A Tale of One City- and Two Friends!

Marilyn and Will made it safely to the great white North Carolina, so I am home alone this week.  I feel like pulling a Kevin McAlister:  "I'm eating junk food and watching rubbish (football) so you better come out and stop me..."

I have these 2 friends.  They have never met, but I suspect they will soon.  This is a little bit their story and a little bit my story.  But mostly, it's God's story...

There was a young woman who was an important part of my student ministry at Springfield Friends Meeting in High Point, NC back in the late early 90's.  She came from an often distressed family situation, and she had some health issues.  She also had a tremendous love for Jesus.  After I left SFM, she continued to grow in her faith, and she eventually became a youth pastor herself.  She married a wonderful guy whose job moves him around a bit, and so she served churches in various parts of the country.  In November of 2010 they moved to Las Vegas, and she prepared to start over again.  And one of her priorities was finding a new church home.

There was a man who was called to ministry at Wesley Memorial UMC in Tampa about 8 months after I arrived there in 2001.  He and his lovely wife came from Charlotte,NC, and he was WMUMC's first full-time contemporary worship leader. He did it with flair, passion and a heart for God.  He was later called to move to a new ministry in 2005, shortly before I left WMUMC.  In this new ministry he was much freer to lead worship in the manner of his choosing, and he has thrived there.  I watch videos of their worship on a regular basis, and the church is on fire for Jesus.  As you may have guessed, the church is in Las Vegas.

Yesterday, at my suggestion, Ashley attended worship at The Crossing.  She wrote to me Sunday afternoon and said she had loved every minute of it.  She was warmly greeted, she felt comfortable and she LOVED the worship.  She immediately saw the passion in my old friend Jason, and she was moved by the service.  She told me that for the first time since her arrival in Vegas, she felt that she was home.  I immediately wrote Jason to let him know that the presence of the LORD has been felt in that house of worship on December 26th.

Why is this rather random set of occurrences special to me?  Because I don't believe it is random at all.  God puts people in our lives for a reason.  Every person we connect with, every life we impact, every soul we touch matters to God.  And He uses those connections to help mold our lives as we seek to serve Him in the name of Jesus.  My simple Twitter message to Ashley could be the start of something big.  Or it may have just led to one day of praising Jesus.  Either way, I feel that God used my life to make a difference.  As we head down the stretch to the beginning of a new year, I encourage you to be open to letting God use you in ways big and small to make a difference.  I talk all the time about "finding my ministry" in this new, post-youth ministry life I lead.  Yesterday, at least for one day, I found exactly what God needed me to do.  It's not just a song.  He really is an AWESOME GOD!

Because of Jesus,