Changes In Walnut Grove

When I drove into the office this morning, I passed by Walnut Grove's City Hall and saw some of the changes that are happening there. In the lot that this house/city hall sits on was a grove of trees and brush that covered about 1/4 of an acre on the north side. For the last several months, I've seen one of the guys that works for the city up there working around on that piece of the land. He's been cutting trees, clearing brush, and moving things around. But, as you know if you've ever worked with brush-covered land, it's been a long process.

Today, though, it looked different. They had brought in a chipper and basically turned all the limbs, branches, and stumps into mulch. They rounded the edges of this area they've worked on, cut the grass right up to it and basically "finished" the landscaping in that section. And, "overnight" this formerly wasted space has been turned into a beautiful park-like area.

It got me thinking about how God works on our lives. He takes his time and with skillful planning, he begins to clear out the junk from our lives. He takes out pieces of our character (our tendency to lose our temper, selfishness, pride, self-righteousness, or other aspects) and replaces them with character traits that more closely resemble him (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). He changes us over time. Then, before we even realize it, we're different... in more ways than just how we act. We think different, we feel different, we are different.

That's how God develops us... piece by piece... day by day... removing junk and debris... replacing it with his reflection... until we are "finished." Philippians 1:6 says, "God began a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again." God is at work in you... he is developing you... he wants to develop you to be more like him... and he wants you to help others develop, too.

Church At The Grove develops people to follow Jesus and make disciples... maybe God wants to use you to help us do that. You can help with one of our ministry teams to Create the Sunday morning Environment, or build relationships with others by hooking up with a Community Group, or be a part of something in the community to start discussions about God. And, as the years go by, you can celebrate with us as our friends, family, neighbors, and others begin to follow Christ and make disciples.