Me, cry?

Today in our service I was surprised with an all-out Pastor appreciation moment. Our music leader (Calvin) asked me to 'trust him' and give him 7 minutes of our service. I said okay. Well, as I came up front to speak he stopped me and asked me to sit in a chair at the front of the room. He proceeds to invite several people to come up and read their prepared letters of appreciation. I was overwhelmed. After a couple of letters he broke into "Thank You" by Ray Boltz. As the song was ending about 25-30 people came up and stood around me when he came to:

As Jesus took your hand
And you stood before the Lord.
He said, "My child look around you.
Great is your reward."

Okay, I lost it. I shed some tears. I held back most but I did have to wipe several from my eyes. As the song ended someone prayed for me.

I agree with Bob on the whole Pastor appreciation thing but I must be honest in saying that I did feel appreciated. I appreciate the people of this church for appreciating me. It took a while for me to gather my thoughts however because I wanted our people to see that serving God is not about those moments. I appreciate them (I honestly do) but I don't serve God for people to do that. I took a moment to share with our people that I hope they take away God and thank God for people who've come into their lives but ultimately all we can do is make ourselves available ... God is in the life-changing business... I'm not. I can't change lives.

Anyway... we started a Fellowship Church series (FIRST SERIES EVER WITH FELLOWSHIP STUFF) called "In The Zone" I'm doing a FC series because Ed did a terrific job explaining tithing a.k.a. "bringing". If I were to talk about it right now I'd probably drift toward the negative side. Ed created it from a positive "Be Blessable" side of things. Anyway.. the first message today went well with the Pastor Appreciation because it was all about "Receive and Reflect" God's Generosity... God is a generous God.

Anyway... God showed up today as always.... It was a good week.