That's what I get for praying...

Okay, I have gone totally crazy on this thing. You'd think I would have run out of things to blog about. Normally I would have done by now, but my brain has been going at illegal speeds this week, so I still have plenty to share on my little bit of the internet.

So, the title of this post was inspired by the sermon (Or homily, if you will; I do think I like the word homily better. No particular reason.) this morning and then our community group this evening. The sermon text was John 10:1-21, too long to post here, but well worth reading through if you have a minute or two (though it shouldn't take even that long!). The verse in particular that spoke to me was: When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. I've been praying for ears to hear God's voice over the sound of the TV, the radio, the advertisements for everything under the sun, the subtle cultural hints that following God is not only boring, but downright dumb. And here is the answer, hidden in John 10: the sheep follow him because they know his voice. In order to follow the voice of God, I must know the voice of God. Back to the Bible and prayer I go!!

So, on to community group I went, all unsuspecting that our text would be Matthew 5:17-26, from the Sermon on the Mount. I had dozens of thoughts as we went through these verses, quite a few of which I shared aloud (kind of a rare thing for me!). But we spent a lot of time talking about anger, and it turns out I am not the only person in the group with an anger management problem. Surprise, surprise. So I shared a little bit of my struggles in this area with the group and asked for prayers. The thing that struck me the most (as it has done many times before) is that reconciliation is my responsibility. Regardless of who is at fault, it is always required that I go to work things out with my brother/sister/enemy/whoever. We talked again about that which I already know: carrying around anger with me only hurts me. The cool thing about this topic is, I was already praying about my anger issues for the past couple of weeks. God has really led me to the right place today!