Great Expectations

This weekend was crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything that happen was totally unexpected. The snow. Church was cancelled because of a power outage. I was suppose to speak at a retreat that didn't happen because of the before mentioned snow. It was nuts. However a lot of good came out of this craziness. Let me tell you the tale.......

Okay so like I said, I was suppose to go speak at the RLV youth group retreat up near Penn State. I was really psyched for it and (not to tut my own horn) I had a really awesome message to share. One that I was both excited about and solid with scripture, that is always a great combination. So when I heard about the coming weather, I was really praying that it would turn out to be nothing. The weather people were calling for snow laying in the grass but not the road, so I was hopeful but I think we all know how it turned out. At 9:30 am I was at the church, looking out the window at the snow covered parking lot. Needless to say I had to make a call that pained me so much, I took some Advil afterwards. Okay not really, but I think you get the point. I really wanted to go speak, I was looking forward to this trip. Abby and Zion were going to come along and we were going to make it a family thing, it was going to be great!

Well as it would happen because my day was now totally free I could go and help a student's family move to a new house. I had rented a Suburban for the Youth Corn Maze trip the night before and didn't have to return it till later that afternoon. My buddy Mike had an afternoon free and a truck that was not afraid of snow either, so we had good vehicles to get heavy moving done for them. By the way the family is a Mom and two girls, so moving heavy stuff really was not going to happen with just the three of them.

Even though I didn't get to do what I wanted, this was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I will admit at one point I thought to myself, "I just want to be done and go home to my family." I talked to Abby at one point during the afternoon and she gave me some great encouragement, she said," you are right where you need to be." She is so wise!!

It was so cool because even though these were not my plans, these were God's plans. We were doing exactly what He calls us to do. Help the widow and the orphans, show love and mercy to those who really are in need of it. This is the mission that Jesus has called us too, this is what being a follower of Christ is all about. I was so honored to be with my buddy Dan, Mike and his wife Pam, then on Sunday my friend Matt help this family find a new, fresh start.

Was it a pain...at times. Was I sore afterwards...you betcha. Did I want to go home to be with my wife and son...uh huh!! But sacrificing what I wanted to help a family and be the hands and feet of God far out weighted my priorities for that day.

Jesus has called us both in the New Testament and Old to help the widow, orphans, the poor, strangers, outcasts.

I also want to leave you with this. James 4:13-15, talks about that we do not know what tomorrow brings, we should never say tomorrow we will do this or that because we don't have a guarantee of tomorrow. Instead we should look to the LORD and submit ourselves to His purposes. Now I am summing those verses but thee point is the same. We need to ready and willing to submit to what God has for us to do rather than what we want to do.

I believe this requires two things from us: 1-we need to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We had tried to get some of the guys from the church to help but none were able to come. When no one showed up my first thought was, I have this truck till 5pm I can help. That was not just my thoughts, that was the Spirit because my other thought was I have nothing to do today, I can go home and have a snow day. Glad I listened to the Spirit.
2-We need to be aware of the needs of others, especially the poor, orphan, widows, etc. It was so cool to see people from the church being the church, Christians acting like Christians. We need more of this, that is what is going to save the world and bring people closer to Christ. The church being the church. Seeing the needs of others, putting those needs in front of our own and doing what we can to fulfill those needs.

who can you help this week?
how can you be the church?
how can God interrupt your plans for the better?

May our LORD be with you
Josh