Growing Pains
"The groin area hurts," said one of our little children, fighting back some tears.
It was bedtime and one of our children had come out of their room to find me. Laura was out that evening and I wondered to myself why this kind of thing had to come up while she was away. Everyone knows that Dr Mom is usually wayyyy better than Dr Dad on most stuff.
"...ahhhhhh.... ummmm... sorry, what's hurting?..." I sheepishly asked.
"My legs... they're growing."
AHHHH...phew... now, this I could handle. Turns out the mix of their little voice and whimper of pain caused it to sound like 'the groin area hurts' instead of 'the growing area hurts,' which I gladly pieced together.
They had growing pains. I'm not sure why it made sense to them to try to say 'growing area' but whatever, kids are kids, and the terminology doesn't seem to matter as much when you're uncomfortable.
I was able to calm our child and reassure them that this kind of discomfort was indeed a sign that they were growing more. It helped.
It is a strange phenomenon that we as humans to have times in our development when we feel uncomfortable because of growth. And this human experience can also be an organizational experience.
As a church, we have been experiencing growth.
This is a healthy sign of life and the work of Jesus among us. It is wonderful, exciting, ...and... can be uncomfortable at times. But the good kind of uncomfortable. New people are never an inconvenience, and we will always do our best to make room for everyone. Both morning services are growing, but the 9 am is growing at a more rapid rate.
Here are four practical things you can do to help our church family accommodate growth:
- Introduce yourself to people you don't recognize! Take an interest in their story and help them feel at home. Please help introduce them to others too.
- Try not to put your things on the seats beside you. It can be easy to plunk jackets, purses, and Bibles next to us, but right now we might need that seat for someone! So, if you could put your things under a seat that would help a lot. Thanks!
- If you're the first person or group to sit in a row, consider sitting in the middle of the row so that others who are on their way can easily fill in either end. Sometimes the middles are the last to fill up because some people feel uncomfortable asking if they can slip past you to access those seats.
- If you see someone looking for seats and there are some extra seats near you, please flash a friendly smile and gesture toward the available seats.
Thanks for helping with this!
As a team of staff and volunteers, we're also working on some other things as we consider present trends and future possibilities. Additionally, some of you may have noticed a machine on our property this past Sunday. We are expanding a gravel parking area right now and this should be ready for you soon.
If God can bring life and growth to us like this on Sundays, just imagine what He can do all week long. Let's bring the message and ministry of Jesus into everyday life!
Pastor Mike