Wednesdays Word....Follow-through

Have you ever taken the time and looked back on certain situations and realized how things "just happen" when you listen to God and follow-through with something He is asking to do. Sometimes they are simple things like praying for someone or just picking up the phone and calling someone even if you don't know what to say or why you should. Or they could be out of your comfort zone things like joining choir, teaching Sunday school or giving your testimony. You never know you may even end up going on a mission trip. There are countless other things you could list here but these are just some of things I have done because I was finally paying attention.

The one I want to focus on today is the last one...the mission trip. You see back on February 1st I published this blog post Wednesday's Word - Available . The focus of it was making yourself physically, mentally and spiritually available to God's call. For weeks I had this message running around in my head and I couldn't shake it so I knew it wasn't my own made up thoughts and that I needed to get it out and so I figured blogging about it would get the job done and I could go on to the next thing...but it didn't exactly work the way I planned and a lot of crazy things started happening moments after I hit the publish button.

First off I got a forwarded email from my wife that said our youth from church had an opportunity to go to Mexico on a mission trip. I replied it would be a great opportunity for our oldest son. The reply I got back wasn't exactly what I was expecting; my wife said they'll be getting the chance to play soccer with the kids down there. Now some of you may know that this is what I do on the side......I coach youth soccer; from running the 3-5 yr old introductory clinics in the wintertime and our city's park & rec summertime programs to coaching a couple of my son's teams in our soccer club's league in the spring and fall for the last 8 years along with various tournaments. So without hesitation I said I was in. But this goes back even further than this email....about 6 years ago I had just gotten a promotion which brought me up to 6 weeks of vacation and a person can only fish so much; well without getting trouble with their spouse so I told the youth pastor of our church that I was available to go on any trips that may need adult chaperons. I had also just begun teaching Sunday school. But as things would have it I was laid off later that year after 10 + years with the company. So I put any mission trips out of mind and had never told anyone that I really had wanted to distribute soccer balls to kids while on a mission trip. So I asked our soccer club if they had any balls they could donate and they did so I will be getting to cross that off my list of things to do. Funny thing is several of the youth going on this trip are from that same class of kids I had when I first started teaching Sunday school along with the guy I taught with.

I thought this would have been enough to "get God off my case" for a while but I couldn't shake it so I sent an email to some of the staff at church asking if I could talk on a few points and encourage people to come to our up coming revival with Rick Bonfim. So I asked if I could touch on these 4 things.
1. Make yourself physically available...show up and don't go through the motions.
2. Make yourself spiritually available. Saying that simple prayer that you're ready to go where ever God leads and needs you.
3. Listen to that still small voice regardless of where or how you receive it. If you're not sure it's God it'll be confirmed through those around you; just pay attention.
4. Once you know what you're supposed to do...Just Do It...act on what you've been told. If you don't God will do 2 things....either stop talking to you or get out the 2X4 to get your attention and in both cases it's generally not a pleasant experience.
Well as it turned out one of our friends was already giving her testimony that weekend so they couldn't fit me in but she touched on every single one of the points I had going through my mind for weeks almost to the word....well other than the 2X4 part which I think God only uses on guys when they don't listen. I talked with her between services and showed her the email I had sent and we both knew what we were saying was directly from God. Then between our interim pastor & Rick they touched on these 4 points as well. With all of this confirmation I think it was just a matter of God checking if I would follow-through on something he had put upon my heart because I am not exactly fond of speaking in front of people and do just about anything to avoid it.

These things all come together this weekend as our group travels to Mexico to work on some service projects, lead VBS, attend church services and play some futbol with the local kids. So if you could please keep our group in your thoughts and prayers throughout our travels and endeavors this next week it would be greatly appreciated.