ministry

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A standard of grace

The line between business and customer, ministry and church member, can get blurry pretty fast. 

You can NEVER forget that numbers, statistics–the bottom line–represents a person.

Whenever I get frustrated, this is what comes back to me. 

You’re talking about a person, Audra, take a chill pill! 

Whatever problem I face (real or perceived) can be traced back to a real life person. A person with their own personality, flaws, interests, hurts, hopes, and dreams. 

He or she also has a list of problems….

A little grace can go a long, long way. And here’s another thing to consider: 

Most of the problems I face can be traced right back to me. Did I mention that I am not good at giving grace to myself?

About that….

Don’t forget about extending a little grace towards yourself. We all make mistakes. It happens. 

Let me be clear: There’s nothing wrong with having a bottom line, a set standard to aim for.

Just be sure that the standard you set doesn’t become more important than the people you serve and live/work with. 

I’m finding that having grace as my standard is the best way to go. It keeps everything in perspective.

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Finding the Way

Sometimes you just have to drive around until you find what you’re looking for. 

I set out to eat lunch with my homeless friends downtown but I didn’t quite find their lunch spot on time. 

But what I did find was every homeless shelter in town. 

I almost just hung out with them there–if it wasn’t for the fact I told Debbie and Paul I was coming to help. 

It was kind of cool, though, to get my bearings in downtown Tulsa. Getting turned around has its advantages, I guess. 

This is how most of my homeless friends ended up on the streets. They just got turned around, but couldn’t get their bearings. 

All they need is a guide, a friend with a GPS who can help them figure out how to get out of the mess they’re in. 

Jesus said, “I am the way.”

He asks His followers to point others in the right direction. 

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Shifting my perspective

I can’t imagine receiving manna from heaven and complaining.

Lord, we’ve been eating manna FOREVER! Can we have some lunch meat, please? And send down a jar of mayo while you’re at it…this bread is so dry! 

Okay, so I’m paraphrasing the children of Israel, but you see the point. 

My thoughts go to impoverished countries where they literally eat the same thing every day and are thankful. Variety is not important to them; having food at all, no matter if it is the same thing, is what’s important.

A little bit of perspective goes a long way in our consumerist society.

Last night I ate a dinner that was entirely provided–minus the butter and onions–by friends who blessed me with fresh eggs, cheese, bread, and herbs.

Wow. Talk about being spoiled…

Each bite was a sweet reminder that God’s given me some great friends and friends who are generous at that.

It also reminded me of our brothers and sisters around the world who don’t have access to food as readily as I do. Some of those brothers and sisters live in my backyard.

They are the chronically homeless.

They are the families who live paycheck to paycheck.

They are recovering drug addicts.

They are down on their luck war veterans.

They are the disabled who just need some help.

I am hanging out with my neighbors each Thursday and my perspective changes as I see what true struggle looks like.

My friend, you and I are blessed.

And it’s not about having all the coolest toys or the latest and greatest clothes. It’s not even about making the most money. 

My perspective on what it means to be blessed is changing.

 

 

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Loving the Cantankerous

One of the lady’s at the nursing home was being feisty today. 

Who’s the boss lady?!? 

What’s a woman gotta do to eat around here? 

She came walking through the cafeteria and wanted to address the group. 

One of our more outgoing chapel goers tried to get her to quiet down and join us. Her loud reply was:

Listen here, lady, I own this place!

At this point, I stifled my urge to laugh and stepped into the situation. 

All I did was walk over to my new friend, stretch out my hand, and ask her to take a walk with me. 

We strolled to the nurses station where my friend was given a banana to snack on until dinner time.

 She walked happily back towards her room, greeting (very loudly) everyone she met. 

Obviously my boisterous new friend has a touch of dementia, but what I saw the most was her loneliness and desire to be understood. 

She smiled at me the whole time we were walking and she did not want to let go of my hand. 

Most of my friends at the nursing home never have visitors, yet they ask for prayer for their family members. 

Whenever I get an opportunity to pray with my friends, I make it a point to ask the Father to show them how much He loves them that week. I ask Him to whisper in their ear, “You’re never alone.”

I am glad my friend interrupted chapel today. 

It was a good reminder to me that my job is to help others–no matter how cantankerous they’re acting.  

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Confessions of an Easily Excitable Person

The idea of “So the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) is completely wrecking my thinking.  

As I read back through yesterday’s post, I realized that I need to apologize.

My goal was not to be a cynic but to draw some attention to the fact that Christians are called, compelled, motivated–and all the other synonyms–by the love of Christ to share the gospel. 

Let’s take this a step further: If Christians are to be like Jesus, that means John 1:14 is talking about us. When my friend Pastor Gwen preached on the subject (I blogged about that a few weeks ago) her words reminded me of the restlessness in my heart.

My faith needs action because it’s actually a bit ADD when it comes to just sitting still.

Once again, this is all I’m talking about these days (Lord, please let me still have a few friends who read my posts!)

Before I came to Rhema, I was already antsy when I read the Word and saw these truths. Then I came to Rhema.

Most days I feel like a volcano that is dangerously close to blowing up.

KA-BOOM!!!!!

How can you sit under Bible teaching 3 hours a day and not get fired up? Lord, please…I need some Ritalin–better yet I need to start serving!

