Move-Me Monday Part I

This is the feature that I am the most excited about on the blog. I know blogs have a tendency to turn very "self" focused. I put pictures of the things I have, and the things I want, and talk about all the things I want to do, and the places where I have been, and I I I I I.

Move-Me Monday has been developed because of the fact that I want to take this blog deeper. I want to write about things that inspire me- be it a person, a movie, a book, a current world situation, etc.

So here goes! The first "Move-Me Monday" is devoted to...

YESTERDAY'S SERMON

If you read my "Weekend Wrap Up" post from yesterday you saw that my church, Church of the Highlands, does a series every year called "At the Movies".

Pastor Chris uses movies basically as modern day parables. He takes movies that have redemptive qualities and preaches a message based around the movie. It is an awesome time of outreach for our church because people bring guests and honestly people who may be scared by the idea of church are much more likely to come join us during this series. Hey, whatever works right?!

Yesterday he kicked off the series with a heavy message based around the movie, The Impossible. The Impossible is a mostly true account of a family who was vacationing when the tsunamis of 2004 hit Thailand. Here is a trailer about the movie itself:

While the movie clips that they showed were gut-wrenching (I think everyone in the church had the tissues out for most of the service), the greatest part of it all was the message that Pastor Chris preached. I am going to try and kind of summarize what I got out of it:

We all have times in life where everything seems to be going great and then a catastrophic "storm" hits our life that leaves us broken, turned upside down, and searching for answers. 

A death in the family. 

A financial crisis.

The loss of a job.

A grim health diagnosis.

An addiction that is getting stronger.

A relationship that is struggling. 

A looming divorce. 

A son or daughter that is lost. 

I am willing to bet that all of us have dealt with one of the above at some point in our lives. Pastor Chris says, "You are either entering a storm, embracing a storm, or emerging from a storm." See, God  never promised us that when we become followers of Him we will no longer have any problems. In fact, He says the exact opposite. 

There is NOTHING more important to God than finding His lost children and restoring them to a place of peace and hope! In fact, in one particular chapter of Luke, there are three separate stories about how important the "lost" one is- so important that the shepard goes and looks for the one lost sheep when there are ninety-nine sheep right where they are supposed to be. So important that the woman who has ten silver coins but has lost one, turns on a lamp and sweeps the whole house and then rejoices when the one is found. It is so reassuring to know that no matter what I do, or how far I stray, my God is relentlessly pursuing me! 

Another huge parallel he drew between the movie and life was when Maria and Lucas have first found each other. They are in horrible shape. Maria is beat UP. They are faced with a choice, a choice we all are faced with on a daily basis, should they think of themselves and getting themselves through their storm or should they help others who were suffering? They chose to help others. 

So this brings me to the next huge point. What if life is going pretty well for you? Guess you are just lucky? NO! Get up and help someone else who might not be feeling such "luck"! God tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 

Did y'all get that? Oh my gosh! We can't just "soak up" all of God's comforting for ourselves! We have to do something in return... yikes. That makes things a lot harder doesn't it? 

My desire for everyone this week is to try and make God's focus (finding His lost children and reaching out to them) our focus. Even if you are in the midst of a storm yourself, look around you and find someone else who is also in a storm. Start by atleast just praying for them. Then be open to reach out to them even further if God leads you there. Just be ready! If you start praying for opportunities to help others in their storms you have to be ready to act on it. 

Don't know where to start?  One last line from Pastor Chris, "You can't do everything, but you can do SOMETHING. You can't help everyone, but you can help SOMEONE."