Nightly Team Meetings

We just finished our nightly team share time. We come together each night and share from the day's events. Various people have been asked to also share a devotion. Today the VBS teams had the opportunity to present the plan of salvation to each of their groups. Some teams reported planting seeds, others saw more immediate results from spontaneous worship through song, and comments and questions. It's encouraging to listen to how each person has been affected and seen God move that particular day. Amazing just how God can take something average or mundane and use that to create opportunities to share or discover.

Tonight Ryan and Dora shared a song with us to conclude our share time, very appropriate.
These two have wonderful talent and it's refreshing to see such talent used to glorify and share for the Lord.

The construction team and landscaping team that are assigned to Muizenberg have had the opportunity twice to join in the devotion with the homeless that show up for spiritual and nutrional food. This morning I noticed all the songs requested were all praise and worship; such as "Majesty", and "Open The Eyes of My Heart". It still baffles me that the same songs are sung all over the world. I observed that several of our team members set with homeless guys and ladies instead of our own memebers. Some seemed to accept this easy and others a little sensitive to their territory. The devotion this morning was given by a lady that used to work in the Living Grace office at Muzienberg. She spole on the parable of The Prodigal Son, she called it the parable of The Lost Son. I had never considered that term before, however that is very accurrate of his condition. She went on to say that God is waiting for us to return even if we have messed up by doignthings not appropriate , many of these people are drug users, former users, all sorts of backgrounds. She was speaking on their level, in terms they could relate to.

The main take away I realized this morning was that this is exactly how "church" looks and feels!
Think about it, someone has obvious needs, and are almost out of hope and just can't make it on their own anymore. Another person comes by and shares with them the greatest news of all time and gives them hope. They point out that God is in control and not only has the answers, but IS the answer!

I think we get so caught up in programs and routines, that we forget that the early church did not meet at the First Baptist Church of The Holy Land, instead they met in small groups throughout the community taking the message of God's love to the people. It's difficult to ever reach a lost person if we never are around any nor interact with them. Sometimes this means going on their turf, no matter how uncomfortable that may be to us. Honestly a homeless shelter is not my idea of the perfect place to hang out, yet God has used that to show me a very real example of the church in action.

I'll leave you on this note: How quickly do we judge or dismiss someone just because of how they look, act, dress, or even smell? So many times we disgard them and their contribution to society. Just like the prodigal son or a homeless person sleeping on the street .........God accepts us no matter where we've been, how we look, dress, smell, or what we've done. If God was willing to welcome us with open arms , even though we were covered in the filth of the world and smelled of sin, should we not offer the same acceptance to those we meet????