Thursday, February 28, 2013

How Is Your Hear?


How's your heart? This is such a very simple question. Yet it has the opportunity to be so intimate, life giving, giving life bearing results. It is a question we don't ask very often. Most likely because we don't really care to take enough time to listen for a real answer from whom we asked the question. it's so much easier to ask How are you? which in today's vernacular really is just a greeting not anticipating a response.

One of the things I have so enjoyed and already learned from sitting under the discipleship of Jim and Mitch  (our senior and executive pastor here at grace) is the importance of bearing ones soul with a few very trusted people who will be praying for you. Not the kind of people that will say "I'll be praying for you," no the kind of people I am talking about are the ones who stop whatever they are doing and say "let me pray for you right now."

One of the realities I knew was coming in becoming a pastor was the ever increasing amount of meetings I would need to attend. One of the things I never expected was how life giving and enjoyable meetings can be! Here at Grace every meeting I have attended over the past month (to many to count) have begun by sharing the best and worst things that have happened to us in the past week. Depending on how many are in the meeting it might be with everyone or just those sitting right next to you. Nonetheless we begin by sharing where we are at Spiritually, emotionally, physically. Then we pray for each other. Not a 30 second token prayer, rather a sincere cry out for our brother or sister to the Father for His intervention and provision.

Sometimes this only leaves a few minutes for the business to get done, but it is amazing how after spending time "being" the church, rather than trying to "do" church, the Spirit gives wisdom and like mindedness so that the business flows and tends to take care of itself.

This is the kind of pastor I want to be! This is the kind of staff I want to lead! This is the church I want to be a part of!

Monday the pastors of Grace left their busy schedules and Jim took us on a mystery day. We started off at a  place in Houston that is the size of an airplane hanger that had various courts for differing games. The cool thing was the floors of each court were trampolines, the walls were trampolines. What ensued  was the ultimate game of dodge-ball much like when you were growing up as a kid in PE only here you didn't run around you bounced, jumped, launched yourself off the floor and bounced off the wall to get the ultimate 10ft in the air (slight exaggeration) throw across the court. IT WAS AWESOME! We then left, everyone having had a total cardio workout, to go eat lunch together. We ended the day sharing 15 minute versions of our life stories. Then the pastors gathered around me and welcomed and commissioned me for ministry here.


Life! It's meant to be lived together! I can't thank you enough for praying for Kim, Max, Joshua, Tate and I!
It means the world to us and we covet your prayers! Without them we would surely fail and fall apart!

Here are some prayer requests for this week:

1. Tate had strep-throat this week. he is feeling better but pray the rest of us don't get it 
2. We REALLY need to sell our house in Carrollton, please pray God's intervention here
3. Pray for continued vision and clear direction as we work through the complexities of starting a satellite campus
4. Pray for Kim and I to continue to fall in love with each other more and more every day

Finally, How is your heart? email us and let us pray for you and what is going on in your life this week! It would be our honor!

Jeff

P.S. IF you would like to keep up with our prayer shield blog you can go to:
http://praywiththedietz.blogspot.com/


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