::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.

::WELL KIDS SPACE PREP

Well Kids will be expanding into some new space!  On Monday 3/28 we will be getting the area ready for painting and moving in.  We will need as many helping hands as possible.  We're meeting in the current Well Kids space at 6 p.m. then we'll head over to the new space and get to work! 

::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.  

::SERVICE OPPROTUNITY 

Saturday, March 26th - 6:30 - 9:00 @ Big Ben Homeless Coalition

We'll be playing bingo with residents of the Hope Community as we help with their game night.  Contact Shaun O'Leary at 850.491.0897 or oleary.shaun@gmail.com if you're interested in attending! 

::ADOPTION SEMINAR

Saturday, April 16th - 9:00 a.m. @ The Warehouse (register here) 

If you're interested in adoption or finding out more about adopting, now or later in your life, join us along with our adoption ministry partners Bethany Christian Services.  We'll be holding another Adoption Seminar in June as well!  

::YARD WORK

The Well is responsible for the lawn and yard work upkeep for the entire complex at our Capital Circle Warehouse location.  If you're interested in helping out one day a month, let matthew@thewelltallahassee.com know as we get a rotation together to help keep the place looking great!  Grass has to be mowed (we have riding lawn mowers), weeds have to be wacked, and bushes have to be trimmed. 

::MARK YOUR CALENDARS  

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.   

Easter on the Moon: Sunday, April 24th, 11:15 a.m. & 6:00 p.m.

Good Friday Prayer & Communion Service: Friday, April 22nd, 6:30 p.m. @ The Warehouse 

by Morgan Frick

"Crossing the Line" 

So, I work with kids.  It's what I do, and it's what I love.  Experience has shown me that children will push the limits.  If there is a line, a child will get as close to it as he knows he'll be allowed.  In the case he crosses the line, and does receive a consequence, he will whine.  He will complain, saying that it's not fair, or that he doesn't deserve to "be in trouble".  He might even throw out the extremely kind "I hate you and wish I was never born!"  In the case he doesn't actually cross the line, it's highly likely that he will try to persuade the adult into bending the rules, or making some sort of exception.  Generally speaking, most children dislike, and don't understand the reason for rules and limits given to them.  Such things are seen as unnecessary impediments to FUN!

There is a piece of that child in me.  Something (the sin living in me) makes me want to push the limits, to get eminently close to that line I know I am not to cross.  I want to eat the fruit, if you will. 

A while ago, I crossed the line big time.  And it wasn't a one-day thing.  It was a life I chose to lead for about 3.5 years.  I grew up in church, knowing full well what God desired for me and what his boundaries were for my life.  But after years of rigidly living life according to His rules, I began to doubt that His way was best.  I told God I didn't like his "rules" or guidelines for my life.  It was unnecessary to have such things.  God was being quite the fun-sucker and I wanted to do things my way.  After all, I know myself well enough to know what is good for me and what makes me happy, right?  Wrong.  Anyone who has ever strayed from God, or been apart from him could tell you this, but it was awful...and awful is a huge understatement.  I have never been more terrified, or felt more alone and hopeless than I did when I turned my back on God.  I have never been so miserable or unfulfilled.  I have never been more hurt.

Several painful things happened to me during that time as direct results of my own reckless disobedience.  Although they were all consequences for my own actions, they honestly made me kind of upset with God.  Very upset, actually.  If God really loved me, he wouldn't allow me to feel such heartache, or allow such awful things to happen to me.  If God cared, I wouldn't cry myself to sleep at night, and I wouldn't be so depressed and lonely.  God obviously did not care at all. Oh, what a narrow understanding of God!

Although it took me much longer than it should have, I did finally return to God and give him control over my life.  I look back on the painful situations I found myself in, and I can see God's hand through all of them.  I can see him guiding me, holding me, calling me.  He let me go, but he never took his hand off of me.  I understand now that sometimes the Lord has to break us to a point that we have nothing left to do, but to call on his name.  I know that there has to be consequences for my sin, because sin is what separates me from God.  He cannot be in the presence of it, because he is blameless and holy.  God uses my mistakes and my shortcomings for his glory.  Not to mock me, or make me feel inadequate, but for his good.  Where I am weak, he is strong.  How beautiful is that?!  I know now that I sorely misconceived God's heart for me.

The Lord disciplines those he loves.  We are God's beloved children.  It is because he cares so very deeply, that he gives us boundaries.  He gives us limits because he wants us to live fulfilled, not in search of more.  Outside of his boundaries I am like an errant dog...wandering aimlessly for something to fill me.  When we run from him, or break his commands, he does not discipline us to be vengeful or because he "just feels like it".  He disciplines us because he loves us and wants what is best for us.  He wants to live life with us, not apart from us.  We receive consequences for our actions not because God is mean, but because he is just and holy. His patience and consistency are revealed through his loving discipline.  He is so very good to us.  He delights in us, and wants us to be faithful to him, not our own flesh.  He must discipline us!

As I grow with the Lord, I learn to love his law and his way.  I do not understand God's reasoning for everything that happens to me or that I have to endure, but I know and trust that He is good.  I know that when I screw up, there will be consequences.  I will fall, but it will be into his arms.  Coming back to God, I was ashamed and hated that I was flawed.  My verse during this time came from 2 Corinthians 12:9.  "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Wow. What a beautiful Savior.

I'll leave you with this verse: