Hey thanks for visiting my blog. Often times when I am preparing a sermon an idea comes to me that I want to unpack a little more. Hopefully, this blog will allow me the place to do that. Then again, maybe I’ll just talk about my kids. I’ll try to update it once a month..

Today was the first day of school for my kids. Literally. The first time they have ever gone to school. We have home schooled our kids for eight years. Audrey started the 9th grade today, Emily started the 7th and our son Jesse began the 3rd. It was interesting to see the different approaches to their first day. Audrey knew exactly where she was going and when she needed to be there. Emily went straight to some friends.

Then there was Jesse.

I watched him as he entered the playground before school started. He didn’t know a soul. His hands were thrust in his pockets and he wandered aimlessly. Have you ever been in a situation where you were out of your element and didn’t want anyone to know so you walked fast to nowhere, pretending that you were in total control? Jesse hasn’t learned that skill. He was lost and it showed. I couldn’t bear to watch.

We are studying a part in Matthew where Jesus is looking at the crowds and sees their tremendous need. He says to his disciples, “Pray that God sends laborers into the harvest.” That seems like a legitimate request. There is a need so you get qualified workers to get it done. Trained farmers to work in the fields. Pray that you find someone who has been doing this for awhile and can at least look like they are in control.

However, the Greek word for “send” there doesn’t mean “a commissioning of trained qualified workers.” It is much stronger than that. It literally means “to throw them out, to shove them, to thrust them forth.” Jesus says, “Pray that God shoves people out into the harvest.”

Too often we want everything at once. I really wanted to see Jesse run up to 5 kids, introduce himself and then all six go off and discover the cure to the common cold. But it doesn’t work that way in life and it doesn’t work that way in the Kingdom of God. Some of us need to get kicked out of the house. We need to be shoved out into the harvest, wondering around with our hands in our pockets searching for anything that would ease our discomfort. In doing so, we grow. That’s what I want for my kids, that’s what God wants for me.

I hope you’ll join us this week to see what that might look like in your own life.