It has been an interesting first week away from "ministry." I really don't know how I had time to do ministry with all the opportunities out there. I spent the morning on Monday having coffee with a friend who had somehow missed my announcement that I was moving on. Monday evening was a chance to connect with 12 different families through coaching Faith's softball team. Tuesday was a coffee appointment, a lunch appointment, another opportunity to minister through softball, an impromptu check-in with two friends who were grabbing a cup of coffee and some conversation, and a late-night, 3-hour conversation with a friend who is having a rough time right now. Wednesday was working from a coffeeshop and finding opportunities to meet some neat people who are doing some pretty amazing ministry at Tech. After lunch was another coffee appointment with a friend who is dealing with some of life's crap. Then we went to a baseball game of one of our little friends (and his family) before I ended the night with an appointment with some new friends about doing their wedding in a couple of weeks. Whew!
Ministry opportunities are all around us. If Jesus is to be believed (and I tend to believe He IS), God is always working. We spend so much time in church work trying to plan and prepare so that everything is in place for the Spirit to move among us. What if we've got the paradigm all jacked up? What if we were to spend our time seeing where God is working and getting in line behind Him? What if we didn't spend so much time trying to make the conditions optimal for God's movement and instead spent the time looking for the opportunities God is placing in front of us? Opportunities to bring redemption and healing and wholeness? You don't have to be a paid minister to do that. This week's been proof of that.
Where is God working around you, and what would it look like if you got in line behind Him?
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