"I Was in the Neighborhood..."

I've been blown away lately at how often God stops by for a visit when I least expect it.

When Joe Wilson and I were at the Catalyst conference we seriously considered skipping the last day and going home because there wasn't much of anybody we were interested in hearing and because the first two days had been so great. We assumed the last day would be kind of anticlimactic. We were blown away even more. The speakers we were least familiar with were some of the best.

The Monday evening before Thanksgiving we had a Thanksgiving meal at the church for our Celebrate Recovery ministry. I'm not actively involved in this ministry but I love the lady who heads it up. She's a fireball and she has a tremendous heart for the lost. I agreed to be there and provide a little music for the evening. Honestly, when the night came, I was kind of tired and not really looking forward to it. But God showed up in such a mighty way! One of the ladies in the program shared her testimony about how she was dealing with anger issues. She went into some pretty personal details of events from her childhood that brought her to where she was. Long story short, she was incredibly inspiring. I love it when people have the guts to get up and be so transparent and vulnerable. It's an incredibly courageous thing. I don't think anyone there was expecting God to show up on a Monday night, but he did.

Then yesterday, Joe and I attended the funeral of a sister of one our deacons. I had never met the woman, but it was especially tragic because she was only 37 yrs old and was leaving behind a husband and two teenage boys. She had MS. God sent these two incredible servants to that funeral, her pastor and a older female preacher that was a family friend. As they spoke and attempted to give the family comfort - I was blown away. Each of them in their own way was comforting, funny, heart-broken, and the mouth-piece of God. It was honesty an honor to hear them speak. They ministered to my heart as well. It's crazy how you go to a funeral to be of some kind of support to a few people, and instead God shows up and ministers to me in a big way.

Finally, last night my son, Isaiah, and I had a father/son night out. He's been going through a really tough time lately. His self-image and world-view is at an all-time low. Sounds weird to say that about a 9-year-old, but it's true (please pray for him). Anyway I thought an emergency night away was in order so we went to Spingfield and ate crab legs and shopped around town all night, stayed in a hotel and swam in the pool, and got up today and had breakfast together. It was great spending time with him. He really loved it, but I think I loved it more. Once again, God shows up and gives me reason to spend some meaningful time with my son. It's amazing how spending true quality time with your family members feels remarkably similar to spending quality time with God.

This time last year, Rob Morgan, author and pastor of The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, was in service with us. I only remember one thing from his sermon - he said, "Ministry happens in the interruptions of life." It's true. Meaningful minstering to the hearts of people is rarely ever scheduled. I thing the same is true of God. He tends to show up during the interruptions of my life.