after reading/discussing the parable of the sower (mark 4), the tougher it seems to be to live that out…

i’ve tried to focus on being the sower…

even though he (the sower) cared for the seed…he still recklessly tossed seed on all types of soil…rocky soil…good soil…any soil…he wasn’t picky or prejudice

what keeps us from doing the same?…are we picky on who we talk to?…what keeps us from desiring to spread mercy, grace, love, hope, joy, ect that the lord has given to us?…

maybe desiring isn’t the right word…i think we do desire these things but somewhere between desiring and acting there is an obstacle…what is it?

(what is your obstacle?)

we talked about these things a little in small group this week…

the lord is good…
and forgiving…

i was in dallas this weekend…at my seventh wedding for the summer…video coming soon

after church, we always go eat at the rivermarket in downtown little rock…we usually switch off between flying fish or flying burrito (yes owned by the same people)…

well tonight was burrito night…we usually have a few people asking for money on our way in and we usually buy some food for them…so when i saw two of our “church go-ers” talking to a guy i thought nothing of it…

we invited both him (cedric) and his friend (sunny) in to eat with us…they looked at each other and then he said something that made my heart sink…

he said…”no man…we’re too dirty to go in there…”

we quickly assured them they weren’t too dirty to eat with us and with some encouragement…they agreed to go in…

this made start thinking…how many people feel too dirty to eat with a bunch of christians…and yes i know he wasn’t’ referring to eating with us…he was talking about the restaurant…but it still got me thinking…

is church a place where “dirty” people feel welcome?…do i present my life in a way that all people feel welcome around me?

if church isn’t a place where all people feel welcomed…what is it?

(what are we?…”clean”?)

i use to find myself complaining a lot about my job here at the music store…

i remembered when i first got the job i was just excited to be receiving more than $270 month…(cause that’s what i got paid in cali)…and to actually have a job that didn’t require much thought so that i could focus on church things…

then after a while my attitude began to sour…i no longer looked at the job as a place to show love to people but a place that paid my bills…than the grumbling (much like the israelites) began…

after expressing my frustrations to a friend he replied with a comment that i use almost every week…it stuck with me and he was just responding to the situation…he said, “isn’t it funny how after we pray for provision and the lord gives it to us…a little later we forget about it”

that was exactly what was going on…i prayed for a job for months and when i received one it was a gift from god…and now it’s like im wanting to give the gift back…”forgive me lord”…

so as i sit in the stock room drinking a cold cup of coffee…im thankful…

hope you like the site…mr. raines had a little/a lot to do with it…but im learning a little html…(little)