Challenged

I left church this morning challenged and excited.  G.W.'s talk about becoming a missional church where we humbly seek to follow and serve Christ is one of the most exciting sermons I've ever heard him preach.  I see now that reading Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution was a way for God to prepare my heart for this day.  His book really stirred my heart, but I wasn't really sure how to respond.  I believe that now I am in the midst of a congregation full of people ready to accept this challenge.

Though I pray this will be a challenge I seek forever, the immediate challenge (could I possibly say challenge one more time? - sorry) is to focus on Christmas.  G.W. shared that whatever money he spends on his family, he will give an equal amount to God.  Andrew and I had a great conversation today trying to figure out how we are going to make our Christmas spending benefit the kingdom.  Here is what we have come up with so far.

• Purchase fair trade items so we know our money is being distributed responsibly.  (I can't tell you exactly what items or many of you would not be getting a surprise on Christmas!)
• Stop buying meaningless gifts like shirts and sweaters that we all buy for ourselves when we need them.
• Give less expensive, more sentimental gifts like family photos.
• Instead of buying a big gift for each other (which we rarely do anyway - we're always out of money by then!), we are going to a concert in Nashville to support some of our favorite musicians.
• Use the money left in our Christmas budget to meet some kind of need.  Pretty open-ended huh?

The timing for this talk could not have been more appropriate as I am headed to Atlanta next weekend to do my Christmas shopping.  I might be asking for some intercessory prayer as I head into H&M, one of my favorite stores! 

We are still brainstorming.  Please share any other ideas you all might have.  

Don't worry Milly, your Christmas stocking is not in jeopardy.  It's totally worth a few bucks to see her reaction!