West Cocoa Chat

The word “priority” has been coming to my mind as of late. Yesterday (Saturday) I had the privilege of picking up a group (17 of them) of folks from the Belpre Church in West Virginia who had decided to take a cruise together out of Port Canaveral. The Belpre folks were on the ship on the right which belongs to Carnival Cruise Lines. I asked them how 17 of them decided to take a cruise (and not kill each other) together. They told me that originally it was going to be 2 couples but as we word got out their group grew to 17. The concept of “priority” struck me when I informed them that I had lived in the Cocoa / Cocoa Beach area since the mid-60s and I had never taken a cruise. There was something wrong about me being a local picking up a group of folks from West Virginia but they had chosen to make going on a cruise with each other a priority and they made it happen.

Last week (or 2 weeks ago) Steven went to Homecoming and didn’t get home till late, too late for my taste. Nevertheless, he dragged himself out of bed and went to Sunday School and Worship the next day. Priorities.

Today Don spoke on the “Nature of God.” One of his points he made was the aspect of God, the Creator of “Matter,” loving us so much that He feels we matter enough to have a relationship with us. 3 people responded to the invitation because the felt that being in a relationship with God mattered. Priorities.

In my class we read Hebrews 1:1 – 2.
1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but (emphasis mine) in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

We talked about how the life of Jesus wasn’t just some insignificant prelude to his all important death, burial and resurrection. Rather, the life of Jesus gives us a real time picture of how God thinks and acts. Moreover, it gives us an idea of what are priorities to God and what isn’t.

In church it is so easy to get bogged down in minutia like the color of the carpet, who is singing on the Praise Team, you took the wine before the bread, I like it when we clap, I hate it when we clap, and so on. We need only look at the Gospels to gain 2 all important priorities that all other things should be filtered through:

1. Jesus took the life changing Gospel out of the Temple and in to the streets.
2. Jesus was relevant to his world by being personal and with them.
May I strive to keep that in mind this week.