I was watching

Recently, I have observed various groups gathering around each other during difficult times.

At the Sarpy campus two weeks ago I saw three different individuals surrounded by friends. Individuals who were going through very difficult circumstances and feeling overwhelmed. These individuals were being prayed for by their friends, sharing tears, hugs and life together. They were looking to the future and trusting God to work.

With the deaths of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson I saw people huddled together at the hospitals where they died. However, these people gathered to talk about the past and how they had been personally entertained by these individuals. Nothing about the future but just about the past and about themselves.

Today I realize that if I had to choose between fame versus being surrounded by people praying for me....I choose prayer.

On the journey,
Steve Walters
CCC-Sarpy Campus Pastor

Community

Community
Commune
Communism
Commotion
Commencement
Commensurate

I thought it would be fun to look in Webster's dictionary to see how many words there are that start with "comm." Lots.

What struck me was that the root word for these words is the word common. Common is defined as; "belonging to or serving the community, shared by a numer in a group, widely or generally known, found or observed."

Now more than ever before I am seeing the importance of community. Being with others that have something in common. I have seen it neighborhoods, I've experienced it in athletics, and in life tragedies.

Recently, I know of two families that are living through the pain of children, one with a serious brain injury and another with a inoperable brain tumer. Both of these young men had these tragedies happen literaly overnight.

However, as I read their blogs and get their email updates there is regular references to the support they are getting from friends and family.

I don't wish tragedy or trauma on anyone, but I do know you need to be connected with others and have community established now, so when you do go through a difficulty, you will have common friends to give you support. I encourage you as Pastor Mark stated in a sermon recently God made you to be on a Team.

So please get into community. Reach out and ask, organize your own Journey Group, volunteer to do set up or do ministry with others. Remember, God created us to be in community.

On the journey,
Steve Walters
CCC-Sarpy
Campus Pastor

Finishing Well

I had the privilege of preaching this past Sunday on II Timothy 4.6-8. This passage was one of the last in our series "God made you for this." These three powerful verses were pointing out the fact that "God made you to finish well."

"For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing."

I loved the verses. So vivid, short and powerful. There was so much to talk about and it was hard to keep it the message to 30 minutes.

For this message I didn't want people to think that this was only about people who are dying or have died. You know, evaluating a persons life after they have completed their life while at their funeral.

My main focus was to challenge myself and anybody else in attendance to know what finishing well looked like.

Finishing well means finishing well each day. It means enjoying God and being fully satisfied in Him. Finishing well means investing in others [mentoring, discipling] and also letting others invest in you [i.e. small group, journey group, etc.]

That is my challenge. Finish well each day. Put together a string of "finishing wells" and I guarantee you will truly finish well like the Apostle Paul did.

On the journey of finishing well,
Steve Walters
CCC-Sarpy Campus Pastor