This picture is from the 2007 Creative Arts Conference at Willow - for whatever reason I did not get one of her this year. Nancy Beach, one of the Teaching Pastors at Willow Creek and oversees the Creative Arts Ministry there was my favorite speaker of the week. From her text in Psalm 40 she took a moment to focus on "He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud" then proceeded to have us critically analyze where we were in our ministry and life. Though I do not always open myself up during messages I wrote and entire page of "stuff." Today as I took a moment to do some "reviewing" of our time I have once again been challenged from the conference. Our senior pastor often encourages us to journal and write down transformational moments in our life. I have to admit this is not a strong point for me - but as I review this page of my notes from the conference - the entire page rings true to me a week later. Getting honest with our self can be difficult as we often try to rationalize other's response to our words, work and life. You know what I mean, blaming my current state on others especially the failures. Letting God "lift me out of the ditch" as He did David might just be the ticket to something extra special He has for me. My pit may not be as severe as the struggles many are going through right now and I so do not want to minimize other's issues like cancer, separation, loneliness, emotional depression and the list could go on. I just want to let God do the work in me He wants to do and not get in the way.
She also made another "dead on" statement for ministers. We need to be careful not to do "ministry" out of "memory." Oops!
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