Worship Ministry Summer Party: This Sunday, July 11, from 3:00-7:30 @
I appreciate you all so much! I just want to say thanks for everything you do. Here’s a way to say thanks: we’ll swim, play volleyball, and have the swing sets for the kiddos, ladder ball and some other fun stuff. We’ll eat at 5:00. Swimming, volleyball, etc. This is for everyone in the worship ministry and their families! We’ll provide the meat and the drinks, tenors bring the dessert.
Maps will be at both welcome centers this Sunday morning. Special thanks to Bob and Brenda Walters for having us all over to their back yard!
Value of the Month: Be Gracious with Criticism
James 1:19 says, my dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. This was the basic idea in Steven Covey’s popular book “the 7 habits of highly effective people.” One of the most important habits was “seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Let your friend express their entire point of view and try to completely comprehend their point of view before you share your own point of view. So listen first, and don’t jump to conclusions (James 1:19).
You answer: “yeah, that might work on some other planet. But this is the real world, Phill. It’s 2010! My 401K has taken a beating, I’m way too busy, my children are driving me crazy and I need to loose a few pounds. And it’s hot outside…WAY too hot. Crazy humid. I don’t want to be quick to listen and I’m already angry.”
Okay. Let’s take a step back then. In fact, I agree with everything you said. My 403b doesn’t look that good either right now. And I’m back up to 184 lb, when I should really be around 175 lb. I feel your pain. So consider the scripture that God put into my mind Saturday while I was mowing the lawn (while it was crazy humid, btw):
Romans 8:38-39
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When we grasp just how much God loves us. How deep and grand His love is for us, and that there is NOTHING that will ever get in the way of His love, NOTHING that could ever stop it. He’s crazy about YOU. Specifically you, with all of your quirks, because you are His. When we really understand that, it’s much easier to take criticism from others. The opinion that matters the most is abundantly positive and will never change.
With that said, I’ll 175 lb by Sept. 12 (choir starts; I’ll be a lean, mean, arm waving machine by then). Count on it. But either way, God’s love for me won’t stop.
Loving it,
Phill
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