With Great Power.....

I love the movie "Spiderman"! My favorite lines in the movie are, "With great power comes great responsiblilty." and "This is my gift, my curse."
I think that anything God gives us a leading role in, there is great responsibility. In a pastoral role, my husband has the responsibility on his life of the spiritual health of the people he is over. WOW! He will be held accountable some day for the choices he makes in regards to the people he disciples. We really all have that responsibility, I will be held accountable for what I teach my children. That is why I think the church needs to be so careful about what comes out of the pulpit! It has a ripple effect over the lives of people for generations. That's heavy! Yeah, we do boneheaded things and I really believe that God has grace for the things we do, but we learn from them. (another great movie quote...The Lion King....Rafiki: Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or... learn from it. )
The second spiderman quote is one that I speak out loud a lot. For some reason God lets me in on things sometimes that aren't very pleasant. You can call it discernment, you can call it prophetic....I don't care, I just know that God gives me knowledge of things I would rather not know. Not all the time and sometimes I don't listen, but I can usually tell when someone is lying. It makes me sick. Like I said, not all the time, but I have learned that if I don't listen and do what God asked me to do, it can have some devistating results. It's a blessing when it comes to my kids! Don't get me wrong. ha ha. When someone I trust and want to trust does it, it's a curse. I don't know why me. Maybe God gives everyone this 'power'...i'm just a little more willing to listen than others.
Another thing we have to constantly ask ourselves is....what about my pride? I know that I can get critical, that is something I have to repent over a lot. But how many times does my pride get in the way of what God wants to do? Don't get me wrong. If my pride gets in the way, God will get someone else to do it. I'll just miss out on the blessing.

James and I have had the opportunity to do what I call "fun" ministry. I love to be able to bless people. I love to give. I tell James all the time that if I won the lottery, I'd go broke because I would want to help every sad story that fell on my doorstep. I love doing that! I love giving to those who don't have. I would rather give stuff away than receive it. The blessing is seeing what God does with what you have to give. I don't expect anything in return. I just love seeing God work in peoples lives. It's amazing.


I know I'm rambling on and on. It's just what is on my heart. I have some heavy things in there mixed with some winking moments. I just have to have an outlet to share those things.