After the joy and excitement and hard work and all that went in to the annual #back2school outreach, it is time to celebrate.
It is a celebration of what God has done this year and in the past 13 years through back2school. What a legacy has been built and a foundation has been laid. The story is still being written.
That is why we have chosen the theme of LOVE MORE. When we love others, we display the person of and way of Jesus. When we love, we also make room for even more. That is where real love comes in. Think, Create, Innovate: those three words highlight how we are encouraged to LOVE MORE and help others get in on the process.
They are dug out of our theme verse.
Hebrews 10:24 NKJV
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
I challenge us to be careful to not make it about us. Back2school is not about our church or even all the churches. It is not about the volunteers or all the stuff that is needed to make it happen.
THINK. CREATE. INNOVATE. I challenge us to see the opportunities and to seize the possibilities. Think of ways that we can serve others and help others begin to serve. Create space where people will experience God. Innovate means to use what you have to go further, do more and to make an even bigger difference.
Love more teaches us to do what Jesus did and do it well. Looking at the 13 locations that served this past weekend and the two coming this weekend, we need to remember what God has done.
One place we can trek back to is Joshua 4 after God’s people had experienced a miracle. God told them to help their children remember and to keep moving forward.
Joshua 4:21-24 NLT
Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. 24 He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever.”
Tell your children and others why we do what we do. Like Joshua and the children of Israel admit that it is easy to forget. It is easy to get distracted.
When we share stories, when we celebrate, we remember what God has done and make room for Him to do it again in and through us.
I am excited about the future. What is God going to do next? Help us celebrate all God has done and what He going to do in the days ahead.
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