Serve People

People are more important than plans.

In fact:

People are the plan.

A chat on the steps

We are programmed by everything we've ever been taught to achieve.  We have been brainwashed effectively to know that in order to achieve we must have a plan.  So far so good.

The trouble is, it seems that sometimes (maybe even often) God isn't very interested in our plans.  Now we aren't saying this is true for everyone, and we really do value the training we've had in plan-making.  We are just saying that we don't get to use it very often in the normal, expected way. 

People in the house

People don't fit.  We are awkward shapes in the jigsaw puzzle of life, leaving blank spaces and sudden transitions away from the picture everyone else is building.  No plan we have ever made has happened: almost always because of people. But then, God sends us to people, God brings people to us.

People in the garden

So we have found that one value we need if we are to serve God in the way he wants us to is the people one.  Jesus was constantly stopping for individuals.  He ate lunch with them; he had long conversations with them (even if they weren't 'stratigic' people); he cuddled the babies and took his disciples fishing.

So, there are days when we don't get anything done, but somehow those are the days when we go to sleep with our hearts full of people, carrying joys and sorrows, experiencing hopes and fears.  We think that maybe those are the days when our chaotic lives are most touched by God.