Tidbits and Ponderings

Tidbit 1-please note the new slideshow to the left! It features La Carpio, which I've written about before. I HIGHLY recommend (okay, beg) that you click on one of the pictures. That will take you to my picasa web albums and that way you can read all my comments. And this is hilarious-I commented in English on the slideshow itself and in Spanish on the other comment space (where you could also leave comment if you so choose). And Google/Picasa think they are so smart they automatically put an English translation of what I said in Spanish underneath it. Except the reverse translations aren't that great. Please, don't ever use online translators!! My favorite made me laugh right out loud. They translated the phrase I used for "Tug of war" into "string fight!" This means that the image in my head is of a whole bunch of people running around with 6-8 inch long harmless little pieces of brightly colored yarn trying to whip each other. JAJAJAJAJAJA!!
Tidbit 2-My last blog post was my 100th. I think that's cool. A hundred thanks to all of you for reading my random thoughts, memories and stories! I hope you're able to glean something from them-minimally a smile, maximally something that makes you contemplate and grow in the thing that REALLY matters in life- a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Ponderings
When I was little I used to be SO naive. I think I still am naive in a lot of ways, but that's not the point right now. At offering time in church the pastor would always say we were going to give our tithes and offerings to God. I took this quite literally. Somehow I thought all the money was going to be taken to heaven and presented to God. Jajajajajaja!! Hmm, maybe churches would be more well administered if that really was the case (not that all churches are poor administrators of finances, but unfortunately we know there are plenty who are)! But, that is not the case. Tithes and offerings go to pay for the church building, the salaries of pastors, secretaries, janitors and administrators, maintenance, oh yes, and ministries and missions. Though not necessarily in that order. But, I listed them that way to show that the money collected in the plate goes to God's work directly and indirectly. We know the Church is the people and not the building, but boy is it nice to have place with walls and a roof! And if a church is going to consist of more than 50 people, the pastor needs to be working full time (though I think pastors wouldn't have near as much counseling to do if everyone in the congregation had a couple really solid, believing friends).
That's one thing I've learned while working at a church-there is SO much that goes on behind the scenes that you are never going to see on a Sunday morning or any night of the week at a church related activity. And there is way too much that gets put upon the pastor. He is NOT the head of the church! JESUS is!! And we (along with the pastor) are the body and we need to function and do our part. Because it is mighty hard for the pastor-call him a mouth, a hand, a finger, a gastrocnemius, whatever. He can't function as the knees, heart, ribs, thyroid too. And you probably know what it's like for a part of your body not to work. It stinks. It hurts, sometimes it makes you rely more on other body parts to make up for the wounded one. It's not right. It's not healthy. It's not natural, o sea (that means "or rather", but o sea sounds so much cooler and I say it a lot more often) it's not how we were created to be. SO let me encourage you to do a few things. TITHE!! That is just a step of obedience, it already belongs to God. But I even dare you to go beyond that and give an offering because you trust God and know that He is good (and because you love Him!). Along with those things, graciously do what you can to encourage the people at your church in charge of finances and gently but firmly do what you can to make sure they are being responsible and stewarding God's money well. Related to this is, DO YOUR PART for the body of Christ! What does that look like? I don't know-that depends on how God has wired you. You don't have to pray up front or teach Sunday School to 4 year olds that aren't quite potty trained. But if you call yourself a believer, you are part of the body and you need to use what God has given you for His glory. And lastly, but not leastly, I urge you to pray for and encourage your pastor, worship leader, elders, etc. They do a lot of pouring out and a prayer, a kind word or a kind deed will bless that person a lot more than you might think.
I've been thinking more about loving others lately. My friend Megan shared something powerful on her blog the other day about "doing unto the least of these was also done unto me" (see the "Thirsty" entry). It tied in well with what I'd read in Mark 9 about loving and welcoming a child is like doing so to Jesus, and receiving and loving Jesus is like doing that to His Father. People aren't just people-they are fellow image bearers of God and if loving others reflects how we love God then boy oh boy do I have a long way to go!!! Perhaps more on this later. But I encourage you to ponder that too. Time for church!