What's in it for me?

Let me start by clarifying yesterday's Madden boast. The fourth game was prematurely halted at the end of the third quarter with nothing settled. Harper will surely run the score up on me the first chance he gets for that one.

Today started off with an interesting conversation with a parent of one of my high school students. It seems that her student had a rough time Sunday night at "The Net" (our high school bible study). The problem was with our small groups. Her student and the mom had a problem with the fact that there were other people in the group that were less spiritually mature. Without going into detail, her student has not experienced some of the things that some of the other kids have been through.

As I thought of our conversation throughout the day, there were some things that continued to bother me. I would hate to think that our student ministry was one in which we only catered to those that had their life together. The mom is concerned that her student will not want to come to church anymore because of certain people. Some of the kids have already spent time in my office coming face to face with the very things that this particular student does not want to be around.

One of the reasons we started this new schedule was to increase the overall spiritual maturity of our group. The attitude of I can't worship here because these people are different, or I don't want my kids in that group because those other kids are "trouble" really kind of irks me. It's not that they're "trouble" it's the fact that they are "troubled" by things that some of us could not imagine. These are the very people that Christ spent his ministry reaching out to and purposefully hanging around, not looking for a way to get away from them. I would like to see our kids develop the attitude of what do I bring to this worship service, not what does this church have to offer me if I come. I guess our parents have to develop the attitude of what does our family have to bring to the table, not how is the table set for us.

I just had to get that out. I pray that I will have the mindset of what do I bring to each service not what do these kids and this church have to offer me.

I'm out.......