"Do not ever allow sadness to take such a hold of your spirit that it leads you to forget the joy of the ressurrected Christ. We all long for God's paradise, but we all have the opportunity to find ourselves in it right here. We only need to be happy with Christ right and now..."

Make Me A Servant-Part II

Yesterday was the 2nd half of the workshop on servanthood. I was excited to come back and learn some more bout leadership. What it takes to be a leader, what qualities are needed to be an effective leader etc. The day before i had sat in the blessed sacrament for a while. Juss praying, something that i havent been doing too much of. So this weekend was a really spiritual boost in my prayer life.

I love Christina's talk on 'the price of leader.' I think that was my favorite on out of all them. She's a really good speaker, and i totally see Jesus through her. So as a leader ive learned there are rewards & costs. Juss as errthang else in life, we have rewards and costs. As a leader you will get praises, but the cost, you will always get judged. Im sure many of us have been down this route before. People will judge your intentions.

YOu will have power & authority, but you will also have accountability. I remember an 'anonymous tag' i had gotten bout a yurr ago. It was from the secret angel and it said something like were all accountable for our actions. Which is very true, we are held accountable for all our actions. Especially as leaders, we have high accountability from God and humans.
Something that hit me was this, from Ezekial 3:18-19.

"If say to the wicked man, you shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live:That wicked man shall die from his sin, but i wll hold you responsible for his death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has turned away from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life."

WOw tough stuff huh? So thurr you have it, were all accountable for each other. If you fail to warn someone of thurr evil doing and you ignore the problem GOd will hold you accountable for thurr deaf. However, if you do inform them of thurr bad stuff and they die of it, then God will not hold you accountable. It really makes me more cautious of what i do and wha others do. So we've all been warned.

AS leader you will get privleges, the cost of sacrafice. YOu will be expected to sacrafices. Whats the sacrafice? Loweliness and burnt out. Burnt out meaning, youve gotten to that point whurr you dont want to serve anymore. Serving becomes an obigation and isnt fun anymore. In order to prevent burnt out, you gotta develop your prayer life. The more work you do, the more prayer is expected, YOu cant compromise.

Within judgement, you will find unpopularity, you will be critcized, and rejected. You gotta be ready to throw away your reputation. The perfect example of this is the Pope. Although many people admired him he's also said things that people didnt like. He's made strong statements in regards to a lot of issues, that people criticized him for. Yet it didnt stop him, he still continues to lead our church today.

All in all, i really praise God for such a fruitul and productive weekend. Starting it off w/praisefest, learning how to be able to 'let go, and let God.' To comepletly surredner and trust in Him. Something that ive said ive often struggle with. Then the whole LFT weekend, was juss d0pe. Basically i think galatians 6:9-10 can sum it all up, "LEt us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up. So then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all, but especially to those who belong to the family of faith."

Sometimes we expect to see the products of our labor right away. When we dont see it, it gets frustrated. Sometimes we may feel 'underappreciated' by our peers cuz they may not see the work of our labor. Sometimes we have drama in our lives that leads to not want to serve. Though the important to remember as St. Paul says in Galatians, we cant get tired of serving God. Continue to serve Him and in the end we will see the ultimate reward, if we dont give up. Key word, 'if.' So while GOd continues to bless us w/a new day to live, let us continue to serve each other through our works.

WIth each new day God gives us let us, 'Smile and Praise God' as my brotha chris from SOL would say. Smile and Praise God cuz He has given us another opporunity to come back to that 'Heart of Worship.' Glory to God!

On a side note... During lunch some of us were joking bout 'trading' community memberss. Wouldnt that be a trip if that stuff really took place? Ha i would be the first to trade 'frenemy' over to a sister community! joking...well maybe...haha I learned thurrs an extra 'C' in the 4 C's of nick's talk. Hahah TOnite im driving to UCI for the spirit games meeting. I feel like ive been driving all weekend.

"Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant." Mark 10:43


Please pray for me i have one more final to go!

""When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears. When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears..."