Outside the Bubble

This is gonna be short and sweet. Day 3 was full.

I was on the road, away from my desk, which can be disorienting and tiring to someone with the spiritual gift of administration. Believe it or not, I actually like sitting at a computer tapping away--be it blogging or my current assignment of managing the minutia required to register 2,400 people for 116 service projects on our church's Community Serve Day. The deluge of interest in this huge undertaking is remarkable. People are driving from L.A. (2 + hours away) to volunteer with us!

Lately, I might be tempted to equate my "job" of serving the Lord with clearing my email inbox of change orders, cancellations, duplications, and other miscellaneous modifications to the Serve Day website. (I am proud of those logos.) Being on the run today--dropping Kat's car off for service, delivering breakfast to someone in crisis, reporting for my weekly library duty at Allie's school and then back for "College Night"--felt like shirking my responsibility.

Actually, I got my authentic Christian payoff when someone in my path midday said, "Wow, that was like divine intervention that you were here to hear that. Who else could I have told?" All I'd done was a little reflective listening and candid sharing of my own perceptions about something non-spiritual, I assure you. How gratifying to watch God show up for this person who I thoroughly enjoy, have actually come to love, and am nervous to offend with any holy roller vibe.

Being an authentic Christian rarely happens at church or on Sunday or even with other Christians. It can I suppose, but more often to really serve Him, we must follow Christ, trusting Him to lead us outside the bubble where authentic seekers seek. I might admit to preferring the safety of church ladies and comfort of cookie exchanges. Nobody loves a holy huddle more than I do. I'm not particularly outspoken and I prefer harmony to conflict. In a spiritual gift inventory, I think evangelism is 13th on my list.

Nonetheless, by showing up, being myself, and abiding in Him, others call out my faith and start using the very lingo I am trying to avoid to make sure they're comfortable!

Wild and crazy! And outside my own doing. I like that.

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:3-5