PAUSE

Yesterday, my pastor (also my dad) encouraged us a church as he shared about the pause he took to think on what God has done in and through our church over the last 35 days. Because of a guest speaker at the church he did not need to spend his usual 2-3 hours on Saturday night pouring over his message. So he took some time to pause and look back over the past month or so. He said, and I agree, that we so often get caught up with everything...going from event to event, ministry to ministry that we fail to stop and see exactly what God is doing in those ministries. Anyway, our church had had the privilege to have quite an outreach. In this span of 35 days or so we have interacted with and ministered to 1300 people, numerous nationalities, have spent thousands of dollars, put buildings up, roof tops on, cracked over 500 eggs (breakfast at a youth camp for the weekend), and more!! My dad/pastor shared this NOT so we could feel good about ourselves, not so we could say 'oh good...we're done for a while'...it was to encourage the church to keep on keeping on, to give praise to God who is using us and working in big ways, and to remind us that we are not here for US but for HIM!!!
So I encourage you (and myself) to take some time to PAUSE. Look over the last little bit in your own personal life, your family life, your church life...and take notice of what God is doing. But remember...after you hit PAUSE you must hit PLAY! Get out there and serve Him!