Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week

I hope you're having a fantastic week.  Can you believe in less than two weeks school will begin in Gwinnett County?  This Sunday, we'll be in Part II of our 3-part series, "Just Like Me" and we'll be talking about serving.  We'll also have Serve Team Sign-Ups beginning this week.  I hope you're praying about where God is calling you to serve.  Look forward to seeing you!

Thought for the Week
"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them." Acts 16:25

High School football practice started today across the state of Georgia.  I'm serving as the Chaplain for Archer this year, so I hung out a little with the guys over there.  Teams from all over the county from South Gwinnett up to Dacula begin preparing today for that first game.  Of course, they've been preparing all summer, lifting weights, going to 7-on-7 camps, and practicing on their own.  When the first game arrives, they'll have countless hours poured into that moment.  Isn't that the way all of life is?  You pour education and training into being able to do your job when the chips are down.  You perfect your craft to prepare you for bigger and better things.  You read parenting books to get better at parenting and get lots of on-the-job training as your kids grow up.  For some reason, we think of prayer different.  This past Sunday I spoke about prayer, and I know many people struggle with prayer.  We think we should be seasoned veterans and get frustrated when we're not.  It's the equivalent of a 7th grader not practicing football and coming out to play a game expecting to look like an NFL player.  Not gonna happen.  Prayer takes practice, just like your job skills, just like a sport.  If you can talk, you can pray, but it might take a lot of practice to hone your craft.  Why is this important?  Because you're going to come up against gameday at some point in your life.  When Paul and Silas were wrongfully put in prison, they were ready to pray because they had practiced plenty.  This wasn't their first rodeo.  There's going to come a time when the lights are on for us:  a loved one is sick, our teenager is facing big life choices, we have an important career decision, or a relationship is on the rocks.  There will be times we NEED to pray.  So practice.  You might fumble the ball a little at first.  We might stumble our way through it.  It's okay.  It's practice.  We're getting better.  We're learning how to pray for the times in life when we NEED to pray.  You know what?  The better you get at something...the more we end up wanting to do it.

Prayerfully,

Carter