Spring Cleaning with Paul!

The weather has been getting warmer and Spring is coming...March 21st!  Time to get tans for the summer, pack away winter things and bring out the shorts, and spring cleaning!  Oh Shoot, I am not a big fan of cleaning (my roommates/family could tell you that) and it usually takes someone else to tell me it needs to get done or a "routine inspection."  Usually cleaning for me is more like making the mess out of sight.  This includes stuffing it under the bed, in the closet, and putting items in any container that has room!  Then looking in my room you would think it is clean, but in reality the mess is just quickly covered up and just to come out again.  To me that is like how we ask God to forgive us sometimes.  "...Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil..."  So be it!  I am done and forgiven for my sins.  To me this is a quick "lets cover up my messed up sinful heart that seeks sinful desires with a White God's Grace blanket" and look...a brand new white heart; pure and holy!  Then the next week our sinful desires come back out and we fall into our same sins...repeating over and over.  Have we really cleaned up our mess or just hid it and made it look good for our "routine inspection"?  I definitely fall into this sin cycle type of life and I am constantly coming to God in prayer to fix me and make me a creation that lives for Him and not my sinful desires.  Monday morning when I was waking up I felt the urge to read Galatians (The whole book...I know crazy right...).  So I obeyed God and read Galatians and as I did this section really stood out....Galatians 5:16-6:10

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
 ¹ Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. ² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ³ If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. ⁴ Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, ⁵ for each one should carry their own load. ⁶ Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.


I felt so convicted and knew that I was not living in step of the Spirit, but by my flesh and desires.  So I took sometime to really "spring clean" my heart by getting down to the roots of the sin.  Then took the desires and passions of my heart and gave it up to God or "crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."  Then actually spent time in Prayer and the Word figuring out how to keep in step with the Spirit...isn't it nicer to have a real pure and holy heart instead of masking it?  Have fun with Springtime and all the joys that come with warm weather!!!!   
~Nick~

Volunteer opportunity

Hey, so for all of you small group people, we have a volunteer opportunity coming up that I wanted to see if you all were interested in. Urban Connections needs volunteers for their cleanup day on Saturday March 31 at 9 am. If you all are interested, I think this would be a good thing for as many of us as possible to help with!

Loss

Loss is a strange thing. Loss changes, depending on what or who you lose.

My chef instructors at school are so amazing. They all gave of themselves so much throughout my time there, and they continue to do so now. Each of them invests in each student, whether they have them in class or not. The head chef was especially special to everyone. He was the type of guy who you immediately felt comfortable around. He had the amazing ability to sense when a teacher was really getting into teaching their class, and coming in at that exact moment, entering the room with a cheerful "Good morning!" and a pun that would completely distract the whole class from what they were learning. He was always around, always moving, always joking, always smiling. I believe that he was a Christian. 

Chef Donald Hauck did so much for the Columbus restaurant industry. He was a mentor to many who are now executive chefs themselves. He has many friends and family who loved him very dearly.

Chef Hauck died on Thursday, March 8th.

At his funeral, his life was celebrated. Many stories were told, stories from kitchens and restaurants; stories of how he proposed to a nun with a "diamond ring" from a gumball machine in front of all the other sisters and her mother; stories of him cooking eggs at the age of five, standing on a chair so he could reach the stove; a story about how he didn't care about school until he was told that if he didn't do well in school, he would never be able to read cook books; and many other stories.

It's funny how loss doesn't sink in at first. If we don't see the person actually dead, we tend to have a trigger in our mind that switches on and tells us that they're not really dead, they're just not around anymore. I suppose that is what funerals are for. Funerals help us grasp loss.


It's funny how even though we know that a person is in Heaven and having a blast, we still grieve some. I suppose that we are more grieving our loss than their passing. It is easier, though, if they are a Christian, because you know that they are not truly gone forever.


So we must go on, we must get back to our daily lives. I know that when I go back to my school for any reason, it will be strange not to see him there. I know that I will be looking around, expecting him to ask how I'm doing, and to tell some joke or another. And he won't be there. But that's a part of life. We love and we lose, and we learn to love those we still have even more. Life is precious.


~ Liz ~

Job Searching Through Proverbs 16

Proverbs 16: 1-4

 ¹ To humans belong the plans of the heart,
   but from the LORD comes the proper answer of the tongue.

 ² All a person’s ways seem pure to them,
   but motives are weighed by the LORD.

 ³ Commit to the LORD whatever you do,
   and he will establish your plans.

 ⁴ The LORD works out everything to its proper end—
   even the wicked for a day of disaster.

So I have been job searching for a few months now looking for where God wants me to be.  So my prayers have been where God wants me to be and what He wants me to do.  During one of my times, sitting by Lake Evelyn down in Texas, I was really praying and truly seeking God's advice.  Not one of the "Your will not mine LORD" prayers, but opening up a discussion with God.  I was a little upset at Him for taking me away from my friends from Texas and putting me into the wilderness of job searching.  While sitting down by the lake looking at God's beautiful creation and talking to Him I had the urge to just open my Bible and read.  Now I rarely open my Bible to a random spot looking for a verse that "fits" my situation, but I did not care at that moment.  I opened up to Proverbs 16 and started reading and saw that it was comforting to the situation I was in and what I was really praying for.  

So the plans of my heart was to work with my friends at the camp because I love those guys!  Then what was my motive for working at the camp...not working there for the groups, but working with my friends.  Thinking about it...if my friends were not down in camp anymore would I still want to work there?  Nope.  Not because it was a bad place, but because I was not growing there anymore.  It was "This is going nowhere" and "what can I do to get by" type attitude towards the end of my career there, which when you have that attitude you need to give it up to God and figure out what's next.  Therefore, thinking through this verse was hard on me because my heart and motives are strong and wanted to stay!  But the LORD knows all and has plans for all of us.  That is why I gave this whole situation to God and committed whatever I do to Him.

The last two verses were pleasing to me because I know God is good and has an amazing plan that will fit me and that I will love.  Since committing my plans to God I have been excited every day to see what God has planned for my life.  There is a question I ask myself every morning to help me continue the commitment..."Will you follow God's plan or the plans of your heart?"