Waking up on the wrong side...

Ever got up on the wrong side of the bed? I did yesterday. Had a very weird, yet real, dream just before waking, and it disturbed me. I moped around most of the morning at the school trying to convince myself that it was just a dream. Sometimes our dreams are pointless and stupid, but other times, at least for me, God uses them to teach me things that I guess I can't quite comprehend when awake. The night before I was studying for a sermon that I was to preach this weekend on the things that we need to give up to follow Christ. The "cost of being a disciple" (Luke 14...read it!). In preparation for this sermon, I have been re-reading and listening to the Pineapple Story, by missionary Otto Koning about a missionaries struggles to hold on to his pineapple orchard in a land of chronic thieves. (CTS students, it's available in the library.) He got so angry trying to hold on to his pineapples, that ultimately his testimony of Christ was lost and he became the "angry white man". It was not until he gave his pineapples to God that tribal people believed he had become a Christian (!) and they, in turn, gave their lives to Christ as well.

This dream I had revealed me being so concerned about systems and process, that sometimes I neglect to see the people that my actions affect. In my dream I was yelling at people over something so silly. I never yell...but my anger in that dream was real. Guess that's why I woke up in a bad mood! However, I did learn something. We must see every opportunity to interact with people as one to first of all show the love of Christ. If we get so concerned over how things are done, or why they aren't done, we sometimes miss the opportunity to love the people that are doing, or not doing what we think they should, in the way we think they should do it. So today I am giving up my pineapples...and letting God teach me his lessons of loving people.

By the way...I woke up in a great mood today. I'm preaching this sermon on Sunday at Eglise Trinite - a Congolaise congregation located in downtown Brussels. Thanks for your prayers as I share with these folks, pastored by one of our CTS students. Have a great weekend.