John 4

Last week we were studying John 4. I was thinking through the story of the woman at the well and a few things crossed my mind. The first thing that hit me was looking at the story from the perspective of the woman at the well. She was going about her normal routine and Jesus showed up right there in the middle of her day! How often does this happen in our lives? We are going about our daily routine and out of nowhere, God steps in and shows us something amazing! I know that it may not seem like Jesus showed this woman something amazing as He tells her he knows about all the men that have been a part of her life and that the way she is currently living is not what is best for her, but when you really look at this story, He shows her something absolutely amazing! The God of the universe is sitting with her and showing her that He has something so much better for her! He shows His great love for her through simply sitting with her and talking because as a Jew, Jesus would have been expected to completely disregard this woman, but instead he takes the time to speak to her.
Which turns my thoughts to the next thing that crossed my mind, looking Jesus' role in the story. He didn't have to travel through Samaria to get to where He was going, He had to travel through Samaria to be obedient to the Father. if He had simply ignored the Father's call, or just decided that it required too much of Him to be obedient, He would have completely missed the meeting with this woman. Obedience to the Father's call is an absolute must in the life of the believer. There are people around us daily and all around the world who don't know Christ and God is using us, the Church, to reach these people. Sometimes, we will have to go out of our way and do things that are uncomfortable for us to be obedient to the Father, but it is worth our discomfort.

"If God had not used my sister Betsie and me to bring them to Him, they would never have heard of Him. Many died, or were killed, but many died with the Name of Jesus on their lips. They were well worth our suffering." -Corrie ten Boom, Tramp For The Lord

Jesus traveled through Samaria for a purpose. It wasn't the quickest way to where He was going, and it required more of Him than just getting to His next destination, but it was worth the discomfort. He knew that this woman needed to know His love. He took something as simple as asking for a drink of water and turned it into an opportunity to share God's (His) amazing love with someone.

How many opportunities do I have daily to share God's love with those around me? When those moments come, am I willing to be uncomfortable so that others can know Christ? Am I willing to be obedient even when it requires more of me than I am used to giving?

The way the seems right...

This past week has been a busy week. We spent most every night working at the Smith County fair, where we did face painting, made balloon animals and handed out water. We also did promotion for The Power Team coming to Carthage this week. We are so excited about this event and hope that God will use it to reach many in Smith County for Him!
To get ready for this event, we went today to help tear down and clean up things left over from the fair. We got there and with our greatest effort we set out to tear down 3 rows of back to back animal pens (huge metal animal pens). So we work and work and finally get the first of the 3 rows finished in about half an hour, and we take a break. As we are resting, a man arrives and explains to us that we have stacked the gates to the pens and the sides of the pens the wrong way! Not only that but all of these sides connect together by poles and we had stacked the poles in the container the wrong way! We had done everything the absolutely opposite of how it should have been done! So, of course we start switching everything around to the way it is supposed to be stored and the man goes off and when he returns he is driving a forklift, which he uses to life the gates to then pens which were incredibly heavy and our group had been moving 2-3 people at a time, and then lift the stacks of sides that we made. Needless to say we quickly realized that it was much easier to do this job the way this man was going about it than to continue on in our own way of cleaning this up. As we got closer and closer to finishing we we constantly reminded that this way was much easier, as we talked about it this verse came up
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
Proverbs 14:12
This whole event was a perfect picture of the fact that so many times we try to accomplish things on our own when God calls us to seek after Him and follow His plan. My plans and my best efforts can never compare with what God has in store if I will seek after Him! As I spend time with Him daily I grow to love Him more and I see that obedience to Him is vital.

There is a way that seems right and a way that is right. The way that is right is only found by seeking after Christ.