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Weekly Devotional

February 6, 2012

God’s Peace be with you all.

1 Peter 4:7-11  ⁷ The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.  ⁸ Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.  ⁹ Be hospitable to one another without complaining.  ¹⁰ Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.  ¹¹ Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

            Yesterday at church John was handing out the end of year giving statements.  On the way home, Carrie and I briefly discussed our statement.  We actually gave more than we realized throughout the year.  It was what I would call a pleasant surprise, mainly, in that it will help us hopefully get a bigger tax return.  I am not telling you all this to brag, but instead to share with you some of my thoughts regarding this.

            One of the first thoughts that came to my mind was that our giving was not anything we missed.  Yes, there are lots of things we could have done with those contributions.  However, I see how much more the church can do with those contributions.  We would have probably spent that money on other things (or, because some of you know I am cheap, we would have put it in the bank) that would not have returned any kind of “investment.”  In giving it to the church though, I see the work of that “investment.”  I see what a small congregation truly can do.  I see how much ownership and empowerment you truly have, and how our congregation as a family continually goes above and beyond in what you do.  This leads me to my second thought: what else can we do?  How much more can we give?  Well, I am one to think that there is always room for improvement, and so that is something Carrie and I will continue to discuss.  Here we are just 1 full month in and she and I will start talking about our giving.  Can we do more?  We will see, and we will pray.  Perhaps there are other ways to give also.

That brings me to my third point.  I have shared this with many of you, but let me share it again.  I am continually amazed at how much we are able to do regardless of our size.  I thing SoG is a model for stewardship that every other church should be using.  We step out in faith over and over and over again, and God continues to bless us because of it. By stewardship I don’t mean just financial giving either.  You go out of your way to serve those in and around us all the time.  God’s Little Haven was a great example of it, and a fantastic way to start February.  Let’s keep it up!

In our prayers this week:  Ann, Daniel, Scott S., Mike C., Brent S., Barbara C., Barbara (Pat Morton’s sister), and Christine (Andrea’s friend)

God’s Peace,