By Chip Cash. June 15, 2011. BLOWING ROCK  -- Each Tuesday morning, the Men's Connection meets at Chetola Mountain Resort & Spa, Blowing Rock, for breakfast (7:30 am), fellowship and Bible study. Blowing Rock News is pleased to share these weekly meditations.  During the summer, our discussion leader is Mr. Chip Cash, Director, Search Ministries of Charlotte.

Prayin', Carvin', and Whittlin'

June 14, 2011

It was not a normal morning today at The Men's Connection. We spent a little time talking about prayer, and then we did something really crazy: we prayed. We thanked God for our time together, for His Word, and we prayed for some of our brothers who were not with us because of family illnesses or other concerns.  Then some hands shot up with other prayer requests, so we returned to prayer. We prayed for the prayer requests.  We prayed for family members. We prayed for folks connected in various ways with the Men's Connection.

It was not a normal morning, but it was a great morning.

In his book, The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard says, "I believe the most adequate description of prayer is simply, 'Talking to God about what we are doing together.'"  Well, that is what we did Tuesday morning; we simply had a conversation with God about some things that were on our hearts and minds.

We talked about prayer -- and prayed so long that we didn't even get to our study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 4.  But we'll circle back to that next week.

Instead, Chip shared a story he had heard from a friend.  His friend was walking up the steps of an old general store.  Wanting to impress the older gentlemen sitting on the porch with knives in hand, he confidently asked, "What are y'all carving?"

One of the men stopped the whisk, whisk, whisk of his blade, looked up to eye the stranger and said, "Son, you don't know the difference between carvin' and whittlin'.  Carvin' is when you are makin' somethin' out of nothin', and whittlin' is when you are making nothin' out of somethin'."  He looked back down and resumed pushing his blade at the wood again, saying, "We're just whittlin'."

Chip shared that every morning he puts a small pocket knife in his pocket, and prays: "Lord, what needs carving in my life today?  And what needs whittling?"

There are things, people, and situations in our lives that need carving.  They are nothing, but they could be something.  There are others that need a bit of whittling.  Praying (talking to God about what we are doing together) helps us figure out which is which.

What about you?  What needs prayin'?  What needs carvin'? What needs whittlin'?

Come join us on Tuesday.We're just a bunch of guys figuring out the answers to the three questions above, together.  Next week, June 21, we'll be talking about a woman at a well who encountered a guy named Jesus.

Comments: