Friendship first

Something that I've been pondering abit is the importance of friendship first with people, especially when we are talking about growing the Kingdom of God. Something that I've seen heaps of people do is to be over eager to invite their friends to church/caregroup that all they even do when they see them is to invite them. After some time, they may come once just to shut the person up. After that, they don't feel obligated to come anymore and just "drift" away from the well meaning Christian. What happened?

I think that we can forget that if we want to reach out to someone, we need to first be genuine friends. The saying "people don't care how much you know till they know how much you care" is so true. The moment people smell that you're not interested in them, but just for them to get something out of them, they'll run. This girl I knew was helping out in world vision, I met her at Parachute Music Festival and she asked me to sign up and support. Long story short I sponsored a child anyway as it was always something I wanted to do, but I could tell that she truly wasn't interested me or my thoughts about the kids.

Friendship first, I think this must be true in our lives if we are to reach people and bring them into the Kingdom. It takes time and energy, like in all relationships, but we must be willing to invest it, not because we have a hidden agenda, but because we value them. I only drink around two times a year, simply because I have two non-Christian friends whose friendship I value and want to support them in the way they celebrate their birthdays. Yesterday one of them came to caregroup (to my surprise) and I hope he continues to come and that he eventually comes to know God personally.

Friendship is not only important to speak into the lives of people. When people are down and everything is falling around them and their natural response is one of isolation, the power of a friendship could cause them to come back to church or to caregroup. Even for leaders or fellow Christians who struggle for a season, the power of a friendship can have such a therapeutic effect for them. It can be thing that bring out through a hard time

There is so much that genuine friends can bring... Friendship first...

Finally updated

Its crazy how little attention I give this blog. It must've been crying out for attention. Poor blog ;) Time for a few updates...

Convention!! It was a great time for me spiritually. I didnt cry like a little girl like I did the last one. This convention, not a tear was shed, but I've left feeling as challenged as I've ever been to serve God more and to expand his kingdom. Funny how God works, we dont always need to cry or have an "emotional high" to be challenged and to be inspired. That was a new way of experiencing God. I came to convention feeling overwhelmed, but left wanting to do more and to do them well! I wished I had more time to spend with people, its a real shame I couldnt... thats my one down point about it. The ones I did spend time with, we had to do after the convention hours, so I had little sleep the whole convention. I also the worst day of work on Tuesday morning!! 4 coffee's!!

Work... Work's been brilliant, we had our proper training for a whole week. We were put up in a hotel (buffet meals everyday!) for the whole time, so it was cool to be away, but not cool that we had 8am starts daily. But yeah, food was awesome, information was good (now I feel semi-knowledgable) and hanging out with the new colleagues was cool. They're a fun bunch...

This last week has been great, I've been getting easy engagements, so I've been able to work from the office and leave early. Others go to clients locations and stay till 6ish... depending on their jobs. Its always mroe relaxing in the office. Also I thank God that I've been getting favour from my direct manager, so thats great too.

Next thing I want to do is get this blog looking pretty, its quite a drab now. Will need to put that on my to-do list!

Ciao for now...