thoughts

Just returned from Team Days, one of the best bits of this crazy job, hanging around with people who get the work you do and getting to care for each other in that. Team days usually involve a guest speaker braving the randomness and coming to share their wisdom on some stuff. It's been occurring to me recently that the topic of team days isn't all that important to the proceedings but the speaker is. Presumably anyone could come and talk about the things we think about but it's who the speaker is that makes the most impression, them honestly sharing their thoughts about God and letting us share their lives for a couple of hours or days. There really is something in the fact that God created us all different and works through us as we are, that who we are is more important than what we do.

This time we had some guy from a Bible College supposedly telling us about World Mission. A very worthy subject I'm sure you'll agree. But I had the feeling that if we'd have asked him to speak on apples he'd have been just as good. He came across as a man in love with Jesus. He told us the brilliant reality of the gospel again, he told us we were dearly loved children of God, he cried as he did so, he helped me want to carry on in this fight. Through him chatting to us God opened up my dark hard heart and wooed me with his love again. All the best speakers we have are like this, and that got me thinking, what's the most important thing in giving talks, seminars and Bible studies? Is it that people learn some information about a topic or that we encounter God together, that my love, and lack of love, for him spills out all over the place and we learn and grow and cry together because of the one who has called us out of darkness?

I guess the point I'm mulling on is: will people have encountered God through me being me and trying to be in love with him this year, or will they have learnt more information that I have imparted to them? Now there's a thought to chew on for a bit.