Mr. Wrinkly shares the Word...

I had such a great Sunday again. I woke up about three hours before I even had to leave to go to church, so I tried to sleep a bit more, but I couldn't. I got up and as I was getting ready my heart started to feel happy and excited about going to church. This is not at all the case on most Sundays; sometimes I'll be walking to church thinking, "Wow, are my legs really taking me to church?" Since being in Holland I hadn't really found a church I could call home, but by God's grace after years and years I have finally found a small church that I just love. I'm being fed. (in a spiritual sense) I still have to get used to going on Sundays, and you know how the spirit is always willing but the flesh is weak at times. But I made a deal with God, I wouldn't use my alarm clock on Sundays; if He wanted me to go to church He would wake me up early. I think waking up three hours earlier speaks volumes. Well, yesterday I was so excited and happy I was almost late. Now my church is not fancy at all; there were about 40 people max. yesterday. Three young girls (including myself), a few children, one teenage boy, and the rest are mostly much older people. But, I just absolutely love being there. I have been going there for about three months on and off as I have had a few holidays in between when I've been away. Anyway, after singing a man got up and told us that he had prayed for some scripture to share with us that morning, and he shared Psalm 34:18, which is the same verse I had written about in one of my posts about being broken. And he shared with everybody about how the Lord is close to us when we go through difficulties, and it was just lovely to hear this from someone else' perspective. Then I think the oldest man at church got up to preach and he talked about prayer. He asked us if praying was worth it, because God says that He already knows what we need before we even ask for it. And he talked about how most of us just have it all wrong, as we think that praying is about giving God directions or instructions. We have it all figured out, we know how we would solve problems perfectly so we just give God some pointers on how to get things done. He also said that some of us think that prayer is like playing the lottery, it's a lucky game. Sometimes your prayers are answered, sometimes they are not. It's all about luck, and when we are not winning, we quit, and that's when the jackpot hits! He was gently teaching us that prayer was not to direct the Lord, but to change our hearts, to be in touch with God. He closed his wrinkly eyes real tight, put up a soft fist to his face, his shoulders up to his ears and said..."Dear people, when we pray let us be really quiet, let us be good listeners, let us be sensitive to what the Lord is saying to our hearts, let's not give directions, but ask for the Lord's good will to be done in our lives." I was sitting there thinking... "Wow, what love and passion for God and His people; this old man is super cool!" Then he went on to divide the Lord's prayer, which I will do in another post otherwise this one will be too long. But, it's just good to be in the Lord's house and to know that the Lord is there among us. I also got a good deal as the pastor was preaching in Dutch, but there was a lady behind me translating the whole sermon in Spanish to another lady sitting with her. This is a funny church because I have met people that speak absolutely no dutch and don't always get a translation, or, like me don't really have peers, but you know in your heart that love is what brings this diverse group together. It's all about Jesus.