[Dragon Cowboy]

Hey guys... two things here which are sort of related concerning decisions to be made in my house.

First... I've always felt a "pull" to go on a mission trip and when this thing happened with Haiti, it seems like this "pull" became more prominent. I really began to consider seriously going on a mission trip as soon as this happened but there weren't many opportunities at the time. Well... Haiti continued to pop up in my life in different conversations and things like that until I got an e-mail from The 410 Bridge about some upcoming trips. My concern is this... I have a 6 month old at home that I take care of daily. If this is not a call from God but rather my own personal desire pushing me to go.... I feel that it would be selfish of me to go running off to a country in turmoil and not only put my life at risk but create a certain (but manageable) amount of hardship on my already stressed out wife. I've already had 20% of the cost of the trip pledged and I've only really made one phone call. What are your thoughts and please don't hold back?????

Second... There is an opportunity for my wife to step into the nursery leadership at our church. We talked last night and she has some great ideas to improve the nursery program and make it safer. Her concern is similar to mine. She is already overworked and while stable in her faith is on shaky ground with the church because of some things that have occurred in the past. She is also concerned about how much true "control" she will have or will she just be the work horse that has little input into the program.

My thoughts on both of these opportunities is that even if it is our own personal desire to do these things, that if it benefits the Kingdom and fits our gifts sets then why these be opportunities from God. ????

thanks guys!!!

[Brodieman]

If the mission trip is short-term (less than 2 weeks), I think it's not a big deal to go. You both will certainly know that it's a temporary thing, your daughter will adjust to the short time not seeing dad, and your wife, if in agreement that you should go, will be ok.

As far as the nursery thing.....if there's any kind of holdover feelings because of what's happened in the past, don't do it. The worst thing you guys could do is have some kind of feelings hanging over from past events, get involved in this, then get hurt further because of the lack of "control", etc. That could send you guys over the edge and you could end up leaving under bad circumstances. If you end up leaving eventually, do it in the right way, and on your terms. But if you get further involved in ministry, do it because you guys are going to continue to root down there.

The worst thing you can do when you've got "issues" with your local body is to root down further. That magnifies everything and causes you to become hyper-critical of everything that goes on. From personal experience.

[cxa]

Straight up WISDOM was just spoken!!

[Dragon Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Brodieman

If the mission trip is short-term (less than 2 weeks), I think it's not a big deal to go. You both will certainly know that it's a temporary thing, your daughter will adjust to the short time not seeing dad, and your wife, if in agreement that you should go, will be ok.

As far as the nursery thing.....if there's any kind of holdover feelings because of what's happened in the past, don't do it. The worst thing you guys could do is have some kind of feelings hanging over from past events, get involved in this, then get hurt further because of the lack of "control", etc. That could send you guys over the edge and you could end up leaving under bad circumstances. If you end up leaving eventually, do it in the right way, and on your terms. But if you get further involved in ministry, do it because you guys are going to continue to root down there.

The worst thing you can do when you've got "issues" with your local body is to root down further. That magnifies everything and causes you to become hyper-critical of everything that goes on. From personal experience.

good stuff Jeff... thanks for the advice. but.... I think my wife is going to do the nursery thing. She's already been talking to church staff and asking questions about the situation. I'm hoping/praying that this will get her more involved and re-spark some of that fire she had in the beginning.

I love our church and church family and don't feel called anywhere else and to be honest there aren't many options in our area that would fit the type of service we have (which I enjoy very much). My pray is that the church and ourselves are just going though some growing pains and everything will be righted soon. If not, then as you say Jeff, this might push us to find/do something else.

Please pray that God's Will be done and that my wife and I are watchful and obedient.

Thanks!

[Brodieman]

You guys def. have to do what you feel is right. If this is that direction, and it's a God thing, it will work out.

I'm not trying to pick apart words or read into anything, so take this with a grain of salt, but the only thing I'd caution is this:

I'm hoping/praying that this will get her more involved and re-spark some of that fire she had in the beginning.

Don't look to a program or involvment in a ministry to do this. Sparking the fire can only come from God and fellowship with Him, not overseeing a ministry or getting involved. It's kinda like someone told me a few years ago....if you say you're going to get up at 5am to pray every morning once you become a pastor, you should already be up at 5am every morning praying. Don't let the involvment dictate the spark, let the spark dictate the involvment.

Again, not trying to be presumptuous or pick apart your post, just felt like that should be said.

[Dragon Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Brodieman

You guys def. have to do what you feel is right. If this is that direction, and it's a God thing, it will work out.

I'm not trying to pick apart words or read into anything, so take this with a grain of salt, but the only thing I'd caution is this:



Don't look to a program or involvment in a ministry to do this. Sparking the fire can only come from God and fellowship with Him, not overseeing a ministry or getting involved. It's kinda like someone told me a few years ago....if you say you're going to get up at 5am to pray every morning once you become a pastor, you should already be up at 5am every morning praying. Don't let the involvment dictate the spark, let the spark dictate the involvment.

Again, not trying to be presumptuous or pick apart your post, just felt like that should be said.

I definitely see the wisdom in the above! Thanks for pointing that out Brother!