Sarah and I bought a table a few weeks ago. We love it. It is a "grown-up" table as Sarah calls it. The dark wood goes nicely in our three bedroom house in Mertens, which we are incredibly grateful for. We had a table before. It was a Wal-Mart special that I bought when I moved to Waco. It worked, but it was small. The table we have now is big and has a leaf in it. We can comfortably sit eight people at the "grown-up" table. We bought it for ministry purposes. After all we are now at our first pastorate and we know that we will be entertaining people. We needed a nice table to entertain our guests and church members.
The question that I am constantly asking myself is am I too American for the Gospel? I've got nice stuff like our table. I like my stuff. I like our table, and we even used ministry as a justification for buying the table from Patriot furnature (they really do have the lowest prices in Texas!). In my trip to Africa, nobody had a table like mine. Yet over there I learned more about being a Christ follower than I ever have here. I can't wait to go back so that I can learn more. I need those Christ followers, so that I can learn to live out a more authentic following of the Jesus way here in Mertens. I don't know where tables fit in to Christ following, or if that is my American expression of faith. In the mean time, my friend Julie has an excellant post on victimization.
1 comment:
thanks for linking my blog! i'm glad you enjoyed the post.
we can identify with your struggle with possessions. it's hard to know how to live in a materialistic world--and we even bought a nice table ourselves. i feel, however, that this can become a legalistic issue if we are not careful. i'm not sure possessions are really the issue as much as what we use them for and what influence they have over our lives. tables can be a place where friendships are made, where people are encouraged, and where the gift of hospitality can be exercised. so enjoy your table and use it for the glory of God! and if it breaks tomorrow then thank God for the time he allowed you to have it and move on.
you all should come visit us in dc!
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