::MID WEEK PREVIEW

Check out this week's Mid Week Preview, featuring our Director of Excitement James Parsons and our Lead Pastor Dean Inserra  here.

::TUTORING

The Well is gearing up to help support tutoring programs and efforts at Godby High School and Palmer Munroe Teen Center.  If you have an interest in helping lend your talents and some time, fill out this information and interest form (form is here).  Return the form to Heidi Schaff, who can also answer any of your questions, at heidi.schaff@gmail.com.  

::MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Sunday, March 13th - Membership Information Meeting, 3:30 p.m. @ Warehouse (register here) 

Saturday, March 19th - Personal Finance Seminar, 9:00 a.m. - Noon @ Warehouse (register here) 

Sunday, March 20th - Baptisms during all three service (register here) 

This Summer, The Well will be embarking on our first International Mission Trip to Colombia.  If you missed last week's informational meeting, be sure to check out all of the information here.   

by Heidi Schaff

Born on 3rd Base 

For those of us unable to go on the upcoming mission trip to Colombia, don't forget that there is enough poverty and desperation right here in Tallahassee to keep us busy all year long. I'll admit that the "poor" in our country seem to be a very different kind of poor. They don't live in huts, they have access to vaccinations and public education; some even drive better cars and have nicer clothes than I do! They often receive government benefits from our tax dollars, but squander cash assistance instead of getting their lives on track. It can be pretty frustrating for those of us who work for a living.

Let's back up... after the Great Depression, the responsibility of caring for the poor began to shift from churches to government aid programs. While that may have been necessary at the time, since then, we've become comfortable with keeping the poor at arm's length. We have no responsibility to them except to pay taxes. Then we complain about the outcomes - corruption, dependency, and abuse, and we resent the poor. We think: Give me a break! I've earned my way to where I am in life. I wish they would just TRY harder! A wise uncle of mine has said: "A lot of people mistakenly believe that they have hit a triple, when actually, they were just born on 3^rd base." The fact is, we have not earned our blessings, including our ability to obtain a good job; we've been entrusted with them. Our circumstances have been dictated by God, for some purpose.

Poor or not, our ever-changing culture teaches us to value material accumulation and impressing others.  We're all plagued with the same greed, envy, and lust - all sin which separates us from God. We are well-fed, but yet malnourished; our closets are full, but our hearts are empty; we are constantly entertained, but have no joy.  Our culture is desperate for something that fulfills.  We who have been so blessed are in no position to judge... we need to intentionally be COUNTER-cultural.

Jesus told us not to judge. He didn't ask us to write a check. He didn't ask us to talk the talk and walk the walk for a couple hours on Sunday or for a couple of weeks over the summer in China. He said that when the day of judgment comes, if we did not clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, feed the poor, and care for the orphans and widows that we didn't care for HIM (Matthew 25: 31-46). This was not intended to be the government's responsibility. An expression of Christ's love through a relationship is more effectual than a welfare program can ever be. Living a daily missional life and being generous with one's heart is what Jesus implied by His example, explicitly instructed His followers to do, and it is what He expects from those who love Him and want to know Him.

Often as highly-functioning, middle-class, tax-paying Christians, our planners are packed (even with church related obligations) but... if the hungry, the imprisoned, the widows, the orphans, the sick, and the elderly aren't on our calendars, neither is Jesus. There are a variety of opportunities available to us regardless of personality type, season of life, and occupational choice. We must prayerfully and intentionally seek our place of service whether it be at a homeless shelter, a senior center, one of the dozens of nearby prisons, at a local high school or teen center, or in your own neighborhood. It isn't complicated but I believe it is required for a REAL relationship with Jesus Christ.