You all know we are covering the book, The Calvary Road by Ron Hession. And, it appears so far we are taking it chapter by chapter. So, if last week we covered chapter two, then it was on to three today (Wednesday). Today, Robby Cavinder, our Children’s and Youth Pastor led us on the subject of fellowship (Chapter 3: The Way of Fellowship). I certainly hope by now that you’ve been to at least one of the last four meeting and got a copy of the book so you can follow along, even if you cannot attend each week. I like the fact that we are blessed to have Robby’s wisdom be imparted to us. If you haven’t heard Robby speak, you are missing out. Just because he is the youngest in the group doesn’t mean we can’t learn from him. God doesn’t look at age; he looks at the heart; Robby shares with a genuine transparency. He has taught me quite a bit. Here are a couple of today’s tidbits:

We all need a right relationship with others before we can have a right relationship with God.
Fellowship is not just knowing others but having them know you – the REAL you. Transparency is critical for a right relationship – not the typical small talk about sports or the standard answer of “great” to the “How are you doing” question.

Out of the six questions we had, here are a few for you to ponder:

What is the biggest barrier for you when it comes to fellowship?
Time, other priorities, listening, judgmental, fear of being judged/rejected, fear of intimacy.
How do you relate to the definition of sin as given by the author (“sin always involves us in being unreal, pretending, duplicity, window dressing, excusing ourselves and blaming others”)? Aren’t you at least one of those with at least one person in your daily life?
Anything that comes between you and God is sin. We must feel comfortable in order to share with authenticity. Opposite of blaming others is accepting responsibility.
What would it take to for you to have authentic fellowship with other men?
For me, personally, duct tape (I talk more than I listen).
How can we pray for you?
For me, personally, I am going to the Bay area this weekend. I will be seeing my friend, Art and his parents. They are Jewish. Art’s parents have not seen me in 9 or 10 years so they do not know the re-born me. I am looking for ways to let Christ’s light shine without being overbearing. One suggestion was I talk about Psalm 22.

Please think about your answers and write them in your journal. If you are on this list and you do not get to come to Men of the Path it would be great to hear from you. You do not have to email me; what I would prefer is that you logon to http://www.uberlumen.com and give your comments to Drew (want to take a BIG step; how about asking Drew to post how we can pray for you?). While there, peruse the site; Drew has a lot of great information on it. You will not be disappointed. And, as in any relationship, this “one-way” conversation can be improved by your participation. If you want to know what we talked about, I will be sending some answers from our session directly to Drew so he can post them on Uberlumen. Thanks in advance from going to bystander to participant.

Your brother,
Dave