meditatio at the water's edge

So I got to deliver a message at Jenison last Thursday night. For what it's worth, I'll post the manuscript here. Torie said it was like two sermons in one. Maybe it's a sign that it's not that good, but I think there are a few good things inside. If I can get the comment stuff up, I welcome your comments.

Here's one part of the message...
God doesn't look for the most gifted or attractive people to cooperate with his purposes--God is looking for a few people who simply want to cooperate with him in his plan to bring healing and wholeness to the whole world.

A friend of mine mentioned to me that we might be doing a disservice by praising people who have seriously screwed up their lives and then turned their lives around to follow Jesus. This makes people feel bad if they haven’t made serious mistakes in their lives because they don’t have a dramatic testimony.

What an awful thing it is to make people feel like they should have done something dumb like drugs or gambling or murder so they could have a more entertaining testimony.

If you are someone who has felt bad because you have been blameless among the people of your time, I just want to bless that and say that God is pleased with you.

Noah was honored not because he thoroughly screwed up his life, but because he was righteous—because he walked with God. There are people among us who don’t have dramatic testimonies except for the shocking fact that they have walked with God their whole lives.

But God invites everyone to be a part of his family—remember God’s purpose is for the healing of the whole world—alcoholics, drug addicts, adulterers, thieves, murderers, and even good people! God invites us to play our part in our generation as his cooperative friends.