Our Hearts are Knitted Together

Today ended a wonderful missions conference.  St. Andrews is our home church and it is always good to be with our friends there.  Scott Barber who was an elder at St. Andrews, left his law practice to answer the call to be a pastor.  Upon graduating from seminary, he and his family moved to Florence, Al.  where he is pastoring a church.  He was the keynote speaker for our conference.  In addition to being a gifted teacher/preacher, he brought with him a history of growing and living amongst us for many years.  He spoke of the freedom he experienced in his law practice when it became clear that he was not going to be practicing law much longer.  He said that it was when he got to the point of not worrying about losing his practice that he began to practice law as it was meant to be done.  Of course this is a reference to something Jesus said in Matthew 16: "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."  Scott talked about teams that play "scared" or "not to lose."  He had many great things to say, but this was the point that stuck with me most.  Susan and I talked about it after leaving the church.  I had to admit that I often "play scared" when I should be living this christian life with great boldness.  The clearest example of that over the past few years was how timidly I have approached support-raising.  However, God has been gracious and He has continued to raise up supporters nonetheless.  It was great to see all of our friends and worship with them.  God has without question knitted our hearts to theirs.  It is always hard to leave.