| Inbetween |
| Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. – 1 Peter 5:7 After I hit my own rock bottom, God gave me a choice: obey Him or don’t. No inbetween. I spent so much of my life skirting the edge, giving an overt nod to God in appearance but not in reality. When God brought me to the end of myself, He didn’t give me any wiggle room. My only options were to obey or not. So I did. I disclosed all my junk. I started attending recovery meetings. I found a sponsor, began working the twelve steps. Actually went to counseling with a counselor who would hold me to my word, even when my word sucked. I recognized my powerlessness. Agreed that only God could restore me to sanity and then promised to turn over my life and will to Him. To obey. Step four required that I take a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself. By doing so, I faced all my flaws, my defects of character, and my ingrained fears. I obeyed God by opening myself up to Him. So what now? My counselor, Ken, drew a chart for me. A cross, actually. He put me right at the center, with my wife on the right and my kids on the left. He explained that God’s love for my wife and family flowed through me to them. When my vertical relationship with Him was broken, it negatively impacted my wife and kids. Damn, that didn’t feel good to hear. Ken reminded me to obey God and repair that vertical relationship. Only then would I see God’s impact on my wife and kids through me. The inbetween time stunk. I had to build trust in Him, even when I couldn’t see the results or know the timing. After three years, I’m a work in progress. He didn’t take my character defects, fears, flaws all away. A lot of them remain, but some of them don’t. Some of them disappeared over time…my pride, selfishness, identity in my job. Others require me to trust Him and depend on His strength. Things like my economic insecurity, concern for my boys and their relationship with God, my deep seeded resentments. Life for me continues inbetween…inbetween my obedience and His deliverance. In that time, in the now, my trust grows. Notice I said grows…not finished. Grows…still in progress. How do you handle the inbetween? Do you trust Him without seeing the results? Have you decided to obey and develop trust later? This week, Sean leads us in a message of the inbetween. Join us on Saturday in expectation of His deliverance on Sunday. What to expect: We are a service of recovery and a community of hope. Expect impactful worship songs, a time of celebration and sharing of our milestones, and a testimony of spiritual awakening. When: Every Saturday at 5:30 pm Location: The Fellowship (in the Loft), 22765 Westheimer Pkwy, Katy, TX 77450 Childcare is available. Pre-notification is not necessary but is requested. For more information about childcare, email us info@theprodigals.org. Give: We need your support! Give to the Prodigal. Use your smart phone and text your donation. Send a text to 28950, and type the keyword PROD, a space and the amount you wish to give. You will receive a text response for your name, address and account information for one-time registration. An email confirmation will be sent to confirm your donation. Next time, you simply send a text with the amount – and it’s complete. Come home, prodigals! – Keith B. |
Permission to come aboard
OK, I have a confession to make. I like supernatural stories. Vampires, magic, science fiction, paranormal. Something about these fantasies intrigue me. I like the traditional ones like Dracula, Frankenstein, as well as the more contemporary like the Anne Rice ones and the newer ones like the Harry Potter books and the Dresden Files. I love a good fantastical story.
The mythology around all these stories varies. The written and unwritten rules of engagement with supernatural beings provides structure but also a lot of tension. Like how vampires can change shapes, have to avoid sunlight, and are repelled by crosses and holy water. What I find weird in these stories is that most of these beings can’t just enter a home, they have to be invited in. These all powerful and destructive beings can only enter your house if they have an invitation!
Growing up in a Southern Baptist home, accepting the free gift of Christ and salvation were impressed upon me at a young age. I remember clearly as a nine year old praying a prayer to ask for forgiveness of my sins and for Christ to have control of my life. And I thought that was it.
Throughout my adult life, I knew that I believed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That I accepted the free gift of salvation. But somehow, my life never changed. I couldn’t understand why. As I began a life in recovery, working through the twelve steps, I came to step three, not really sure what else I had to do. I had given God control. Or so I thought.
My counselor explained it to me this way.
“What one thing happens when you pray to ask for His grace and forgiveness,” he asked?
“I am forgiven.”
“That’s right. You are forgiven. But you still have all of those character defects, fears, flaws. They don’t immediately just go away. You actually have work to do to identify them with God’s help. To turn over each and every one to Him.”
And that’s what helped me to prepare for step four. I had to turn my life AND will over to God to begin the searching and fearless moral inventory that step four requires. In order to address all those defects that define my brokenness, I had to give God permission to make me aware of each and every one of them. I can only address them in His timing and by giving Him permission.
Have you given God permission to enter? To identify those flaws, fears, and defects that define your own brokenness? Start with turning your life and will over to Him. Continue by daily allowing Him to identify each area and ask for His guidance in addressing them. In His timing, not yours.
