Day 29: "Accepting Your Assignment"

Hey all! I tell you what! It's gettin' harder & harder for me to stay up & get these posts out! I'm gonna try and double up for ya today! Today we move onto our 4th PURPOSE: "You were shaped for serving God."

Today talks about "Accepting Your Assignment." This is Day 29 in Rick Warren's book: The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For?

There are 3 parts of this chapter that I want to discuss, because I have had specific conversations about them OR I just think they are important.

Here is the first: "Another term for serving God that's misunderstood by most people is the word MINISTRY. When most people hear "ministry," they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says every member of his family is a minister."

I had a conversation with a VERY dear friend. We actually met for lunch/brainstorming session & that turned into almost a 3-hour long discussion. One of the things I talked to her about was starting a ministry...& calling it "Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus." After our discussion (& lots of thought) I think I will call it a MISSION, but it will accomplish the same thing. Some of the things brought up were: "Is it necessary to use "Jesus" in the name of the ministry & would I be up there PREACHING to people?" We can speak VERY plainly to each other & know that the other has each other's best interests in mind when asking the questions we ask. After the first question...my head initially went to...."If I take his name OUT of it....that will be like taking his name out of the Pledge of Allegiance & out of schools & out of whatever they can get it out of." She stopped me and reminded me that Jesus was humble & doesn't need his name everywhere....& he doesn't. I know she was coming to me from a place of concern & she doesn't want ANYTHING to curtail my business....but he is ALL UP IN my business & I WANT to .

Then she asked: "What would this ministry do?" I told her my ROUGH vision: Have the ability to provide scholarships & grants to students & new business owners because I know how you can feel limited as both, if you don't have the money it takes to do something that you really think needs to be done. I'd like to also be able to provide religious education grants for children and adults. Then I told her how I'd like to take my employees & volunteers on specific missions to help spread our mission. Not only that, but the group of people that work with me have experiences that (if shared) can REALLY help others & I'm not opposed to speaking engagements...alone or as a team. So...to answer the question about if we would be preaching to people....not really. We'd be sharing our experiences with people...and doing for people.

I kind of delved into WHY it concerned her as much as it did & she shared some of her experiences, which were quite eye-opening. She is a BELIEVER...by all means, but LIKE MANY OF US (myself included...once upon a time)...is RESERVED about sharing her experiences or her FAITH because we don't want to offend anyone or rub anyone the wrong way. I agree that...depending on what you want to accomplish...some conversations have to be approached with finesse. She also told me about her childhood growing up & how many parents & adults kind of shoved religion down your throat & TOLD you what you had to be & what was GOOD & BAD...ACCEPTABLE & UNACCEPTABLE...ultimately leaving the impression that you had to be, act, dress, look a certain way to be acceptable to GOD. One example she told me was when she was a little girl one of her neighbors (parents of her little neighbor friend) gave her a Bible & then told her to take it home & tell her Daddy that he OWED them $2 or something for it.

All I want to do is SHARE MY GOOD NEWS WITH OTHERS. SHARE what I have learned & what I BELIEVE & give examples & tell stories & GIVE GOD THE GLORY. I'm not sure WHAT that will look like exactly... I just feel like I'm supposed to do it. I also know that I don't want to SHOVE IT DOWN PEOPLE'S THROATS. It won't mean a thing to them. I want to SHARE with who wants me to share it with them or who THINKS they want to know what I am talking about or who WANTS to be a part of whatever I'm doing. I don't want to FORCE anything. I realize that some people may put a wall up...just by the words I choose to use...but some won't & if something GOOD is coming from it the GOODNESS will spread & continue to spread...even if there are only a handful that want anything to do with it at first.

