June 2-6

To prepare for Tuesday's staff meeting (it now seems we as staff will be doing some sort of reading or activity over the previous week to talk about during the meeting) Pastor Kevin Adams had us complete Myers-Briggs Personality tests and the CRC's Spiritual Gifts Questionnaire. As it turns out I'm an INTJ (Introverted [75%] iNtuitive [39%] Thinking [1%] Judging [3%]) and have the working gifts of Faith (14) Wisdom (13) Service (13) and Shepherding (12) and waiting gifts of Encouragement (15) Intersession (14) Teaching (14) and Discernment (13). We discussed how different types of people communicate with each other. It was good just to realize that when I don't understand how someone thinks it's because they process information differently. And how a Pastoral team can suffer when it lack a gift or a set of gifts that allow it to function. Like a pastoral staff lacking some sort of gift in teaching is going to be in major trouble (gifts like knowledge or shepherding can compensate if the specific gift of teaching isn't present). And so with gifts of leadership or caring. The thing that frightens me about my own gifts is that many of the gifts the survey said I have are ones I deeply admire in others as ones which guide and fertilize the church which means that people who have them have great responsibility. This kind of responsibility is the sort that if done lightly or poorly can cause people to stumble in their faith and that is what scares me. Not that I would be light about it but because I know deeply that I'm a fallible human being. I have full confidence that God will guide his church through and sometimes in spite of its leaders. I only hope that I can and will listen attentively to him. That is a prayer I will say from now till the day I die.

The rest of the week went as a normal week for the most part. Plan the farmers market booth, look for stuff to do, and help out with whatever needed to be done before the church service on Sunday. The one highlight of my week was going over to Doug Bouws' house for dinner on one night that week.

Doug (as I explained earlier) is the Pastor of Hospitality at Granite Springs Church and he and his wife invited me over for dinner. They have three you girls. Their eldest just graduated from kindergarten and their youngest just turned a year old while I've been in CA. I can honestly say that I had forgotten how much I a like kids until that night and it was great just getting to know Doug better. There was also the sweetest thunderstorm that night. Cloud to cloud lightning a couple times a second and a little bit of rain which vaporized when it hit the pavement making the drive home kinda creepy but very cool on the drive home as the mist rose from the road and lightning flashed overhead illuminating valleys and trees along a road I had never driven along before!!