A Fool For Christ

The buzz around the church campus for the last few weeks has been all about the Southwest Region Pastors Conference. From my personal perspective, the buzz didn’t even come close to how amazing the week was.

My husband and I volunteered to work in the kitchen during the week preparing and serving food to the conference attendees. It was an incredible event and an honor to be able to give a week in service to the Lord and the Vineyard.

Whether I was washing dishes or chopping vegetables for A Really Big Salad it was a privilege to be able to give back to the church that has blessed my family over the past seven years. Many of the volunteers who worked with us did as my husband did and took vacation from their regular jobs to help out during the conference.

Seriously … who does that? What normal person takes vacation days to volunteer for eight or nine hours a day at church for three days straight? I started thinking that my husband and I’d become what I’d feared most when I became born-again … religious fanatics!

What’s even weirder is many of the awesome people we worked shoulder-to-shoulder with each day, did as we did and came back to be part of the evening sessions. Good Lord – not only are we now serious Jesus freaks, but we’re spending all our free time with people just like us!

There came a point during the last evening session in the midst of praise and worship that can only be described as Beam me up, Scotty, I’m ready to go to Heaven and do this for the rest of eternity with my Jesus, that I thought life doesn’t get any better than this. Who cares if I’m a freak?

How lovely it would be if we could somehow be hermetically sealed inside the sanctuary and just sing praises to God until the Rapture occurs and never have to face the real world again. Wouldn’t it be grand if we could all simply check out and just do this forever?

The final conference speaker, Dave Workman, put things in perspective before the conference wrapped up. God never intended for us to simply hang out with people exactly like us — because it’s not all about us. We’re not supposed be inward focused – but Outward Focused. God expects us to take this great love we have for Him and share it with the lost.

I don’t know what others took away from their conference experience, but for me I want the lost to know what it’s like to be part of a church family like the one I have at VCFNP. I want the lost to know the power of the Holy Spirit that washes over you in praise and worship with gifted musicians, who radiate the joy of Christ when they’re using their gifts and talents to praise God. I want the lost to know that regardless of their past, God loves them.

For me, I took away the knowledge of knowing that I’m a full-blown fool for Christ and I don’t care who knows it. I’ll be a fool for Christ’s sake any day.  Who’s fool are you?

Blessings in Christ,
Kathy
www.kathleenkurlin.com