Amped Up

For the next few weeks, my church has planned some activities to "amp up the joy" during this summer month that is sometimes low in attendance due to vacations and other activities. As a result of the amped up Tuesday night activities, Sunday evenings and Wednesday evenings have been left free to meet with small parts of the body. At first, I was really bummed about missing so much church, but I've changed my mind because I have been reminded that I am meeting with the "church," which is the body of Christ. We are meeting with a small group in our home and tonight was really cool. We watched an Andy Stanley video based on difficult things Jesus said when he was here on earth. Tonight's lesson came from John 6 where Jesus referred to being the bread of life and told his followers that they must eat his body and drink his blood. The point of the lesson came down to Peter's response to Jesus when he asked the disciples if they too wanted to leave him like the other people who couldn't accept his difficult saying. In the video, Andy talked about transitions in our lives where we have to ask ourselves, like Peter asked, "To whom would I go?" This moved into a discussion about transitions in our lives when we had to choose Jesus or another route, which turned into an impromptu session to encourage my son and his girlfriend to make their walks with Christ their own as they leave for their respective colleges in a few weeks. It was the body being the body and building up other parts of the body as we're encouraged to do so in the Word. I am thinking my joy has been amped just meeting with the church--after all, where else would I rather be?