Here is the second thing I want to share that kind of reiterates what I discussed above. "The Bible says, 'He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose.' Peter adds, 'You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you.' Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling." After typing & re-reading this...something else struck me. In this business I have started I have found that A LOT of people don't UNDERSTAND where I am going with this, what the purpose is, WHY I'm doing it & just don't go out and get a job. HONESTLY...sometimes I'm not sure of the EXACT direction I am going or the EXACT purpose behind ALL these lessons I'm learning, but I KNEW before I went at it FULL-time I was supposed to be doing SOMETHING with it. I KNEW I needed to do more. It has been CONFIRMED to me I don't even know how many times now. I still can't say what it will look like 6 months, a year, or 10 years from now & I STILL have people trying to tell me how I'm supposed to live my life when they have NO CLUE...at all...about what has been done, what is in the works, what I have learned, & what God has GIVEN me. Heck...some of them don't even know what God has GIVEN them. YET...I still march on b/c I UNDERSTAND my PURPOSE for doing it. I share this because....We aren't even close to UNDERSTANDING GOD's purpose for our lives...God's purpose for saving us & blessing us with the gifts he gave no other living creature...what is SO special about us that God CHOSE to save us...WHY we have the experiences & feelings that we have... & (EVEN AFTER HE PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE) we QUESTION Him & get MAD at him & HIDE from Him, Some of us LOSE our belief in Him, we take his name OUT of things...YET he marches on....blessing families with more babies, loving us through our sins...teaching us to know ourselves when we don't understand WHY he doesn't just tell us. You know.... I don't UNDERSTAND his PURPOSE, but I BELIEVE in his PURPOSE & mine is linked with His.

Here is the THIRD thing I want to share from this chapter: "We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression caused depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation." AMEN!!!!! This happened to me when I took another job, when I KNEW I should pursue something with my auction license. This happened to me when I read the chapter about HARD conversations & SAT on it b/c I didn't want to have them. This happened to me when I didn't feel RIGHT to write posts for a blog called "Buck Up Baby!" when I couldn't even get the nerve to BUCK UP & do what I knew I was supposed to be doing. This happens when I see a friend I haven't seen in years that wants to catch up on old pals...which eventually leads to gossiping. Honestly...this still happens to me from post to post. I share this information with ya'll & some days....even though I KNOW what I SHOULD do....I just don't. I've told you before that I die daily...sometimes several times a day & my faith wains, BUT I can say that the more AWARE of things you become...the more you EXPRESS yourself & the less you put yourself in depressing situations.

READ the chapter. There is LOTS more in there. Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus! Find your ministry, name it what you want to, & go to sharin' that sucker! Here is the flyer for the BABY stages of my ministry/mission. I am HOPING to give as many $1000 scholarships away as possible to students pursuing a higher level of education, whether that be: a college, university, trade school, licensing school, or religious education school. It will be open to any high-school graduate student, currently enrolled college student, or someone wishing to return to school. The candidates will have to answer 1 of 2 essay questions: 1) Give us an example of an experience where you have had to "BUCK UP" & do something that has pushed you out of your comfort zone & how that made an impact on your life & possibly others OR 2) Tell us about an area/idea/dream that you have, but you have not mustered up the courage yet to "Buck Up." What is holding you back?  

Just realized...I didn't share the daily stuff....

"Point to Ponder: Service is not optional."

Daily Bible Verse: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Daily Question: "What is holding me back from accepting God's call to serve him?"\

From my journal the first time of reading: In December 2013 I quit my job to pursue my service/talent God has given me. The things that stopped me and still hang me up are: fear, family and friends not understanding, perception, pride, my perceived image, money. I can sit here - happy to say that I can feel the good Lord working in me, blessing others, and melting away some of my previous concerns.

A little more to say now...as some of those concerns melt away...some days others intensify. Daily...I tell you...DAILY you have to work through ALL the processes....of all the things & JUST HOLD FAITH that the PURPOSE you are working towards is worth it.

God Bless Pretties!!
Heather Schoenst Kaspar
TXL 17037

Day 17: "A Place To Belong"

Welcome readers! For new readers, we are taking a chapter by chapter journey through the book: The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For? by Pastor Rick Warren.

