Fear of God?

Someone asked me yesterday about a verse for Proverbs that talked about fearing God. They were wondering if they should be afraid of God. My take was the word "fear" is meant more like respect or to have an understanding of who is in charge.

I don't think we need to fear God as if He might hurt us. I do think we need to respect God and understand He is in charge not us.

What do you think?

New Job

Ok, it isn't really new. I have been working at the Grand Haven Days Inn for a year now. It feels like I have just started. It has been a good year. It has been a year of growth. I feel like I am now asking the correct questions, both at the hotel and for me personally. Nothing is perfect. The hotel is really slow right now and that will slow down the improvements I have been planning for next year. I am keeping the "big picture" in front of me. Lisa has a Dr. appointment on Friday. We should find out if we are having a boy or a girl soon. If it is a boy, Natalie wants to name him Suzie. Lisa and I are planning to take this under advisement.

Growing the "church"

I was at a meeting a couple of weeks ago about how to grow True Community Christian Church. We started at the beginning of the year. Our attendance has been steady. Our budget has gone down a little. I sat in this meeting thinking about all the stuff we could do. You know: be more organized, invite more people, give more money, develop more ministries, do more outreach, improve the children's ministry.

These are all good ideas. We should do all these things. I realized I was forgetting one thing. How was I going to grow? I am the Body of Christ. I am the church. If I want to "grow the church", I NEED TO GROW ALSO.

How often do I (we) start putting together programs instead of changing ourselves? Or at the very least to be open to changes in ourselves if we want to be part of a growing congregation.