La Laguna thoughts and digressives....

At the church I attend on Sunday mornings, you can never expect the same order of worship to occur.  It is always changing and never constant.  It may run the same way for a month and suddenly change the next Sunday, then the Sunday after that the order is changed again.  If this were to happen in many churches (probably all around the world), people would be angered and many would probably stop short of calling it unbiblical while others would probably go ahead and say it is.  In a lot of the churches, the services themselves run 1 1/2 to 2 hours or more, which does not include Sunday school.

Is is bad to change up things?  Is it bad to attend church services for more than an hour? 

Time in Mexico is not valued the same way it is in the United States, which makes that good for church but sometimes bad in other areas.  In the same, the way time is here makes many Americans heads spin, but I am convinced even when I have thoughts of "can the service end already" (yes my fleshly self has these thoughts on occasion), that I have denied a blessing of the Holy Spirit by not being open and allowing the Spirit to move in my life.  What gets in the way constantly is "Me, myself, & I".  When "I" [now read as your the one writing in first person] get in the way, I hinder the work of the Holy Spirit.  What is sad is that not only do I hinder the Spirit from working in my life, but it affects the lives of others around me.

"I" causes us to sell God short. Back to the services, what would it be like if we let go and let God?  I recently shaved my head, like last nite.  I thought about how it was a fine demonstration of my point on change.  How did people react?  How are you reacting right now? Exactly.  Now, what truthfully is bad about it?  How many people do you know that have shaved heads and you think nothing about it?  Is it a sin? Does it reflect bad on Christ in some way?  No, people do not like it because it is change. It is somewhat drastic I must admit to go from medium hair to stubbles but this is the exact thing we are afraid of, God doing something in our life that will turn it upsidedown for HIS GLORY and not our own.  Change it is scary, but as long as our change within the realm of the Church is Biblical and does not contradict the Bible in anyway, then we must prayerfully consider God's will over our own.  But we are afraid, because we are programmed this way.  We must have control and sadly this same control issue is sometimes what cause many splits in churches and friendships today.

Pray for the La Laguna as we pray for a year of change, a year that starts a lifetime of discipleship and reaching the metro.  Pray how God may change your heart and our hearts so that we will live a life that brings glory to Him.

A closing note on change:  Serveral months ago I saw an ad for a heavy metal "Christian" group.  On this add was a picture of Beavis and Butthead.  Change can never in any way reflect darkness.  Just as we need to be open to changing our ways, we must also be in tune with the Holy Spirit.