Step four. Time to let Him in and clean house. One at a time. Get started!
Unfair
Keith B. – NotUnknown.com
Life isn’t fair. Shocker, right? Maybe we should approach life with this philosophy. We can only trust God. Only, God doesn’t operate under my definition of fair either. Trustworthy, yes. Fair, not so much. Well, not my definition of fair.
Webster defines fair as “marked by impartiality and honesty : free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism.” That explanation of fairness doesn’t align with my view of the world. I have come to expect to NOT be treated honestly and with impartiality. Whether at work, personal relationships, and in any interactions with other people.
Joseph knew all about being treated unfairly. His own brothers sold him into slavery, lied to his father about him being killed by a wild animal, and held on to that story for years. His employer’s wife accused him of sexual misconduct, protecting herself and her own depravity. His fellow prisoner whom he helped forgot him for two years, despite the promises he made to Joseph to remember him when released.
This week, my oldest son learned about unfairness. He came face to face with the harsh reality that all who tell you they have your best interests as their top priority can’t be trusted, even university professors and leaders. Even leaders in those positions will take credit for your work and seek to profit from it.
How do we respond when we know life is unfair? We turn to the only one we can trust. Genesis 39:21 states, “But the Lord was with Joseph and Joseph lived like he knew the Lord was with him.” Joseph knew all about unfairness. His circumstances testified to skepticism and lack of trust for others, including family. So Joseph trusted God.
Step 3 reminds me that God is the only one to whom I can trust with my life and my will. Romans 8:28 reminds us why: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Who can you trust today?
Prodigal Tonight!
| We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God, as we understood God. – Step 3 Turning my life and will over to the care of God, for me, requires actual engagement with God. Spending time together. Getting to know Him. And being open with Him. Something new for me these past three years. Like with my wife and kids. For much of my marriage, especially the last years before recovery, I would describe my participation as a husband, father and friend as…disengaged. That’s probably being kind. That kind of disengagement led to relationships with my wife and kids that stagnated, suffered, and didn’t grow. My relationship with God deteriorated as well. Not participating, not engaging, led to one way communication – God trying to get my attention, me not listening. What is the state of your relationship with our Father? Are you nurturing it, being transparent? Making yourself available? Join us this week as Brian H leads us. What to expect: we are a service of recovery and a community of hope. Expect impactful worship songs, a time of celebration and sharing of our milestones, and a testimony of spiritual awakening. When: Every Saturday at 5:30 pmLocation: The Fellowship (in the Loft), 22765 Westheimer Pkwy, Katy, TX 77450Childcare is available. Pre-notification is not necessary but is requested. For more information about childcare, email us info@theprodigals.org. Give: We need your support! Give to the Prodigal. Use your smart phone and text your donation. Send a text to 28950, and type the keyword PROD, a space and the amount you wish to give. You will receive a text response for your name, address and account information for one-time registration. An email confirmation will be sent to confirm your donation. Next time, you simply send a text with the amount – and it’s complete. Come home, prodigals! – Keith B.Copyright © 2019 Prodigal, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Prodigal22765 Westheimer Pkwy,Katy, TX 77450 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. |
Volunteer for Prodigal – NEED YOUR HELP
TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!
We only need 18 more peeps….. COME JOIN US!!!! If you can recruit some family/friends to come that would be awesome… WE NEED BODIES!!!
- There is NO COST
- It’s a FUN Time
- It’s MAKING a DIFFERENCE!
Please respond to me at sean.granere@creativeplanning.com and let me know if you can join me WE MUST HAVE 50 FOLKS!
Event: Feed the Hungry
When: Friday March 1st
Time: 7:30 – 9:30
Location: The Pavillon – Katy ISA in Katy TX, 6301 S. Stadium Lane Katy, TX 77494.
“SHINE” video to see an overview of the Feed the Hunger Mission.
Katy Packathon – Feed the Hunger
As you have likely heard, the Feed the Hunger Packathon is coming back to the Katy area February 28–March 2, 2019! PLEASE mark your calendars now and rally your teams! There are five shifts taking place over three days at The Pavillon—Katy ISD in Katy, TX. You are invited to once again come help us package nutritious meals for hungry children around the world and, more importantly, help spread the Gospel!
Session 3: Friday, March 1st, 7:30pm-9:30pm
Each participant will serve for about two hours and package around 200 meals, which is enough food to feed one child lunch for up to an entire school year! Each meal costs only $0.28, so your $56 contribution will also help sponsor the meals and ensure they get on the plates of those who need it most. You can purchase a station with a team of 25 people for $1400.00.
Thanks,
Sean
Sean Granere
Managing Director
