So we made a day of it. We slept in, ate breakfast, drug Drew all around Fair Grove trying to impress him with the redneckness of . (We took turns standing in the middle of main street and timing how many minute it took to get run over.) We finally got the boat drug down to the lake and into the water.
So, we cruise to the other side. Young men. Captains of our own little world (or ship. Very ghetto ship). We kill the motor, take in the quiet view. Cory stammers, "Does this boat normally take on water?" A puddle was forming behind the cockpit. I opened the battery compartment and saw water filling the boat almost to the top of the gas can. Not cool.
So we tore back across the lake and took it out of the water. Turns out there are 2 drain holes. One needs to be plugged before you put it into the lake. The other one never gets plugged. And apparently I plugged the wrong one. Schucks.
At least we got the battery compartment flushed out. :D
///
Everything for the mission trip is coming together really well. All of my expenses have been met. I have a ticket both going and coming. (for a couple of days I had one to get out of Africa, but I was on the waitlist to get there.) Weridly enough our housing situation has worked out so that Cory and I will technically be 'homeless' for about 10 days before I go. And I will probably return from Guinea-Bissau as a couch-surfer. Hee. The awesome thing is, I don't have to worry about making rent payments while I am gone, which is an incredible blessing. Amazing what happens when you pray.
(And nobody worry, we've got stuff lined out.) It'll just be weird living on other peeps' couches.
/
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying...
[Parables of lost sheep,
lost coin,
prodigal son]
...And he [the prodigal son] arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. Luke 15
..
Bro Keith Daniels was preaching last night. In his opening comments he pointed out the contrast between Christ and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were seprate. Holy. Following the Torah. Condemning.
Christ was Compassionate.
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies...Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others...Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus...in the form of God...equal with God...made himself of no reputation...and was made in the likeness of men...And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Phil 2:1-8 (partial)
David Ward was preaching on Christ's Compassion from Phillipians. And he emphasized how Christ left all the benefits of heaven to become us. "It's like one of you, leaving behind all of the benefits to be a human, so you can be a slug. So you can love slugs. So you can die for slugs."
And I'm realizing I just don't have Christ's compassion. I set up false barriers.
"Oh! You're Gay?!! Ew! "
And I forget that I'm just as disgusting.
Just as wretched.
a slug.
deserving of a salt-shaker.
And he reaches past that. Over and over. He touches the publican. The adulterer. The Samaritan. Never condones. Rejected by many. But always reaching out. And he says,
"Go, sell what you have... and come follow me."
"Neither do I condemn thee. Go... sin no more"
"Worship the Father in spirit and in truth." [Paraphrases]
It's beyond me. I can't comprehend it. All I see is how wrong they are. That's what I preach. That's what should be preached.
But may we one day see them trudging back down the road home.
May I always share the gospel with that hope. That focus.
May I one day learn Godly compassion.
Maybe, someday, He will show me how to portray it.
Pray for me in this.
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