The Harvest

Since Easter, my church has been part of a 50 day, 24 hours a day prayer watch over and for our city (Lynchburg, VA). While it is officially over on Sunday, tonight we had a celebration gathering in honor of the prayer vigil. My time was normally 9 to 10 PM on Saturday night.

It was great to see all the various churches who participated in the event. There were believers from many different traditions – all of whom were putting tradition aside for the better part of unity. It was a wonderful time of celebration, worship and togetherness. I will miss the 50 days when it’s over (my last hour is Saturday). Being alone with God – especially in a place where none of “my stuff” or my kids/wife could interrupt me – was something special.

During the service, one of the speakers said something that spoke to me. Jesus said “pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest.” In the verse before Jesus said that the “harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

I have always been told that I needed to pray for “the lost” (the harvest). But, should I be praying for the laborers even more? The harvest is already there; it’s white and waiting to be taken in. All it needs is laborers.

So – while I don’t think it’s error to pray for the lost; I think that I need to be adding into my prayers for laborers (including myself) to be sent into the lives of these people. God has already ripened their hearts; all they need is someone to bring them in.

Something to think about – Andy

Something else: If you don’t know about this, I recommend going there and praying to see if God wants you to join the fast. http://fastandpray.com/ also see www.thecall.com.

Crazy

Sometime this year - my wife gave me a series of worship DVDs from Morningstar in Charlotte. and I finally got around to watching all of them. The worship is great - rocking, soul-filling stuff. It always makes me want to be a better musician when I listen to them; but not just that, it makes me want to be a better worshiper (and worship leader).

Leonard Jones (who is the worship leader at MS) began talking about how we needed to be as energetic about worshiping our God as the world is about worshiping their gods. Then he broken into a chorus of Seal's Crazy ("We're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy"). He then went onto describe what he meant by crazy.

"Not out of our minds, but in our minds." He said. "Like those who could have simply denied Christ and avoided being burned alive, but chose not to do so." How many times have I been unable to have my daily devotion because work or sleep or my house needed my attention "more" than God did. Where's my faith? Where's my "crazy"?

So - I'm a bit kicked in the pants and challenged.

Peace - Andy

We Have To Stop Meeting Like This

I met a most amazing guy recently. He was full of life and a desire to follow hard after God. He loved music and people. I left this encounter wishing that I could know him better.

Sadly, I met him at his funeral. He went to my church and I noticed him. He looked to me to be a passionate worshiper and a man who knew exactly how much he needed God.

And – I can say that I am poorer for not knowing him better. There always seemed to be something more important than going over to him to say hello after church. Not that “hello” would have been enough. I say “hello” all the time – but how often do I really mean it? It’s often just a deflection to get to the water fountain before the sermon starts or the bathroom ... or a person I’d rather talk to.

And so, it wasn’t until his funeral that I learned that just over there – on the side wall of the Church – not too close and not too far away – there was this guy that I needed to know better.

A friend of mine once said that you learn something from everyone. What did I learn from this man? The only time I ever saw him was at church and at his funeral. And, here’s what he taught me:

Passionate worship comes from the secure belief that you need God more than God needs you. This guy praised like someone who knew that he needed God to take his next breath, his next step and that’s something that I will always take with me.

His funeral taught me something else:

I need to be more “out there”; looking for people to meet and know. I’ll do that in the hopes that I never meet someone so special at their funeral. This is not really "me". I'm a relatively shy person and am often uncomfortable meeting new people. I have like three score excuses to hide behind a shallow "hello" and keep moving. But none of them really hold up to any kind of examination. Church has to be something more than a clique of people who you really like and a bunch of other people who you hang out with a couple of hours a week.

Andy

Listening to: Jennifer Knapp, Kansas

The Names of God, part the second

First - someone sent me this very cool link to an on-line, video American Sign Language dictionary. Then, my wife said "check out the religious signs and see all of the ways to sign Jehovah". WOW! There are thirteen names of God in ASL! Go an check it out.

http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro

Second - here's a new blog to check out from the pastor of Hope Christian Fellowship in Warrenton, Virginia. He's got some great insight into God, here's his linky:

http://scottheine.blogspot.com/

Scott also knows enough about HTML to have his own special header with his face on it. He's also a very talented illustrator; but that might be a secret.

Listening to: Israel & New Breed - New Season