"My Camels Are Coming!"
Lisa asked me yesterday why I always called our prospective pastor "the camel guy" when I'm talking to Mark, and this was my answer!
It goes back to Texas in July! When Becky Bradley and I arrived at the Worship Institute, we met up with Mark and the others and went out for lunch. Then Diane Collins wanted to take us to her favorite little shop in Grapevine. It was an antique store, which bored me, so I was sifting through a big box of beads, etc. with Spring, and I found a little wooden camel. I asked her to put it in the bag of beads she was buying and give it to me, and she did.
All week I carried it around and kept saying to Spring, "I wonder when they'll talk about camels?" I really felt like the camel had some kind of significance, and I was waiting to find out what it meant!
At that time I was in a really funky mood because Robert had just left, and I had a lot of anxiety about a new pastor coming in. It wasn't that I minded Robert leaving, it was just that he always supported Mark musically, and I was afraid we might get someone who would stifle Mark's gifts and freedom and creativity.
After all, it's our music that makes FBC unique. There are lots of Baptist churches within driving distance doing the same old thing, singing the same old songs (or perhaps more accurately, mouthing the same old words--I know because I used to go to some of them and did that!) but we're the only one with the incredible worship we have.
Well, finally on Thursday a black guy named Bishop Garlington (I understand he's pretty well-known from Promise Keepers events) preached on GOD-ENCOUNTERS. His text was Genesis 24 about Rebekah watering the CAMELS! Abraham's servant traveled 500 miles with 10 camels and arrived at just the right time. While he was still praying about finding the right wife for Jacob, Rebekah, who just "happened" to be there, offered to water his camels, and the rest is history!
What God spoke to me was that I had prayed and prayed for many months for God to send us the right pastor, and God was going to send him! We even sang a couple of little songs about it. One said, "My camels are coming," and the other said "When you say AMEN, I believe it, It's done, I got it, It's in the bag!"
Garlington also said "Write it down and see it happen." So I did, and now I am! After that message, I never worried about it again. I was ready and eager to welcome our new pastor, whom I've affectionately called "my camel guy" from that day to this! (Of course, now that I know his REAL name, I can drop that one!)
And that's the story!
(I never claimed not to be weird!)
It goes back to Texas in July! When Becky Bradley and I arrived at the Worship Institute, we met up with Mark and the others and went out for lunch. Then Diane Collins wanted to take us to her favorite little shop in Grapevine. It was an antique store, which bored me, so I was sifting through a big box of beads, etc. with Spring, and I found a little wooden camel. I asked her to put it in the bag of beads she was buying and give it to me, and she did.
All week I carried it around and kept saying to Spring, "I wonder when they'll talk about camels?" I really felt like the camel had some kind of significance, and I was waiting to find out what it meant!
At that time I was in a really funky mood because Robert had just left, and I had a lot of anxiety about a new pastor coming in. It wasn't that I minded Robert leaving, it was just that he always supported Mark musically, and I was afraid we might get someone who would stifle Mark's gifts and freedom and creativity.
After all, it's our music that makes FBC unique. There are lots of Baptist churches within driving distance doing the same old thing, singing the same old songs (or perhaps more accurately, mouthing the same old words--I know because I used to go to some of them and did that!) but we're the only one with the incredible worship we have.
Well, finally on Thursday a black guy named Bishop Garlington (I understand he's pretty well-known from Promise Keepers events) preached on GOD-ENCOUNTERS. His text was Genesis 24 about Rebekah watering the CAMELS! Abraham's servant traveled 500 miles with 10 camels and arrived at just the right time. While he was still praying about finding the right wife for Jacob, Rebekah, who just "happened" to be there, offered to water his camels, and the rest is history!
What God spoke to me was that I had prayed and prayed for many months for God to send us the right pastor, and God was going to send him! We even sang a couple of little songs about it. One said, "My camels are coming," and the other said "When you say AMEN, I believe it, It's done, I got it, It's in the bag!"
Garlington also said "Write it down and see it happen." So I did, and now I am! After that message, I never worried about it again. I was ready and eager to welcome our new pastor, whom I've affectionately called "my camel guy" from that day to this! (Of course, now that I know his REAL name, I can drop that one!)
And that's the story!
(I never claimed not to be weird!)
posted by KathyH @ 1:37 PM
4 Comments:
At 2:22 PM ,
Spring said...
You and I think a lot alike....I think. I love all the "coincedences" that God uses to reveal Himself. I have gotten to the point that I look for them to mark the right path sometimes. Just like the little coincedence of the new potential pastor being named Bridges. Those are little things that just give you an extra dose of confirmation.
At 3:26 PM ,
KathyH said...
I liked the bridge thing, too!
Maybe instead of calling stuff like that coincidences we should call them God-incidences!
I had a teacher friend (she's in heaven now) who used to say, "It's not ODD, it's GOD!"
I love all the creative ways God speaks to us!
At 8:36 PM ,
Me said...
I was there for the whole camel bead thing. WOOOHOOOO!
At 10:01 PM ,
KathyH said...
Yes, I almost mentioned that you were there, too, Mark, but I wasn't sure you'd want to be implicated! Ha!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home