Doug E. Pudge

Real Community

You know, I was thinking. At some point on the sixth day of creation after God had created Adam. He let Adam realize that there was nothing in all of creation that would suit him as a partner in life then God said that it wasn't good for man to be alone. After that God created Eve and the first human community on earth was begun. God has created in us a need to be with others. A need to build relationships. A need to love and to be loved. We cannot help but to be this way, it is a part of us and one that needs to be cared for and nurtured. When people give their lives over to Jesus often times they feel that they have got to figure all of this stuff out for themselves and that simply is not true. If you have been reading my posts for the last week or so you have seen where I have tried a number of ways to bring myself into community with other people. Some of those communities were good but most were not! They were all there to try and fill that empty spot I had in my life that needed people in it! My searches were part of an inner need that was put there by God for me to seek out relationships with other people. The relationships that we have with people are a direct reflection of our relationship with the Father. My problem was that the world and its ideas got in the way of developing relationships that are healthy and nurturing.

Community in our lives is vital and most people know that they need it. They are just not sure where to find it. Small groups are a wonderful way to experience community. Please understand that they are not the only way to experience Godly community in your life but in my humble opinion they are the best way. In just a few weeks we are going to be helping people at NewSong find a small group that will help them fill this empty hole in their lives. I know that we have a number of hurting people out there that just don't understand the healing that takes place when you have real community. You can have a healthy community without being involved in a NewSong small group, but you will not find a healthy NewSong small group without it having real community.

Let me end this series of posts with a few Pudgisms:

If God expected you to do this by yourself why did He surround you with so many people?

If life really is a bowl of cherries, then where is the tree?

Who really cares how much wood a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Be blessed beyond belief today.

posted by Doug E. Pudge @ 7:45 AM