by Rick Snodgrass

Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house.  In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went.  He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

His mother, in the house, was looking out the window and saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could.  Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother.

It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.  From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs.  That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two.  The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate to let go.

A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.  Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived.

His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal.  And, on his arms, were deep scratches.  The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars.

The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to thereporter, “But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my mom wouldn’t let go.”

by Melody Paris

What is your prison? I believe that our prisons change over time. For the past year, mine has been anger and unforgiveness that I harbor against people I love. I hadn’t realized just how deeply I lived within this prison until recently. I have been struggling to let go of my pain, and it has become apparent to me that no one can hurt me like my loved ones. No one knows just how perfectly to hurt me like they do.

A few weeks ago Rick asked us to write a list of those whom we’d like to “stick” and then start praying for those same people; his hope being that you can’t continue to hate someone you are praying for. I spent a lot of time over the next week thinking on my list. I knew immediately who topped my list. That was quick and easy, but over the week, as my list grew, I realized that every person on my list was family. My enemies list - the people I hated or disliked the most - were the people God had put in my life for me to love the most.

This revelation has forced me to reevaluate myself. “Who am I?” and more importantly, “Who do I want to be?” The best place to start any journey, especially one of self reflection, is in scripture. Since this all boils down to love, I thought I’d start by rereading the love chapter (1 Corinthians 13). Three times in the first three verses, it says that if I don’t love, then I’m nothing. I don’t want to be nothing. I have God in my life, and with that I should have everything. Donald Bloesch stated, “The prison has been stormed and the gates opened, but unless we leave our prison cells and go forward into the light of freedmen we are still condemned.” God set me free of my anger and resentment, but I wasn’t willing to let it go. I have been holding onto it fiercely.

For years, I have been quoting to my loved ones 1 Corinthians 13:6, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.” I have always tried to apply that to the people I love. Something had changed with me, and I had stopped putting those words into practice. I have to let go and accept the freedom God has given me. It is time that I step out of the prison cell. Max Lucado had a great point when he wrote, “Relationships don’t thrive because the guilty are punished but because the innocent are merciful.” The fact is, when we hold onto resentment, anger, and hate, it isn’t just the relationships that don’t thrive. We can’t thrive. This is no longer about what was done to me. It is now about what I am going to do. Lord Jesus, please help me to let go and show Your love to all.

by Shon Sanders

In the next few months for my leaders corner, we are going to go through an article written by Joe McKeever titled "7 Things We Regularly Get Wrong About Worship." It's a tough study, and some might not agree with everything the author has to say, but it definitely spoke to me and made me reevaluate some of my own attitudes. If you happen to jump into this discussion halfway through, you can revisit the earlier sections online on our CTK website. The first section is titled:

You are Not Supposed to “Get Anything Out of the Service”

Worship is not about you and me. Not about "getting our needs met." Not about a performance from the pastor and singer and choir and musicians. Not in the least. 

Next corner, we will look at why!

P.S. While my prayer is that each of you will be blessed and filled with the spirit through the music and the teaching, make no mistake. We are here; called to GIVE worship and praise to God our Father. 

God Bless

by Rick Snodgrass

I wanted to share with you these questions that more than 200 years later, are still important and relevant. Here is one set of nearly two dozen questions similar to what John Wesley gave to members of his discipleship groups.

The questions have their origin in the spiritual accountability group started by Wesley when he was a student at Oxford — a group that detractors called “The Holy Club.” The first list appeared about 1729 or 1730 in the preface to Wesley’s second Oxford Diary. Similar questions appeared in his 1733 A Collection of Forms of Prayer for Every Day in the Week. As late as 1781, Wesley published a list of questions like this in the Arminian Magazine.

• Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
  
• Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to me in confidence?
  
• Can I be trusted?
  
• Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
  
• Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
  
• Did the Bible live in me today?
  
• Do I give the Bible time to speak to me every day?
  
• Am I enjoying prayer?
  
• When did I last speak to someone else of my faith? [conversation starter questions]
  
• Do I pray about the money I spend?
  
• Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
  
• Do I disobey God in anything?
  
• Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
  
• Am I defeated in any part of my life?
  
• Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
  
• How do I spend my spare time?
  
• Am I proud?
  
• Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
  
• Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
  
• Do I grumble or complain constantly?
  
• Is Christ real to me?