What's In a Biscuit?

Papa Jack's County Kitchen gave us a pretty good deal on sausage biscuits.  For a planned community outreach, we purchased 150 sausage biscuits from Papa Jack's and set up two stations at stop signs in front of the church.  On Monday, November 26th (the Monday after Thanksgiving holidays), we gave out the breakfast biscuits to folks as they were headed out to work in the morning.  We started at 7:00 AM and were done giving them away at 8:00 AM.  No charge, just love........

It didn't seem like that big of an outreach to begin with, however.  We know we need to get out into the community more and be good Christians but something always seems to keep us pinned up within the confines of the church. So, instead of going door to door, we stopped folks from neighborhoods around the church as they were heading out to work after having a four day holiday.  We gave them a free breakfast biscuit with our church web address and "Have a blessed day!" sticker on the wrappers. 

Peoples' reactions to our good will offering were great!  One guy came back by after running some errands and forced us to take a monetary donation for the church.  Another person came back, parked in the church parking lot, crossed the street and chatted with the pastor about what we were doing.  We saw many grins and smiles and received genuine thank-you's for what we were doing.  We got looks of amazement for our braving the cold weather.  We were ignored by some who were in too much of a hurry to roll down their window.  And when the biscuits ran low, we got a little sad to see it all end.  It was that good....it was the kind of feeling one gets when the bitter-sweet end to a mission trip comes.  Often, you find yourself feeling more blessed than the ones you were sent to help and yet, without fail, you feel you blessed them.  God made it that way.  It was Jesus' plan.

He said, "Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, body and soul and love each other."  It's what's in a biscuit.

 

Was Paul a Brown-Noser?

Several years during my career, I found myself in the position of being thought of as the boss' "favorite".  In fact, those years saw me winning top awards for performance, not only in extravagant trips but in pay bonuses as well.

I used to examine myself quite seriously and ask whether or not I was "kissing up" to my boss and I grew extremely depressed whenever I would overhear co-worker comments that alluded to it.  The fact was I was only trying to do a good job and earn a good day's pay.  I found myself, upon occasion, actually avoiding my boss to make sure that nobody thought of me as a brown-noser.  Some days, I even let my efforts grow lax because of the dilema I faced.  It wasn't easy for me.

I have come to the conclusion that what I misunderstood many times was the position that a boss holds.  If you are the boss, who will you choose to do special projects?  One whom you can trust and whom you know will succeed and complete the project on time? Or, will it be one whom you know will whine, complain and mess things up? 

Certain things these days have made me think of God and the choices of people He made to do certain great things.  It wasn't because those people were great or because they had any "super powers".  God chose his people very carefully knowing that He could trust them and that they would hold true to His purposes.  From Job to Moses, from Peter to Abraham, from Noah to Joseph, we see individuals who were unwavering in their faith and loyalty even in their faults.  Was the Apostle Paul a brown-noser?

Before we go "blaming" a person for being the boss' favorite, before we go blaming the boss for "playing favorites", I think we should take a very long, hard look at ourselves.  What are our motives and what are our intentions?  How loyal are we to our company and how much do we want to see it succeed?  Does our boss see this or know it?  How much do we know about our boss and how worthy is our boss of our efforts?  Is our co-worker and boss, whom we are criticising, actually selfish people only looking out for themselves or are they truly just trying to help the company succeed?

Pray about it.  The answers will come.

For the Birds

My pastor is a bird freak!  He is constantly talking about his love of birds and posting beautiful photos of his latest conquests.  He goes to great lengths to find places where he can get photographic opportunities on any bird he can see. 

His motives for this obsession are pure and intricate.  He says that birds show us a usually ignored part of God's creation, one that is taken for granted.  He feels like birds are a way to stop and enjoy a readily available gift from our Father.  Following is a quote from his blog: 

"Birds are a beautiful part of life. Their songs inspire us—their appearence entertains us. But really there is a whole world going on around us that we fail to stop and notice in this hustle-bustle life we live. Through pictures, I like to encourage others to notice that world and to gain from it."

I had begun feeding birds before meeting my pastor and even purchased Peterson's Field Guide to help me identify them.  Now, I enjoy discovering every new bird that shows up and look forward to sharing my discoveries. 

You know, winter proves to me that God takes care of His creatures.  Even when my feeders go empty a couple days, all the birds show back up when I fill them again.  I know they can survive without me but I like to help.  Blessings to you all.  <><

(Enjoy my pastor's blog at http://devoblog.posterous.com/pages/bird-photography )