The end of a chapter

Today is a huge day!  Pam is finished with radiation!  Now before you think I'm already straying from my purpose of talking group life and leadership, hang with me a few minutes.

Back in March, we got the diagnosis that Pam had stage 2 breast cancer.  After first being told it was small, contained and would be relatively minor, further investigation revealed that it was a "bigger deal."  Short story - 6 chemos, surgery, and 30 radiation treatments later, we are finished with treatment.

Now here's where the community stuff comes in.  In 2002, while serving as Minister of Spiritual Development at FBC Smyrna, our staff began to explore this whole "small group" thing.  Pat Hood, Smyrna's Lead Pastor, really challenged me to become a student of the small group paradigm.  I was clueless, but took the dive.  Fast-forward... I've spent the last 4+ years doing lots of listening, writing, teaching, and dreaming about what true New Testament community looks like.  This year, I've experienced it.... no, really experienced it.

As word began to spread about Pam, we began to hear from not only close friends, but also people we hadn't talked to in years.  Then, people in our neighborhood began to stop and say, "this is what we want to do for you," rather than the obligatory "let us know if there is ...."  

I wont bog down in all that we experienced, but I will mention one thing that Pam and I both learned.  We talk about how important it is to give in our groups.  We talk about giving (tithing) as part of worship, and we talk about giving to our community.  Interestingly enough, Pam and I found it very difficult to receive.  At some point, it clicked with me that if we didn't receive, we were in effect "stealing" a blessing from others.   We learned that it was important that we simply said "thank you for thinking of us" and receive what our friends were doing to serve us.

Maybe this doesn't connect with anyone else, but it was one of the many lessons that we learned in this process.  Community is giving, growing in grace, laughing, being vulnerable, and yes, sometimes, it's receiving.