So I have found several places to serve both within Rhema Bible Church and within another organization. 

The reason for my apology is because I am a bit of a zealot when excited. It’s just the extrovert in me, I guess, but this is me:

Ms. Excited-About-What’s-Happening-You-Should-Be-Too.

I will try to be less of a nut, okay?

Please know, though, that my heart is not to be a cynic. If you feel like I am being too critical, please let me know. 

 

 

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Thursday Night Lights

I made a new friend today. 

Well, I made several new friends today because I had the opportunity to serve during Thursday Night Lights. 

Every Thursday a group of believers come together to serve and eat dinner with the homeless. 

A local missionary to the homeless brings a truck and trailer loaded with picnic tables and other supplies. 

Different groups volunteer each week to prepare dinner. It truly is a collaborative work within the body of Christ. 

My favorite part was hanging out with the men and women. One of my new friends is a little girl–let’s call her Joan–who is the same age as my sister Sofia. 

She was super shy at first but by the end of the night I got her to smile at me. 

Her smile was beautiful and it absolutely broke my heart…

What’s her daily life like? 

What are her dreams?

These are the questions that were burning in my heart. And if you know me at all, I will ask her these questions in due time. 

I’m reading through Matthew’s gospel and already there have been 3 times that Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes. 

My heart was filled with compassion today. I never want to look at a man or woman and not see them as Christ sees them:

Loved. 

Accepted. 

Worth every sacrifice. 

I know that there’s a stigma about the homeless, but my goal is to take all my preconceived notions and throw them in the trash. 

It’s not my job to sit around and rank the people according to their various levels of poverty. 

Who is that helping?

My only job is to love people, to be their friend, and keep pointing them back to Jesus. 

Joan’s smile is still in my head…

All I see is the bright future that Christ has in mind for her. I look forward to getting to know my new friend and helping her see it, too. 

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Nacho Social

The Nacho Social was awesome! It was nacho average social. 😛

Sorry…couldn’t resist the pun…

I enjoyed floating around and talking with different groups of folks. 

You can’t make it around the whole church auditorium during fellowship times but you can easily walk around the cafe!

Besides eating some yummy nachos (and drinking a Dr. Pepper and a Coke. No judgment, okay?) I had the opportunity to help clean up. 

It takes many hands to feed a big church–and many hands to help clean up, too. 

I met a really fun group of volunteers, which made clean up time go faster. 

This Sunday was busy with morning worship, nursing home ministry, serving as a camera op, and ending with the social. 

All in all, it was a great beginning to the week. 

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Many members, one body

I love when a prayer is answered in an unexpected way. 

Tonight I stumbled upon a community of Christians who are living out the principles the Lord is asking me to more closely examine. 

Their hospitality is downright refreshing. 

I look forward to further connecting with this group and the larger ministry as a whole. 

And the coolest part is that they meet on Friday nights, so it doesn’t interfere with my involvement at Rhema Bible Church. 

The body of Christ at large is doing great things. 

I enjoy connecting with different churches and parachurch ministries because it broadens my perspective. 

A narrow viewpoint, to me, is one of the biggest killers of unity. 

Just like God’s plans are bigger than us, so is His body as a whole. The idea that I’m a small, yet vital, part of the body of Christ, His hands and feet on earth, truly humbles me. 

And to think there are many members of the body and God knows us all personally?

One more reason to add to my list of why God is awesome.

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Being Present

Hard to believe school will be finished up in 4 weeks! 

My first 2 terms at Rhema have been awesome. I’m learning a lot and it’s going to be weird to be done until September. 

But there will be plenty to do until then. 

I’ll be working full time and my summer reading list is taking shape. 

Several of my favorite authors have books out, so I plan to read as much as I can. 

For now, I’m buckling down and enjoying the term to the fullest. 

Something I’m learning is how to be as present as possible wherever  I’m at in life. 

I like The Message translation of Matthew 6:34:

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

Jesus’ advice to be present was to not only safeguard us against worry but also to help us not miss out on what’s right in front of us. 

There’s nothing worse than waking up one day and realizing you’ve wished your whole life away. 

‭‭

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Helping with Media

I got to run camera for the first time today. The media department didn’t really teach me to swim–they just threw me into the pool! 

And it was awesome!

I observed Sunday morning and evening. Someone showed me the basics of how to run the camera before the evening service, but that was it. 

Today the supervisor walked me through step by step–through my headphones–how to set up the different kinds of shots.

What was strange was to look up at the big screens and see that my shot could be seen by everyone…

Whoa! 

Plus, I did a lot of zoom shots (kind of like panoramic action shots) which was seen by everyone on watching online. 

I look forward to learning more and more about running camera because it’s a valuable skill that helps ministries get the gospel message spread around the world.

Remember what I told you a few days ago? 

I’m not against the use of technology in the church.

Just go to church and get involved yourself! 

Then listen to podcasts and watch the sermons again on YouTube.

I listen to teachings all the time at work. And today I paid particular attention to the quality of the video and the kind of shots being used. 

Kinda cool to think that one day a sermon that I helped record will be online for someone else to watch.

No one will know it was me who helped, but I’ll know. God will know, too, which is all that matters anyway.