When is the last time you sat around a campfire? Perhaps it wasn’t too long ago and you can picture the red hot embers in the middle of the fire, the ones that burn the brightest and the hottest. And then can you picture what happens if you were to remove one of the pieces of wood, or coals from the fire and set it away from the fire? It begins to cool off and it really doesn’t take too long before it is no longer burning, or red hot. That is a lot like what happens to us when we don’t have any “hot coal friends” to encourage us in our walk with Jesus and keep us on target for our mission of connecting people to life in Jesus.
Living in community matters! And perhaps we know that now more than ever. When something is taken away from us we miss it and we realize perhaps we have taken it for granted. God did not design us for isolation. He designed us to need each other and to live in community. As you know at the church we talk about how we go about connecting people to life in Jesus in three major areas: lifeWorship, lifeGroup and lifeServe. In 2020, since March those areas have looked quite a bit different. And yet, we have still been able to worship and live life together and serve others. And, we still need community!
Thankfully we have technology that allows us to still see one another and communicate and care for each other. Whether it is zoom, or facetime, or email, text, a phone call or visiting face to face from a safe distance we can connect with each other. We need to encourage one another and stay grounded in God’s Word and pray for one another. Right now we need to use our God given imaginations on how we can continue “meeting” together. Who have you called to check in on lately? Who have you sent a note to in the mail asking them how they are doing and seeing if there is anything they need help with? Who are you reminding of the promises of God that bring us hope? How can you still serve those around you? (check out what our youth did for their virtual mission trip)
The enemy would like us to be isolated and alone and feel as if there is no hope. He would like us to make excuses for why we can not reach out in love. There are still plenty of ways that we can serve and care for one another. We have recently started up a Mom to Mom group at the church that is meeting every other week on a zoom call for encouragement and time in God’s Word. (for more information email Becky Enright at [email protected]) Are you looking for someone to be in a 1:1 relationship with? (contact Amy Meyer at [email protected] ) And you can always pray for one another, perhaps the greatest gift you can give is to pick up the phone and offer to listen and then pray with someone.
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” 2 Timothy 1:6
