Just like Joe...

"Joe was a drunk, miraculously converted in a street outreach mission. Before his conversion he'd gained a reputation as a derelict and dirty wineo for whom there was no hope. But fullowing his conversion to Christ, everything changed, Joe became the most careing person at the mission. He spent his days there doing whatever needed to be done. There was never anything he was asked to do that he considered beneith him. Whether it was cleaning up vomit left by some sick alcoholic, or scrubbing toilets after men had left them filthy, Joe did it all with a heart of gratitude. He could be counted on to feed any men who wandered in off the streets, undress and tuck them into bed, when they were too out-of-it to take care of themselves.
One evening, after the mission director delivered his evangelistic message to the usual crowd of sullen men with drooped heads, one of them looked up, came down to the alter and kneeled to pray, crying out to God to help him change. The repentant drunk kept shouting, 'Oh God make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!' The director leaned over and said, 'Son, wouldn't it be better if you prayed 'make me like Jesus?'
After thinking about it for a few moments, the man looked up with an inquisitive expression and asked, 'Is He like Joe?'"

Do others see Jesus in you?

"To this you were called...That you should follow in His steps." 1 Peter 2:21 NIV

via the Word for Today, via Tony Campollo

The Message
I have recently purchased the whole bible in the message translation and I have to say that I am loving it. I enjoy looking at different translations because thay often give you slightly different, and valuable perspective, with different wordings. But for pure reading and understanding enjoyment the message is a breath of fresh air.
I am going back into the old testament to reread the stories that are the foundation to it all, and I am truly enjoying it. I have just read Daniel and Hosea and now am moving back to Genesis. There are so many amasing lives in the old testament. Sometimes we think of them as spiritual giants but when you really look into their stories you realise that they are most often just regular joes like ourselves.
So get into it. Find out the stories and the lives that God has shaped over the millenia.

SOWLE
I went to sowle last night at 1st presbyterian in Ballynahinch. It was a motivating and challenging evening. Not because there was an impassioned and charasmatic speaker, or because of any great drama or video persentation, but because I was confronted with a charastic of Christ. Servanthood.

I like to think that loving others and serving others is important to me and that it is a significant part of my life, but then i was confronted with my motives and expectations. Sometimes I expect and almost demand people to be appreciative of my kindness, or service, or love, when that responce should not even be part of my equation.

I should love because I am overcome by the love showed to me by Christ.
I should serve because I want to follow the ultimate servant leader.
I should give because Jesus gave what I simply could not give to the world.

I really need to stop expecting a responce to my "amazing" acts of love, and instead seek, all the more, to respond to the love that has been shown to me.

quote

"If you want to learn to love better you should start with someone you hate."
Nikka (age 6)

"The important thing is this: To be able at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."
Charles duBois

“We will only be satisfied when we reach beyond our own lives and grab for something bigger. It is a truth dangerously close to a cliché until we actually try to live up to what we could be, it will change everything.”

Ballynahinch Prayer Meeting
This morning I was agian at the Inter Church prayermeeting and as always it was a very encouraging time. The numbers aren't that great but the prayers are from the heart and it is good to know that our community is being covered in prayer. Now I realise that this is not the only place that this community gets prayed for but I do believe that it is an important place. When jesus prayed for future believers (aka... us) he prayed for unity. What better way to show unity than in prayer, than by comming together for prayer.
This is also one of the reasons I love the Edge and its prayer meetings, because its not about one specific church, but far more importantly, about the body of Christ in Ballynahinch.
It is also a great way to find out what is happening accross our town and in our churches, Things to rejoice together in and things to mourne together for, and to give it all up to God.
So I want to encourage everyone who reads this (both of you) to think about getting involved in the inter-church prayer meetings. Every tuesday morning at 7am. This month it is at the Baptist Church in the upper room.

Question
Is less really more?
When Talking - yes
But in anything else is this really true? Take loving your neighbour for example...

Something to think about...

Music
Well I am just sitting here in the Edge on Music night listening to my own personal rock band crank out loud, and I mean loud, tunes. It is actually relaxing, if you like that sort of thing.

So it makes me think about my all time favourite artists or bands and here they are in no particular order.

U2
Pearl Jam
Larry Norman
Bob Marley
Ben Harper
Neil Young
James Taylor
Van Morrison
Paul Simon
Sarah Vaughn or something like that

And since Im on the top ten thing...

top 10 favourite books in no particular order

The Lord of the Rings
The Catcher in the Rye
The Alchamist
The Cosmic Triligy
John
To kill a Mocking Bird
No Wonder They Call Him Savior
No Compromise - the story of Keith Green
The Hitchhikers Guid to the Galaxy
Ruthless Trust

And that is all the top ten for today folks.
I would add to this by saying something really interresting and thoughtful but Pete Martin already does too much of that so you will have to read his blog if you really want to be challenged today.

I hope you all experience and feel the Grace of God today in everything you do. Never think you are too good and never think that you know more than the guy beside you because the fact of the matter is, you probably don't. Usually it is just when I think I have arrived that I find my self at the wrong end of the path I was supposed to be travelling. Thank God for Grace.