Friendship or Fellowship?

So this has been rolling around in my head for some time now.  A few months back, I participated in a Bible study at our church.  One of the weeks, we focused on the role that fellow Christians play in the life of a believer.  One of the elders in the church put the curriculum together and, in it, he said something very profound and challenging.

He stated that God created friendship for our comfort.  But he created fellowship for our true growth.  Wow...deep stuff, and I'm thinking very true!

We all need friends....people with whom we can laugh and cry and play.  Friends are for fun and friends are to minister to one another in times of need.  I'm so thankful that I've been blessed with a few true friends.  I enjoy them, and I think they enjoy me!   Friends are good, and friends are good for my comfort.

But we also need fellowship.  And I'm realizing as I've been thinking this through that I have far fewer people in my life with whom I'm in fellowship.  Besides Carla, I won't name them here.  But these are the people who are not only friends, and not just friendly.  They're the ones who seek me out when I'm not going down the right path.  And they're the ones who ask me to show them the same things.  They're the ones that inspire me to grow up, and the ones who will let me inspire them to the same.  They're the ones who don't just comfort me when I'm afflicted, but afflict me when I'm comfortable and vice-versa!

So I'm thankful for my friends, for sure!   But I'm especially thankful for my fellowship partners...those that help me to be a man more like Jesus!!!

Mom wanted a new blog entry...

...so this is all I have.  I learned, while going to the funeral home today, that the purpose of a suit coat is to hide the wrinkled shirt underneath.

New Years Blessings

Just a few quick lines to say how blessed I am at the beginning of a new year.  First, we who call ourselves The Pittsburgh Project started out our new year together with a day of prayer and seeking the Lord together.  How awesome is that?  What it is a blessing it is to belong to such a group of Kingdom-hearted people!

Then last night I was able to attend the first of four nights of prayer and fasting at Hosanna Church.  There were about 30 people gathered for a time of praying in the new year for four consecutive evenings.  How awesome it was to spend an evening with other "saints" as we sought the Lord in repentance and restoration for how we have behaved as Christians and as a church.

I can't think of better ways to live out "happy new year!"