My View from the Front Pew: Personal, but not Private

          I am adding the new label "My View from the Front Pew" to my blog to share with my readers some things I learn, see, or experience as I minister alongside my husband.  I figured out a long time ago (while we were still "young" in the ministry) that many times as a minster you get a "front row seat" to what God is doing in people's lives.  I remember discovering this first-hand as a youth minister's wife when I was on a mission trip with a bunch of teenagers.  What a joy it was to see up close God at work in their lives.  As a pastor's wife, people will sometimes share with me how God is speaking to them.  That happened today, in fact.  That's what I call getting a "front row seat".  (In reality, I actually DO sit on the front row in church, right next to my husband!)  There will always be trying times as we serve the Lord, but it is those "front row seat" moments that make it all worth-while.

     ~~~A little something from my notes I took during my husband's sermon: 

Luke 2:17-18 says,

    
     "When they (the shepherds) had seen him (Jesus), they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them."

     We are called to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ...but NOT a private relationship.  Many times those two words are used interchangably in our vocabulary, but when it comes to our relationship with Jesus Christ, there is a vast difference in meaning.  As Christians, let us not confuse the two.  May we be like the shepherds and not keep the good news to ourselves!!