{"id":6,"date":"2006-06-14T17:31:32","date_gmt":"2006-06-14T23:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamanoffering.com\/blog\/?p=6"},"modified":"2007-01-27T17:45:18","modified_gmt":"2007-01-27T23:45:18","slug":"the-meter-ate-my-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamanoffering.com\/blog\/the-meter-ate-my-quarter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meter Ate My Quarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking, “Wait a minute, I thought I came across a blog on worship and music.  Why in the world does the title have to do with downtown parking meters?”<\/P>
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I chose this title because today the parking meter in front of Mrs. Murphy’s Irish Gifts ate my first quarter I tried to put in it.  At first, I was really frustrated.  I was frustrated with the parking meter, I was frustrated with the city’s maintenance of the meters, and I was frustrated that I wouldn’t be able to have any time in the meter to park.  But then I thought, “Try another quarter.”  And it worked.<\/P>
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There is a passage from Phillipians 2 that Paul wrote that deals more with worship than we realize.  The passage is this:<\/P>
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“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life\u00e2\u20ac\u201din order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.” Phillipians 2:14-16<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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We can worship God through doing things “without complaining or arguing.” First of all, there was no need to complain about my quarter.  I’ll forget about it in two days.  There is no need for us to complain about small stuff that doesn’t matter in the eternal scheme of things.  There is no need for us to argue about trivial things, when we could be advancing the Kingdom of God.<\/P>
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Secondly, as teachers, like Paul, we would like to say of our students, disciples and worship teams that they indeed “shine like stars” as they “hold out the word of life” so that our <\/STRONG>labor is not in vain.<\/P>
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We exist to be offerings first of all to Jesus, our God and Savior, but secondly to be offerings to those we lead and serve.<\/P>
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I hope this blog can help us all do that just a little bit better.<\/P><\/p>\n