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Lunch at the King’s place

Dec 7, 2007 1:25 pm by Paul Jenkins in Church planting, Culture, Evangelism, Evotions

Matthew 18:3
And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

A few weeks back I picked Sydney up from pre-school (that’s where she goes to play with Tessa, her “bestest bestest friend”) and we went on a date. Now, there’s not much better than having a date with your 5 year-old, but this one turned out to be pretty uncomfortable. Here’s why…

Burger King playlandSydney went ahead to the room where the playground was and I got our food and took it back a few minutes later. When I walked in, I noticed that there was already a mother and daughter there eating. Well, Sydney and I start eating, too, and it wasn’t long until she was ready to go play. Off came the shoes and up the slide she went – the wrong way, of course! Soon, the other girl was playing, too, and it didn’t take long for the two of them to hit it off. They laughed, played, and eventually had a conversation. “My name’s Sydney. What’s yours?” “My daddy’s name is…” “My mommy’s name is…” Of course, the entire time they’re talking, I’m at the table looking at the floor, playing on my cell, reading the Kid’s Meal bag, or anything else I can do to pass the time.


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“Eenie-meenie”-ing God’s will

Nov 26, 2007 2:15 pm by Paul Jenkins in Evotions

Matthew 26:39b
Yet not as I will, but as You will.

This morning Parker and Will were up at the breakfast table making quick work of two bowls of cereal and as they finished up, Sydney crawled up in her chair and got ready to eat. I asked her what kind of cereal she wanted and she said she wanted to do eenie-meenie to decide. CerealsWhen she was done, she had apparently picked the wrong one, because she looked up at me, smiled, and said she was going to do it again because she wanted the other kind (which was Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the BEST cereal ever made, but that’s beside the point). It took 2 more rounds before she figured out how to end on the right box, and then she was ready to pour and eat!

Maybe it isn’t such a stretch to think that we often treat the will of God the same way. I mean, come on, we know He has a plan and a choice for us, but so often we just go through the motions of choosing so we feel better about choosing what we want His will to be. We need to be more like Jesus in a lot of ways, but especially in this way: God’s will for our lives needs to be the one and only choice. We cannot manipulate the choices so that we get what we want, and even if we could, we wouldn’t. We need to want what He wants.

Only then will we truly know the peace of living God’s will for us.


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Running to serve

Nov 14, 2007 5:56 pm by Paul Jenkins in Evotions

1 Peter 4:10a
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others…

I was gone over the week-end ministering at our state’s Youth Convention and, as a result, heard about this encounter second-hand. Too bad, too, because I would have laughed out loud if I’d have been there. RunnerWendy had the children down at the Albemarle Christian Bookstore (a great place to shop, by the way) and Sydney was running up and down the aisle. Of course Wendy told her that she couldn’t run in the store and it caught Sydney by surprise. She looked up at Wendy and said, "But Mommy. Running is my gift." It took some explaining by Wendy and Sydney’s Aunt Laura to help her understand that some of the customers might not see her or might get knocked down if she kept running. I’m not sure if Sydney completely understood, but she’s five. We, on the other hand, aren’t, so we need to understand the principle she learned that day.


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Chosen puppies

Oct 24, 2007 4:49 pm by Paul Jenkins in Evotions

1 Thessalonians 1:4
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you…

Early this morning, when she should have been asleep, Sydney was lying in her bed, eyes open, smiling. Of course, there’s no way I could leave that alone and so I went in, sat on her bed, and started rubbing her head. Girl with puppyWhile I’m running my fingers through her hair, she’s petting the top of her newest stuffed animal, a white puppy that her cousin won for her at the SC State fair last week-end. She actually had been given a brown one, but changed her mind and asked the man at the game if she could have the white one instead. Like a man who had been around females for any length of time, he wisely said yes and switched them. Anyway, back to this morning.

Sydney thought it was funny that I was rubbing her on the head and she was rubbing “light puppy” (that’s actually the name) on the head at the same time. Her eyes got big as she smiled, and then she looked up at me and said, “I’m glad I picked this one.”


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Be visible

Oct 9, 2007 1:30 pm by Paul Jenkins in Evangelism, Evotions

Acts 3:3
When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.

I’m sure you’ve seen them. They’re at almost every street corner or traffic light in most large cities and have even made their way into smaller towns across the country. Beggar with signBack in the day, they’d stand there with a sign that said they’d work for food. Shoot, some of them even started getting honest about what they’d do with the money. The guy in our picture had some fun with the method of asking for help. But the bottom line is, they’re all asking for money. But that’s not my point, nor the point of the verse this week. The point is that a beggar saw somebody to ask for help. Let me explain…


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