"Who's moving?" There is a phrase we all hear this time of the year. Dr. Bob Winstead, of Candler School of Theology, shared in a devotion at the Connectional Ministries that very phrase, "Who's Moving?" It got me to thinking along the lines he spoke in regards not to appointments but to life.
Am I moving or am I staying the same? Am I taking steps of faith or am I staying put in my comfortable chair? Am I risking stepping out into a new and uncharted ministry or am I staying put in the tried and true and tired?
We United Methodist are not only itinerant with our clergy, but I think we are to be itinerant in our spirituality as well. We need to be moving to new vistas and new valleys as well as new heights and new mountains. When we stay still for too long we become stagnant and covered in the green slime of sameness, apathy, and laziness.
I grew up in Florida where we had two ponds on the property. Both ponds were small and semi-deep. I was always scared I'd fall in if I got to close, and the "gator" who my mother named Cesaro would eat me. So I kept my distance, because I never knew where Cesaro was or which pond he was swimming in on any given day. I figured out that this old gator didn't like stagnant water, so when the green slime started to cover one of the ponds, he moved to the one where fresh water some how poured into the pond. Eventually I saw the one pond dry up slowly, and to my surprise there was my old tricycle, an old broken wagon, and other old toys my mom had thrown into that pond for the fish to play in she said. The green slime ate the life out of the pond, and only junk remained ... the gator wouldn't even stay there.
Life has to be moving, my friend. We can't stay in stagnant waters, the same ole same ole is not for the people of God. We are called to move to new waters and new experiences with an open and willing heart.
Bob was right, "Who's moving? We all are moving or we will die." Yes, we are in a race, and there is no time for standing still.
Are you moving? I pray I am.
Grace, peace and the love of Christ,
Dana
Worship at Suwanee Parish (Suwanee Worship Center) on Sunday was powerful. It was great to see the good work Teddy and his team are doing to move Suwanee Parish to a new level.