The Small Things

Though we all arrived a little bit late to this morning's small group (that we hold in Breathe coffee house) due to a local walk-for-a-cancer-cure event cordoning off the major streets near the coffee house (and directly in front of it), we all seemed genuinely happy to be sitting down to small group again.  While I was gone in Japan, it sounds like attendance was intermittent, but some of that was due to local events (including a blizzard at one point).  Now at least a few of us are regularly meeting, and more will likely rejoin once semester finals are over.  

For my part, I was glad to see the guys again and hear how life had been treating them.  One of them had gone through several relatively major life events, and the other was primarily focusing on his family and some things his youngest child was going through.  Both were happy to share and to listen, and I really enjoyed hearing what they had been learning about life and spirituality (while that was the main encouraging point for me, you'll have to come to a small group yourself if you want to know what they were learning, as discussions in small group are private).

We didn't get to much Bible study, and we never normally do when someone makes it back after a long absence, but it was still energizing finding out how we could pray together and simply being together after such a long absence.  There are some things you don't realize that you miss until you are back in them, and this time was definitely one of those things.  Though some of our small group times I'm exhausted, all of us (including me) are distractable, or topics range far enough away that it may not be obviously beneficial, many other times we share powerfully as we learn through reading the Bible and discussing it and/or sharing what we've been learning in our own personal, spiritual walks.  This time is invaluable and encouraging in ways I don't always see, so I was very blessed to be able to spend it with some fellow brothers in Christ this morning as I then rolled on into my day (which involved five minutes later selling an Aikido student a wooden weapon and talking about the challenges of raising and teaching children--especially of teaching them morality--and relating that back to our own personal growth in Christ and patience, then running to the bank to make change for The Gamers Guild for tonight and proceeding home to get breakfast and do office work).

Often-times its the small things in my day that end up setting the tone for everything else to go well.  Thanks to God for that opportunity this morning.