The DNA Update for United Methodists with Dr. Don Nations, August 2016 from Sarasota, Florida, United States for Wednesday, 3 August 2016
In This Issue:
- Why You Should Buy a Snow Cone Machine
- Sometimes We Need Some Perspective
The snow cones have given people another reason to hang out a few additional minutes after church. This has led them to meet new people and build new relationships. The people getting snow cones look happy and the benches in the area have been full of people. It has also been a hit with the kids (but I think there are some adults who enjoy it at least as much as the kids).
It does not matter if it is a snow cone machine, a cotton candy machine, an ice cream cooler, a popcorn maker or something unique that would work well in your area. The purpose is to give people another reason to hang out and talk and build relationships.
What are you intentionally doing to help people build new relationships? What are you intentionally doing to make it easier for people to invite their friends to church?
2. Sometimes We Need Some PerspectiveIt is easy for us to become locked in our own busy world. There is so much going on in our lives that it is easy to lose perspective. When we do, however, we can miss the bigger picture and blow our problems out of proportion.
It is hot where I live in Florida but we have a son in the military who is deployed where it is even hotter so perhaps I do not need to complain about the heat.
It may be a convenient time for me to talk but most of the world is not in my time zone. Perhaps I am the one who needs to be flexible.
Sometimes it seems that we have over 100 TV channels from which to choose and there is still nothing on we want to watch. Most people in the world do not have this kind of choice in what they watch. Many are without electricity and or live in places where the government controls what they can see and hear. Instead of complaining about my choices perhaps I should do something to provide more choice to someone else.
It has become common to hear people talk about the poor job our schools are doing preparing students for the future. Maybe we should spend some time in actual classrooms to see the challenges faced by teachers – people who cannot control the environment in which a child lives, the level of support they receive at home, the type and amount of food each student eats when they are not at school and dozens of other things which impact student outcomes. Perhaps we should find ways to support teachers, students and their families and point out a few positive outcomes as well.
It can be tempting to carry on about how busy we are and how much we have to do. But is our plate really more full than the subsistence farmer trying to scratch out a living, the single mom working three part-time jobs trying to make ends meet, the family that lives in a dump and makes their only money by foraging through garbage and picking out recyclable material to sell or the houseparent who is serving as a surrogate mom or dad to ten children without a family who can care for them? Yes our lives can be busy but, unlike many people, most of us have a good bit of choice in what gets on our schedule.
Our challenges are real and we all carry burdens and baggage. We are not alone, however. In fact we are often surrounded by people who are carrying more burdens than we recognize. Perhaps it is time to gain some perspective, give others a break and pray to the One who can help all of us.
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6339 Sturbridge Court
Sarasota, Florida 34238, United States
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