A story: So tonight my teaching was entitled, "Pocket Change." I taught from Matthew 22, touching on the issue of paying taxes to Caesar and the previous parable about the wedding banquet. While the question was about pocket change, the parable encouraged people to make an full transformation for God, not limiting our discipleship to changing mere pockets of our lives. See, what I did there? I used it as a double-entendre.
Sidenote: I'm so proud of myself for using the the term "double-entendre." Kelly had to help me with the spelling, though.
Anyway, during my introduction, I had people empty their pockets. I wanted to get people thinking about pockets. I then proceeded to talk about the evolution of the pocket, how it was used to hold valuables. Then I made the transition into the sermon. I swear, it was quite witty. You should've been there. We'll have the mp3 up soon on iTunes.
Why do I tell you all this? Well, about 15 minutes into my message the batteries in my wireless headset died. I asked The Dale at the soundboard if we had any more batteries. Inexplicably, we had none. It just so happened that Everett Brewer, a local minister who's known me most of my life, visited church tonight. He asked if the mic took double-A batteries. It does. He just so happened to have two of them with him . . . in his pocket. I swear, it was like we planned it.
All this to say that I had a great night. There are so many things that have happened with Echo that aren't at all planned, but are purely providential. Sure this little battery thing isn't much at all, but I think it's indicative of how things have unfolded throughout this process.
God is to move in our church. He's bringing us people who are continually trying to figure out their faith. We're a community hungry for more. And we're just getting warmed up.