth and nail to keep doing it. At the end of the day I’m glad to go back and do it all again tomorrow. And it’s worth every bit of growing, changing, and dying to self I’ve had to do to do it.
What about you? Is it worth it? Is that heavy load worth carrying around anymore? Is it time to make some room on your hard drive? The truth of the cross and resurrection is that some things in us must die for the more perfect things to arise. If Jesus could help clean off my hard drive, know that it can happen for you too:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:19-20).
Blessings,
Sami
No comments:
Post a Comment