Big Serve 08 Meditations

So what do you say after seeing a 200+ year old Church take one of the boldest steps ever toward engaging their community with Christ? I don't know exactly. I am virtually speechless.

The one thing that I keep coming back to is Luke 2:

All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.

Mary heard the Shepherds' report about Jesus and was impressed with the way in which she could be a vessel for God's glory. It says that she kept these things in her heart. My heart is so full right now after seeing the Word become flesh and blood and move into the neighborhood (btw that's the message paraphrase) I'm not a hero or worthy of glory, God has chosen to show his favor because our Church has been faithful to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Our Pastor said it well last night, "I am so proud of you all." We challenged many to get out of their comfort zones and do some things that they had never done before, but God blessed exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that we could think or imagine. People said to me repeatedly last night, "Something is different here and I don't know how to describe it, but it is exciting."

My wife went to Farm Fresh the next day, Labor day, and crossed paths with Firefighters who were talking out loud about how they did not have to buy many groceries because First Baptist Church Norfolk had brought such a wonderful meal yesterday and they were still eating the leftovers! They walked up on Lori and saw her Big Serve shirt and could not say enough in gratitude for all that our Church did for them. I'm getting teary eyed as I write this. God's goodness touched lives through something so simple and everyone in the store heard about how First Baptist Norfolk said thank you to the firefighters in Janaf by feeding them on Sunday!

God is so good. He is moving. It is not about us. History is His Story. We are making history as we see the mighty wave of God's love pour into our community in an unprecedented manner. Some are asking, "When can we do this again?" To which I reply, "Don't wait for another Big Serve. . .just do it!!!" I received a report from a friend today that she and her husband saw another firehouse in their neighborhood and decided to serve again today by taking a meal to those guys. Its not a program, its a passion for taking the Good News to our world by being the Good News in the process.

As un-contemporary as it may sound, I wanted to sing last night, "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God." There are families that you want to be affiliated with and others you may not, but I am very glad to be a part of the First Norfolk family and this is just the beginning!!!

Stay tuned. There is much to share about the Big Serve when I can figure out how to compress it into a digestible format. Keep checking on www.bigserve.org

Keep serving!