Corinth

Today, I woke up late and a car-full of people for church was already downstairs.  My alarm said 7:45, so I was very confused as I rushed around to get dressed and ready.  Once I found my watch (in the shower), I realized that it was, in fact, 8:45.  No time for breakfast. Teeth, clothes, wallet, ID, Bible and since my Nalgene® was empty, a bottle of water.

My Church, Grace Baptist Church

Church was great, the pastor was gone attending to a death in the church, so Randy (who lives downstairs in my future home) was preaching.  The main passage was Ephesians 1, but it was Corinthians 12:3-11 that really struck me.

Therefore I am informing you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God is active in everyone and everything. 7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial:

to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit,
to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit,
9 to another, faith by the same Spirit,
to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 to another, the performing of miracles,
to another, prophecy,
to another, distinguishing between spirits,
to another, different kinds of languages,
to another, interpretation of languages.

But one and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each one as He wills.

So right, not everyone will speak in tongues, not everyone will prophesy.  We each have different gifts given by the Spirit.  I know that one of my spritual gifts is teaching, and I must temper that with James 3:1 “Not many should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment; 2 for we all stumble in many ways.”That’s all well and good, and that’s what the Lord used to get me here.  Teaching..but it’s given me a bit of a complex.  I like to be the expert.  What are my gifts to share when I’m not teaching.  Humility doesn’t come easy to me…often I’m even prideful about my humility.  Those of you that know me best can attest to that.  When someone is hurting, I want to teach…and frankly, that doesn’t go well.

Please pray that the Spirit will continue to develop my other spiritual gifts, love, faith, hope, peace, compassion, mercy, listening..etc. That way, I can be more effective in relationships and friendship ouside my teaching roles.  I need this next, my work is not the only way to touch people.

Anyways…back to Church.  Partway through the service, a little girl of maybe 3 was wandering through the pews.  She’d sit with each person that looked inviting..and apparently today I was one of those people.  She sat down beside me and held my hand.  Eventually, she leaned over my lap.  She’d caught a glimpse of my my 2-liter water bottle.  After a few moments, she opened it up and took a swig.  I almost stopped her, that was my water, but then I rebuked myself.  I was feeling pretty dehydrated, but she needed it more than me.  Who knows how often she has access to filtered water.  At the end of the service, I found her with her parents, learned that she speaks English and her name is Crystelle, thanked her for sitting with me, and gave her the rest of my bottle.  Crystelle was a blessing to me today.

CBC now owns this land where the new church stands. This is a view of the church from the road.

Now I’m home, taking a lazy afternoon, but Carman and I need to figure out dinner.  I just asked him how was the church he went to.  He said “I have no idea, all I know is that they read from Epheisans and Corinthians.”  Thank God that I was able to go to French school before arrival here. TTYL