Thursday, January 25, 2007

I have seen God's face...

...in the faces of His people. As I pastor I realize that more and more each day. We just had a church "business meeting" last night that was a great encouragement to me. We called Ed Thomas as our Associate Pastor (a unanimous vote), and we heard the stories of 8 people who became members of our church. It was amazing to hear (again) how God works in so many different ways to call people into a relationship with Him. What I realized was that He almost always uses people in this process. While it is true that many (myself included) often distort who God is and what He is like by the way we live, there are those people who live life in a way that allows us to know Him better. In their weakness He is clearly seen for who He is and not for who they are. It is an incredible privilege (as well as a huge responsibility) to reflect the nature and character of God to the world. For those of you who have given me this gift, let me take this opportunity to say thanks...

I would list your names, but I know that I'd leave someone out.

Along this same line, I came across this great quote by Frederick Buechner,
"In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a handkerchief. These handkerchiefs are called saints."

Thanks to so many of you for being the "handkerchief" of God in my life...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

those are good days aren't they...when God humbles us by laying in front of us valid proof that He is at work regardless of what we might be thinking...i love those days!

great news about the encouraging vote for Ed! if you don't my asking, what was your process for the search and how did you find potential candidates?