Cool blessings to you, loved ones.  Fall is finally coming to Texas and not a moment too soon.  I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.  Here’s what’s happening.

Not everyone had such a happy transition.  Cindy would have preferred to celebrate Fall without a tree literally falling on HER HOUSE.  She’s ok as are her four-legged companions, but she is without power and there is some damage to her home.  If I understood correctly it is minor considering the size of the tree.

Cathy wasn’t feeling well last week, but they made it to church.  Ruth would not have it otherwise.  Cathy is fine now and Ruth assured me they will be in church tomorrow.  🙂

When you’re little, people ask you, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”  I think for most of us that changed a few times over the years.  A better question might be, “Who do you want to be?”  The ways in which we define ourselves are as varied as we are.  A child of God might use words like Christian or believer, but I want to add one you might not have considered, “disciple of Jesus.”

That might sound strange because we’re used to thinking of Jesus’ disciples as the 12 men who were closest to Him during His earthly ministry, but Jesus had other disciples beyond these.  A disciple is simply a student.  In the culture of Jesus’ day, the disciple would physically follow the rabbi around in order to learn from him, but Jesus invites us all to follow Him.

In Matthew 28:18-20, not long before he ascended back to Heaven, Jesus gave His disciples some instructions.  He said, “…make disciples of all the nations…”  He was not telling them to create their own batch of followers to be disciples of disciples.  He was telling them to make disciples of Himself.  Our mission is to be and to make disciples of Jesus!  He is our model.  He is the one we follow, and as we seek to bring Him ore followers, we do so by “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”  Our job is not simply to get people to make professions of faith or even to get baptized, though this He also told us to do.  Our objective is to make disciples.  How might this focus change the way we evangelize and conduct church activities?  Let’s consider that together.  Come join us.

Love y’all,

Larry