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“What Has God Done In Your Life Lately?”
The year was 2007. I was the Youth Pastor at Warner Robins FUMC, and we had planned a youth mission trip to New Orleans to do home repair work in New Orleans that had been so devastated by Hurricane Katrina. My friend Rev. Bobby Gale was facilitating the mission experience for us. Bobby is a force of a personality and has a heart for God like no other. I knew he would make an impact on these youth!
We loaded up the vans and started the long drive to Louisiana. Along the way, we stopped at a fast food restaurant to eat lunch, and Bobby was interacting with all the youth (and literally everybody else in the
restaurant!). He sat down at one table of youth that were clearly having fun, laughing, and cutting up. Bobby engaged them in conversation, and then he said to one of the girls at the table, “Now listen up, you’re going to lead the worship for us tonight. You’re going to do the devotional. I want you to share what God has done in your life lately. Not two years ago. Not when you were a little kid. What is God doing in your life now?” The eyes of everyone at the table got real wide, and the student Bobby picked on first was uncharacteristically silent for a moment. Before she could collect her thoughts to respond, Bobby added, “Or… if God hasn’t done anything in your life lately, you can just say, ‘God’s never done anything for me and I’m ashamed of Him.’” Like I said, I knew Bobby would make an impact on these youth!
Bobby’s style is way different from mine, but I am so deeply thankful to have been influenced by him along my journey. And y’all, it was AMAZING what happened on that trip! Not only did the kids step up to Bobby’s challenge to share from their heart and what God is doing in their lives, they were incredible! They were filled with the Spirit and preached and embodied the love and grace of God in some truly devastated neighborhoods.
One middle school girl who was painfully shy even stepped up and shared her testimony with tears streaming down her face. I had literally never heard her speak in front of another person until that moment. Her tears weren’t the only tears.
Bobby Gale is a prophet. He speaks with the authority of God. His question, “What has God done in your life LATELY” still churns in my heart. It reminds me of what Jesus said in the scripture for this Sunday, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Matthew 13). I hope you will read Matthew 13 to prepare your heart for worship on Sunday. I hope you have some “old treasures” that you can share about what God has done in your life in the past. But I also hope you’ll have some new treasures to bring out and share because of what God is doing in your life now.
Grace and Peace,
Tom
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