With 41 folks at our Gathering, this past Sunday marked a milestone for the Community of SummitLIFE…and for that, I’m thankful! We’ve been gathering on a weekly basis unofficially now for 15 weeks, yesterday marking our 6th gathering at The Elk’s Lodge. The topic of our discussion? Buckets. That’s right, buckets. The basic premise of the lesson is that we each have 3 buckets in our lives: the spending bucket, the saving bucket, and the giving bucket. In the World’s Economy, the buckets are typically handled in that exact order…spending first, saving second, and giving third. In God’s Economy, however, we learn that “life” becomes “LIFE” (i.e. the normal life becomes LIFE-MORE-ABUNDANT) when we reverse the order of the buckets…giving first, saving second, and spending third. The Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18:18-23 had his buckets backwards…and Jesus tried to help him see that by giving him a quick review of the commandments (what Jesus doesn’t say is as important as what He does say).
Anyway, this being the week of Thanksgiving, I felt it appropriate to start the week off by putting my (thanks)GIVING bucket FIRST! So, those of you who consider yourself a part of the Community of SummitLIFE, here are a handful of reasons that I thank God for you:
- TRANSPARENCY: I’m thankful that God has given me the privilege of being a part of a transparent community. We each have struggles, hurts, and issues, and we each realize that the only way to overcome is by LIVING IN COMMUNITY with ONE ANOTHER.
- FORGIVENESS: I’m thankful that God has given me the privilege of leading a forgiving community. If it weren’t for SummitLIFE being a forgiving community, transparency among one another would be an impossibility. Thank you for being a people that welcomes the broken.
- FRIENDSHIP: I’m totally thankful for the friendships that have developed and are being developed within our community! I love to hear stories of couples getting together, kids spending the night with one another, and SummitLIFERS hanging out with one another at various places & for various reasons throughout the week. It’s All about Community! Along those same lines, I’m soooo thankful to each of you for befriending my family…after all, a new town, new schools, & new jobs in a new part of the country can make for a lonely existence. ENTER SUMMITLIFE!!! Man, y’all rawk!!!
- PARTNERSHIP: I’m thankful that SummitLIFERS (i.e. you) aren’t just attendees at a Sunday morning gathering, but rather, are partners in a GIANT mission: Welcoming the Community of Sedona into Community with God, One LIFE at a Time. Your taking this mission into your schools, your places of business, your everyday life, and inviting others to take it on as well…doing LIFE-TOGETHER!
And FINALLY…
5. GENEROSITY: You truly are a generous community full of generous people, and for that I am TRULY THANKFUL.
HOW ABOUT YOU? WHAT ABOUT THE COMMUNITY OF SUMMITLIFE ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR? (Don’t be shy…leave your response below!)
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