Bishop Wills' Life Journal entry for January 11, 2009: Blessed To Be A Blessing

S: Genesis 28:15 (The Message)
All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go, and I’ll bring you back to this very ground. I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.

O: Jacob heard God speak. The message was this: “Jacob, you are blessed and will be a blessing. I have a purpose for your life, and I’m going to complete it. I am with you and will not give up on you”

A: Sometimes it is difficult for me to see my way as a follower of Jesus. Like many people I want to be blessed by God. When I do not feel blessed, then these are the times I have a tendency to wander away from God and God’s Will. By that I forget I am to live as a person of faith and prayer who gives witness to the Jesus to lives in me.

What I read this morning reminds me I AM BLESSED ! Even when I feel sorry for myself, I am blessed especially when I look around at the other people in the world.

The important lesson given to Abraham and to Jacob is this: I am blessed, but these blessings from God are not for me. Genesis 12:2 I am blessed to be a blessing to others (my translation). Any blessings from God in my life are given me so I can be a blessing to others. This is a principle all followers of Jesus must realize if we are to find God’s purpose for our lives.

I once served a church which was blessed in unusual ways. The Bible taught me to teach our people that we were very blessed (even though there were many problems). This blessing was not for our church, but rather the blessing was so we could be a blessing to others. Since we were blessed, this translated to paying the first 13% of everything we received in offerings that weekend to the Conference for our apportionments. Like the tithe, we gave more than a tithe by writing a check each Monday to the Conference to be applied to our Apportionment askings. We were blessed and we had to live into being a blessing to others. We did this by trusting God. We learned to trust God that the other 87% of the offering would be enough for that week as a church.

Being a blessing means more than giving money to Conference Apportionments. It means giving our blessings to people no one else wanted. That was my purpose and the purpose of our church.

Even in the hardest times, I could trust God was with me (us) and would not give up on us.

P: Father thank you for the many blessings in my life. Help me to remember each day these blessings are not for me. They are blessings so I can be a blessing to all who you send into my life. Thank you! Love, Dick

Y: I give up the notion of just wanting blessings from God just for myself.

Bishop Wills’ Life Journal entry for January 4, 2009 – “A New Year Commitment”

S: Genesis 9: 1 (The Message)
God said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature – birds and fish – will fall under your spell and you will be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them.

O: All of nature is God’s gift to all of us. Every person should feel responsible for all of the life on our planet. We are responsible.

A: In these days, I am more aware than ever how important it is to be good stewards of God’s creation. There was a time when I took creation for granted. I was careless about the planet and what I was doing to harm creation. I was a good person, but careless.

This morning this scripture reminds me as I begin a new year, I must take extra steps to care for this world of ours. For me it means a lot of little things. Recycle papers, plastic and anything else which can be used again.

It means not driving places where I could walk or use public transportation. It means driving a hybrid car and being conscious of my carbon footprint everyday. (actually I had never thought of my carbon footprint until recent years).

It means for me not to take any living thing for granted. All of life is God’s gift to me and every other person.

In this new year I want to be a better steward of creation. I want to take specific steps to be a good steward. After all, just as God told Noah he was responsible, so too I am responsible for all of creation.

P: Lord, thank you for this day. Help me be aware of all the things I can do to be a better steward of all of life. Love, Dick

Y: I will be conscious of my responsibility to care for all of creation