Snippets of My Life Lived In Community

Pasta, hot dogs, lots of singing, and Mike looking at Scripture on his i-pod Touch, coming up with a message on the fly, I do believe.

Scott's the big guy with no hair and shades. He's a consummate guitar player. You will never meet a man with a more gentle spirit!

Somewhere around 15 college-age kids on my back porch, worshipping the Lord. We had exactly 1 guitar for every 3.75 people.

It is ten o'clock at night now. The cicadas are outside my bedroom window, their rhythmic song preparing my mind and body for rest. It has been a non stop weekend, yet my strength feels renewed.

I am one who has lived pretty much my entire life in relationship with people in the body of Christ, but never have I been more thankful than this night. I am grateful for men who take time to encourage and pray for my sons, and the sons of others. Men who are willing to spend and be spent for my daughters and the daughters of others. Men whose paths cross only briefly with Harvest Church, yet we...and they...are marked by the touch of Jesus through one another's earthen vessels.

And some of this sweetness....a portion of this miracle....took place in my own back yard today. The walls and floors of this home still ring with songs, laughter, prayers, and a very, very loud game of Catch Phrase. This home has seen a lotttttttt of the ministry of hospitality over the years, and it feels more of a sacrifice now, sometimes, than ever before. There truly are never enough hours in a day, not even when your kids grow up. But I would not trade this kind of sowing for another.

In the past three days alone, within these very walls, not the walls of any church building, I have overheard my husband, spending nearly an hour sharing the gospel with a neighbor. I have had a college kid from another church show up, literally, on my doorstep asking for pastoral counsel, and I served my husband and he ice water as they sat on my front porch and navigated this kid's difficult questions. I have shared a meal with guests, had two spend the night with us, watched an unsaved young man tremble in the presence of God, and sung songs of worship together with others on two separate occasions!

To be honest, this past weekend has not been too out of the ordinary. Around here, that is pretty much how life goes. Living in community is hard work. The rewards, however, are well worth it.