Fellowship on My Mind--Day 189/Day 6/Day 15

We got up early so we had time drop Noah off at Dennis and Jennifer's. Gabrielle, Noah and I went to the door and Gabrielle knocked. She knocked again. "Do you think they're up yet?", I asked. "Yeah.", she said. "I can hear screaming." LOL. She was right. Trenton had apparently gotten up a little cranky. Jennifer had on her happy face anyway. She would say later that we must've been wondering what was going on. I think she may forget sometimes that I also have three kids with a younger one as well. I know what it's like. I thought nothing of it. I thanked her and we were off to Sunday school.

We got there early and I went to their classes with them. Gabrielle was the only one in her class when I left and Colton was there with one other girl. He was joking with her a little bit as I left. She had a shy smile on her face. I hope that attitude and that effect he has on others stays with him. I hope the same for Noah. Both Wendy and one of the other mothers there picking up her toddler said they loved his attitude. Wendy said if I had come to pick him up any later, she would've taken him home with her. :)

I had read the chapter of The Purpose Driven Life concerning church fellowship the night before. That chapter is going to have an effect on me for a while. It was something I had thought about a bit before I had read that chapter. Jim Kirkland had said we would stay in the groups we were in when we started the Bible study class. I figured we would go over our homework together every once in a while. I thought there might be calls and e-mails. Almost none of the above. The one or two times we went over the homework together at the table, we were not given much time to do so. I called no one and no one called me. I had e-mailed my homework out when it was not out of a workbook and had received e-mails back. I really enjoyed that part. The fellowship part is definitely lacking. I thought the same this morning at Sunday school. Diane asked a few questions, had a couple disagreements and we were ran out of time as Jim tried to finish up. There is no time in the class for fellowship. If we talk too much or ask too many questions, we don't get to the end of the lesson. Jim mentioned that Diane had not been in the first few classes discussing God's love for us. I thought that was irrelevant. If we believe that Jesus died for all of our sins, most of us can almost realize how big of love that must be. Seeing it in scripture really makes it hit home. That's a little disappointing he mentioned that. He seems a little perturbed by the questioning. Diane, to her credit, has already said she is a little "rough around the edges." Jim, to his credit, tries to answer her questions as well as he can. I'm new to all of this, but I don't know if that means if I should not question this. If we left open more time for fellowship would we use that time wisely? If I had called during the class, would I have received calls back?

Diane had mentioned she needed help with Power Point at the beginning of class by asking a few people around the room. After Pastor Don's sermon, I asked her if she still needed help. She said she did and is coming over Monday night so we can work on it. I hope it goes well, I can help, and we can talk about other things as well.

The sermon went over trusting God. Trusting Him during the good times, in adversity, for both big things and little things and trusting Him with all our being. Also, trusting God in all ways. Trusting Him with all our thinking, behavior and our wealth. Sometimes, especially in times of adversity, it is difficult to do so, but in our Christian walks, this is another characteristic we all need to work on every day. I like to think I'm getting better at since I'm not so anxious all time as I had been. I am trusting more in Him and less on me. God is Great.

Kim came home this afternoon. She gave us all "prizes." Gabrielle's was a pair of earrings, Colton's was a sketch pad, Noah's was a four-pack of books and she bought me a Bible cover. It's very nice. My bible is a little small for it, but I'm still considering getting another study Bible. That would probably fit better. Gabrielle put in her new butterfly earrings right away. They looked pretty. Colton used his sketch pad and we read Noah his books. He seems to know what a "circle" is but doesn't get the others yet. He knows the words red, green, orange, yellow and purple, but I don't think he knows what any of them really are yet. He knows his Sesame Street characters though. He knows who big bird is, what elmo, the count and cookie moster look like and probably says "oscar"(the grouch) most clearly.