Driving with my Daughter

Today was a special day. I started teaching my daughter how to drive a car. I don't know that i have ever felt such a feeling of helplessness. No brake, no steering wheel, absolutely no control over my situation except for the fact that I was able to talk to her. As I sit here thinking about the experience, it's remarkable as to how similar it is to situations that we often find ourselves. No brake, no way to steer, and no control. It is the most helpless feeling in the world.

Yet, we are not totally helpless. We have God who is in control of everything, watching over us, guiding us, and showing us the right way...if only we will listen.

Transitions

Right now, we are in the middle of a series entitled "Thriving in the Midst of Change" and how appropriate this is for what is going on in the life of The Bridge. Last week, a decision was made to move out of our "new" building that we had been renting since February. We quickly were able to find a place and had our first worship in the new building last Sunday. It was wonderful and all the response that I have received has been very positive.

We have been worshipping for more than a year now and we are truly putting on the full court press to get The Bridge into a more self-sustaining position. However, we can't do that without the help of others. I'm encouraging all those who are "Bridgers" to put make worship attendance a priority in their lives. Why? 1. Christians need and grow from a corporate worship experience. 2. We have reached that time in the life of a new church when we are being observed to se if this experiment is being successful and productive in spreading the Gospel. One of the ways this is done is through our worship attendance. Each Monday, I have to turn in the number of people from the past Sunday. This is one of the ways that we are being held accountable to the Conference.

Accountability is one of the ways that we as Christians continue to grow and we are in a transition period right now. What are we transitioning toward has not been written yet.

Mad at God

Scripture: Job 23:1-6 (The Message)
"I'm not letting up—I'm standing my ground.
My complaint is legitimate.
God has no right to treat me like this—
it isn't fair!
If I knew where on earth to find him,
I'd go straight to him.
I'd lay my case before him face-to-face,
give him all my arguments firsthand.
I'd find out exactly what he's thinking,
discover what's going on in his head.

Observation Things are not going well in the life of Job and it seems that he has some anger inside that needs to be let out. God is his target. After all, Job has been living right, he's been doing everything that God would want him to do and yet all this stuff is happening to him. It's just not right!

Application How many times in my life have I been doing the best I can and bad things just keep happening? And when bad things happen, they don't happen one at a time but come in bunches. Many times it really is no ones fault, it is just happening and I want to yell at God. This Scripture show us that it's okay to get upset with God. Our God is big enough and can handle it. If we can't be real with God, who can we be real with? This is part of being in a relationship.

Prayer Thank you God for being loving and allowing me to be me especially when times are not going so well. Please help me to continue maturing in our relationship and growing toward your grace. Amen