The difference love makes

What a difference to wake up feeling rested this morning.  My nights continue to be restless, and I sleep in spurts and snatches.  The deep-down feeling of weariness behind my eyes tends to follow me around throughout the day, and last night during my message I realized how difficult it was for me to keep my train of thought going in one direction.  Several times while I was speaking I had to stop and think about what I'd planned to say next . . . must have seemed very disjointed for the few brave souls who came in spite of the snow last night.  After we got home last night Jacqueline told me how sad she feels for me that I don't ever sleep well, and how hard it must be to function when I always feel sleepy.  Her concern meant a lot to me, and Daphne suggested that they pray for me to sleep well last night.  And I did.  I don't look very far down the road anymore in terms of believing that I'll sleep well "from now on" - been there and done that too many times.  BUT, I am very grateful for every decent night's sleep I have.

It snowed last night - about eight inches from the looks of it.  We desperately need this snow because we're still way, way down in total moisture for the year here in Conifer.  The snow this time of year is heavy and wet - very different from the light, fluffy snow in the Fall. 

Daphne and I are enjoying the opportunities we've had recently to do some counseling in the church.  Truth be told, we're not really doing "counseling" per se - it's more like sitting down with good friends across a table and talking about the things that are troubling us.  Several people have told us recently that they've never been a part of a church where they feel so loved; for most of them, their religious experience in the past has left them emotionally and spiritually wounded, and in many cases its been years since they set foot in any church.  I think the two biggest differences we've noticed here (at The Journey) are our commitment to help those in need with any resources at our disposal (without delaying to debate if the needs are "valid" or not), and secondly our willingness to tackle problems head-on instead of tip-toeing around the issues that are obvious to everyone, but that no one wants to address.  People get damaged by churches and organizations when - rather than loving someone enough to be honest and direct - the church just moves them to another job, or makes life hard enough so they'll leave of their own accord, or (maybe the worst of all) just ignores them.  This is contrary to the model Jesus demonstrated.  He confronted sin directly and forthrightly, while at the same time loving the person deeply and genuinely.   Is it possible to love someone deeply AND tell them what their real problem is?  Absolutely.  Do we always receive loving confrontation well?  Obviously not, as the revolving door at the rear of the church testifies.  I for one am grateful for our commitment as a church leadership team to love everyone  - both in our church and outside - in word and in deed.  And part of loving people well is to refuse to allow hidden agendas and invisible elephants to prosper.