Tico Tuesday, March 7th

"You're going to have your small group at 9 o'clock in the morning?!?! Is anybody actually free at that hour?"
"Actually, yes. There are quite a number of people who can't attend a small group in the evening due to work schedules or having classes at night, or being elderly and taking medicine that makes them sleepy and ready for bed at 8:30pm."

I didn't get a pic of my small group, but here's a rainbow!

I've had this conversation multiple times over the past few weeks. In the series we did last year, I realized what a need there was for at least one morning/daytime small group, and figured I could do something about it. It works well for me too, because this way I am free to visit small groups in the evenings. It worked well for me to start a new group because unfortunately the one I had last year ended up fizzling out. So, instead of having a group for young women, I decided to open it up to everyone and an incredibly diverse bunch of people signed up. Actually, so many signed up, we may have to consider multiplying sooner than later. If everyone sticks with it, we'll be about 11 people, and a) that's getting a bit big for a small group and b) that many people don't fit very comfortably in my living room. Our first meeting on Thursday was delightful though! We took some time to start getting to know each other and I am really excited for what God has in store for us.
This Thursday we'll have one more meeting to bond and build trust with each other before we dig into the series my church is starting next week, "gods at war." This series (based on the book by Kyle Idleman) is about the idols of our heart. It invites us to take several weeks to consider how pleasure, love, money, power, and self seek to occupy the throne of our heart instead of the rightful King and ask him to remove those idols so we can live for and worship him as we ought--and as he deserves.
As you can see, this series is going to be quite confrontational. Please keep my church and all the small groups in your prayers as we enter this time of corporate self-examination and repentance. May the Lord transform us and glorify himself immensely in and through us!
Thank you so much! May God bless you and transform you to be ever more like Christ as well!
Carrie