A Mustard Seed

We did a little retreating this weekend with some students.

It was disappointing at first because we were hoping for and expecting around 20 students. That number kept dwindling down until we arrived at our final number of eight.  

But the weekend was perfect; The Lord's plans are always right. We've been saying for awhile how we really just need some good community among the different groups of students that we meet with.

And you can't get away from a fireplace kind of weekend without making some good friends.

We had discussions about what it looks like to have idols in your life (heart idols are not so different from Buddha statues), about why we want to share the gospel with people around us, and what gospel-centered community looks like.

We enjoyed the peace and the quiet, sang around a campfire, threw some footballs, watched movies, had good talks on rocking chairs, and laughed. A lot.

It was a significant weekend that we are really thankful for. Ministry seems to be happening really slowly here, but we keep being reminded that the work of the kingdom often works adversely to what we would expect. Jesus mostly doesn't work in explosive, wow-moments. His work in our hearts is like a small seed... seemingly insignificant and yet life-changing; not a knock over the head, but a gentle placement in the heart that works from the inside out. The results are explosive and wow-moments. But they usually don't come all at once.

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Matt 13:31-32

This was a mustard seed type of weekend.