Notes From Gil's Sermon

Although the day started out kind of crappy- unfortunately, most Sundays do- it turned out to be a fine day. Gil's sermon was about not fretting and worrying about things. I started out just doodling key words on a scrap piece of paper during the sermon and soon found myself drawn in by the message. I don't think I worry so much about things but I do find myself fretting a lot. Maybe there isn't a difference but it seems to me that worry is more about a big picture and fretting is in the details. I justify my fretting by calling it planning, but it sure causes a golf ball to form in the pit of my stomach. Here are my notes in a nutshell:

Quiet

Surrender

Yielding up of our expectations of what God should do

Submitting

Freedom

Listen to God

Waiting patiently (oxymoron?)

Not idleness

A choice to wait

To draw near

His Voice

His Touch

His Direction

We are not in charge

We are born impatient

If only- not living in the present

Impatient with ourselves: work harder, get smarter

Impatient with God: worn out from pleading

Waiting for God

Rely on His promise

Complaint with God- His timetable is different than ours

God is always on time

How can we be still and know when our lives are so noisy??

Noise drowns out the voice of God

compassion

mercy

tenderness

We need a sabbath- everyday

Carve out space to listen

Most given command in the Bible: Do not worry (fret, be afraid)

So while none of this is new information (except that I always thought "love your neighbor" was the most given command), it's all stuff I've been processing and know that I need to do something about. . . right now it's just something else to fret about!!

Thankfully Kristin brought her camera to church today and took pics of the kids for me. Gloria is going to be such a good babysitter someday. She loves on all the little ones at church and they all love her back.

Zach and Andrew:

After church I went with Kristin to her mom's house. It still doesn't seem real to me that Kathy is gone so it felt really strange to be sitting in her bedroom trying on her shoes. Kristin has the really hard job of figuring out what to do with all of her mom's stuff so she offered me some shoes. I ended up with about 25 pairs!! I don't think I've owned that many pairs of shoes in my entire lifetime!! Thank-you Kristin and Kathy!!!