 This chapter goes into a deep discussion about the importance of CHURCH. I had a little moment with this chapter. I AGREE...being a member of a church & regularly attending ADDS to your spiritual life. It has added to mine TREMENDOUSLY. I have said that the Catholic Church I attend REALLY helped me to KNOW Jesus Christ. BUT...I go back to when I wasn't regularly attending church in my youth & I KNOW that God was DEVELOPING my faith then too. I didn't feel "disconnected" like the book talks about. I felt CONNECTED in a divine way. I can also say that I liked the Lutheran Church that we were members of that I attended (regularly in young youth & not very often in my pre-teen/teenage years). There were things I learned about myself. I remember sitting in confirmation class & we were talking about God's creation & Cain & Able finding wives & I asked "If Adam & Eve were the only humans on earth & their only sons were Cain & Able...well....How did they find wives?" The Bible doesn't talk about him going on to create others, which he did OBVIOUSLY, but I was introduced & MOVED by the mystery of the Bible.

I don't know. I guess what I'm saying is I did a lot of PRIVATE spiritual development in those years that I think were SO important to me. So much so, that when I did start regularly attending another church & eventually becoming a member, it meant so much more for me. I wasn't just blindly going because my parents told me to go. I WANTED to go.

I agree that it is IMPORTANT, but I NEVER felt like what the book says the Bible talks about: "Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we?" Never felt...dead or useless... Anyways...I digress a bit, but just wanted to say that. I'm going to go into the different sections of the book.

"Your Local Fellowship"

This section again says: "The Bible says a Christian without a church home is like an organ without a body, a sheep without a flock, or a child without a family. It is an unnatural state." I yet struggle with this...BECAUSE...everyone's experience is different & I AGREE we would ALL hugely benefit from the RIGHT church for us & I NEED the church that I regularly attend & appreciate it, BUT...you can be going every Sunday...because that is what we are supposed to do & you can be listening & applying some of the things you learn to your life....You can be an ACTIVE member...an usher, church council member, Eucharistic minister...BUT if you pass judgement or FAIL to help a current member, new member or a non-believer or an on-the-fence church member....how does that make you any better than a church member that is attending, but not actively participating in day-to-day church activities and events, BUT in private helps another member that is struggling. I don't know...It's gonna take me a minute to wrap my head around it. If everyone gives God the glory for whatever their doing than it all would be coming from the right place, but if people are doing things to bring themselves the glory...I just don't know. People are just so complex & we all have a plethora of sin & emotion whirling around us & a plethora of talents & needs that are not cookie cutter, and a lot of churches leave an impression that you have to fit that mold, if you want to fit in & I just can't get with that.

I think that we are all blessed with unique talents & we can all bring something unique to ANY church...even the most traditional. I was a Lutheran & the Catholic church really led me to Jesus. You may be a non-believer that feels left out & judged in a Catholic church, but feels TOTALLY accepted & RIGHT at the United Methodist church. I guess what I'm sayin' is WHATEVER GETS YOU TO JESUS can't be wrong. That is one of our main goals: To get to know Jesus Christ. Another thing....some of us are outgoing & love to be around people. Some of us are more structured and EXCEL at leading a meeting. Some of us are afraid to get up in front of large groups of people & read a reading OR collect the offering. All I'm sayin' is we ALL have a UNiquE way we can add to our church. AGAIN...I AGREE that it is important to be a member of a congregation for MORE than what makes you seem like an "active member." There isn't a right or a wrong gift you can add. A lot of times people don't join a church because they feel intimidated, or don't feel comfortable doing/acting/saying certain things. You have to feel accepted & a church will HELP you develop whatever relationship with The Holy Trinity you are working on.

