This morning was interesting because we woke up to a scheduled power outage....well, sort-of scheduled....it was supposed to be last Sunday, but the weather was bad, so they rescheduled the scheduled power outage for this morning at 7am.  We had forgotten about that possibility until last night...then Brad said, "hey, I think maybe our power will be out in the morning since they are working on the lines."  That made for an interesting challenge as we tried to get ready for church.  Brad has a flashlight function on his cell phone which I was trying to use to do my makeup, but somehow we got it stuck on flashing....a little dot of blush.....wait....a little more.....wait :P  When it was time to wake up the girls for church, Vannah said, "Powers out?  I'm out!" and rolled over. (My favorite quote of the day).  So everyone was at least able to get dressed with candles and flashing flashlights.  Kenna and Vannah brought their makeup to the Parma church to finish up.  On the way to Jackson, Brad saw Kenna's makeup sitting next to me and said "Is this your makeup bag?"  I said, "don't call me a bag"....I don't know why those weird comments are funny to me, but I don't seem to tire of them and the eye rolls I get when I say them.  Then Kenna told me I actually am a dirt bag and got all theological on us about how God made us from dirt :)....and, interestingly, one of the definitions for dirt bag is having an unkempt appearance....which I definitely felt from getting ready in the dark.  I love the conversations we have in the minivan....I really do think minivans get a bad rap because ours is a ton of fun....most of the time!

The message our pastor shared with us was about growing in Christ.  He used the scripture from 1 Corinthians 3 that asks, who is Paul?  Who is Apollos?....and all I could think about was what Kenna had said...."Dirt bags".....I mean no insult by that, it was just amusing to me.  Yes, we are made from dirt....We can sew seeds and we can water, but only GOD makes things grow.  We are GOD's field and we are in GOD's field.  We will be accountable for the work we have done, but HE should always get the credit for all the growth!

That was a perfect illustration because our previous neighbors were welcomed into church membership today.  I was thinking back on meeting them, living next door to them, occasionally inviting them to church, Brad's ministry to them through funerals for their loved ones and other meaningful conversations, their decisions to follow Christ, attend a membership class, get involved with a Life Group, get married, get baptized and officially join a family of believers.  LOOK WHAT GOD IS GROWING :)  What a privilege it is to be a part of that!