by the grace of God

It is only by the grace of God that we live and move and breath. It is a realization that often times hits me on the forehead. I'm not exactly sure why God chose to hit me with it today, but He did. James preached a good sermon this morning talking about what happened after the Resurrection. "Now What?" was his question. He spoke on the last few verses of Luke and the first few verses of Acts. He talked about the mission of the church and what we are to be doing and offered up a challenge he is calling "Connect4." This is the challenge to connect 4 people to Jesus by repentance and baptism in the next four months. I have to admit, it's not an easy challenge to take, but I decided to take it. James even had a sign up sheet in the back for people to sign up for the Challenge. Not too many people took the challenge so we were a little disappointed. It is after all a challenge to carry out the mission of the church, not a challenge to raise money or do something off the wall. But I guess not to many people take seriously the mission of the church. I know it's not something I have taken seriously too many times. I openly confess that. I have fallen way short when it comes to reaching people who don't know Christ.

Anyway, while James and I were talking this over, two strangers pulled up to the church and James went out to see what they needed. They said they were hungry and needed gas for the car. James invited them in for lunch. It just so happens that we had just put 4 chicken breasts on the grill and I made extra potatoes so we had plenty. They spoke very little English, but we were able to feed them and share Jesus with them. Their names were Jose and Eva. Jose looked to be about 50ish and Eva is 90. Grandma and Grandson have been in the US for about one year and he is on his way to Moline to look for work. I hope he finds what he is looking for. I know it seems like such a simple thing, but it is so awesome to see the strange ways that God works to use us to encourage them and at the same time use them to encourage us. Don't know if I can explain it, but if you've been there, you understand. I hope that some of what James shared with them took root and that Jose is able to read the English Bible James gave him. We really need to get some Spanish Bibles.

We've got some new neighbors living behind us. They don't go to church, but we've kinda hit it off with them. They've got a couple of little boys. One of them comes over after school on Wednesday's for our kids program. We need to get to know them better. Who knows, maybe they could get connected to Jesus in the next four months.