"Why You Need a Church Family"

I love this book, but I'm not buyin' in to this first line: "I can't claim to be following Christ if I'm not committed to any specific group of disciples." I don't know man... I mean I WAS following Jesus Christ when I was not regularly going. I was committed to him. I prayed to him daily (or almost daily). I reflected back on things I was taught. I mean...I guess if you are just walkin' around sinnin' all the time & not thinkin' about it AT ALL that's one thing... If you didn't take some time to pray & talk to God/Jesus maybe not. BUT I was following Jesus Christ.  Again...not saying a church family is unnecessary, just sayin' that we all go about things a little differently & our aim should always be to get to know God, Jesus, & The Holy Spirit. This section of the book also says: "A church family moves you out of self-centered isolation." I can get with that. You start becoming a part of other peoples lives & you learn lessons from the Bible that encourage you to do just that. You are held more responsible.

Aaaand...as the chapter rolls on...it all starts comin' together for me....

"The Body of Christ needs you." Agreed! I believe that we are supposed to work in numbers. I believe what this chapter says when it says: "God has a unique role for you to play in his family. This is called your 'ministry,' and God has gifted you for this assignment: 'A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.'" Yes Sir -E Bob! Now we're talkin'! Now I KNOW I need to develop & initiate MY ROLE within our church. Here is another important line from this chapter: "Your local fellowship is the place God designed for you to discover, develop, and use your gifts. you may also have a wider ministry, but that is in addition to your service in a local body. Jesus has not promised to build your ministry; he has promised to build his church." His church...which is now HIS body here on earth. Also...what I take away from this is that when we use our spiritual gifts, that God gives us, we are strengthening the church & enabling the body as a WHOLE  to pull people in by the numbers. We all identify with each other differently & the more people using their gifts, the more it will resonate with people. Last thing I took away from the last line I quoted: When we we start developing our ministry...we start DEVELOPING our relationship with GOD. There is a BIG difference in having a relationship & developing one. We all have one, because we are his creation.

"A church family will help keep you from backsliding."

 Folks...I can tell you Jesus is workin' with me right now. Over the last several months I have talked to people about things I KNOW I wouldn't have talked to them about a few months ago. I have talked to them when I didn't want to. I have talked to them when I know they didn't want me to. I have talked about things that I would have maybe been ashamed of or feared judgement. I have encouraged, and believed, and hurt for others. I have BLESSED things (conversations/travels/souls of the deceased/friendships) by prayer in a way I NEVER did before. These are the two lines that helped serve as a catalyst (I think): "'Mind your own business' is not a Christian phrase. We are called and commanded to be involved in each other's lives." Do you wanna know how many times I have "Minded my own business," just so I didn't ruffle any feathers? Too damn many....and I know it. I also know that for every time I "minded my own business" I have left a situation that is NO BETTER today than it was days, or months, or years ago. I'm not sayin' you go out lookin' for things, BUT when something DEEPLY affects you or someone you love & has the potential to HURT, RUIN, or DIVIDE you better get nosy!! Who do you think wants to HURT, RUIN, or DIVIDE??? God or the devil?

"Point to Ponder: I am called to belong, not just believe."

Daily Bible Verse: "In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12:5 (NIV)

Daily Question: "Does any involvement in my local church demonstrate that I love and am committed to God's family."

From my journal: No. I need to speak with Father about a good role for me. My thought is a different blog where there can be several different contributors & can be shared with anyone that leaves an email address with the church office. Let's say the contributors could be: a younger person that has converted to Catholicism (myself), an older person that converted, someone that grew up in the Catholic church (younger & older) & maybe a Priest or Bishop. That way we can include several different viewpoints from members of the church. We could talk about a plethora of different topics: what certain things in the Catholic church mean, the importance of Saints & Mother Mary, the different ways we each value confession, and a description of the importance of our Holy Days.

Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus! Go find you a church that feels like home! God Bless!  

P.S. I just watched an Oprah interview last night with Mike Fisher & Carrie Underwood. Soon after they started dating they started reading this book together....& he's re-reading it (per the interview). Kinda cool.