Musings of the Minstrel

I was just with one of my favorite people on this planet, none other than Pastor Doug Morgan. The man makes me laugh everytime I am with him. Most of the time when we are together we cut up but every once in a while we get serious (5 minutes max). Doug told me about a situation that has developed in the town where he is pastoring. In his city there is a "gated community" that was built a few years ago during the California housing boom. There was so much money to be made that investors started buying homes in the valley. These investors never intended to live in these homes. They bought them and rented them out to people who would never be able to buy a home in a "gated community". According to Pastor Morgan, a tremendous problem has developed inside the "walled subdivision". What was built as a safe place to raise one's children has been negatively effected by the lack of "home-owners" in the "gated community". The renters seem to care very little about the property and with the economic downturn keeping the place up is not very high on the "to-do list". The gated community is filled with people with no real commitment to the community. The home-owners are absent and were just in it for the money. The environment within the walls of "gate-land" has changed drastically and property values are falling rapidly. What a sad situation! What areas of your life and ministry are special enough to have walls and borders? What investments have you made within the walled places of your life? Are you allowing things to dwell in your heart and spirit that have no real place in the life of a child of God? There will always be opportunity and excuses to allow things inside the walls of safety, but we must be sure to ask ourselves, "What happens to my ministry if I allow this in?" "How will my home be different if I allow these; people, events, thoughts, entertainment, etc. into my life?"

So, Doug thanks for the 4 minutes (we didn't even get to 5 min) of serious thinking. It made me stop and do a little inventory for the future environment of my life, my home, my church and my ministry.