Iron Rose Sister Ministries

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Published: 13 September 2013

I once heard that calories at potluck's don't count.  Don't we all wish that were true!  But we all realize that the best fellowship and community building happens over food.  Quality family time is obtained sitting around the kitchen table.  I can't think of any Christian friends with whom I haven't shared a meal or at least a cup of coffee/tea.  We are made for relationship and one of the best ways to do that is over a meal.  The early church understood this well and embodied hospitality in who they are and how they communed together.

I will leave you with Acts 2:42-47 and the challenge to share in community, over a meal, with your Christian family sometime this weekend.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47 NIV)

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Published: 12 September 2013

It's Throwback Thursday, so you're going to get a story...

Years ago, during my grade school years and even through high school, my parents worked with the single adults at the South Baton Rouge Church of Christ.   Dad was the deacon and there were many Saturday morning waffle gatherings, homemade ice cream cranking after a barbecue or other such activities that brought the single adults together in fellowship and in the context of a family.  The four of us girls looked up to those individuals and we also had a built-in audience for our antics.

Being the oldest, I remember more of the people that came through the ministry and married, moved away, or made a lasting impression on my life.

I remember one such individual, Maryellen, who started coming to church with her sister.  After a time, she started dating this guy, Brian, whom she later married.  I didn't know them well, but I do remember them coming to meet with my parents for premarital counseling.  Their memory of me was of an obnoxious high schooler.

Fast forward several years to 2007 as I am moving back to the US after living four years in Venezuela and twelve years away from Baton Rouge.  I have returned to Baton Rouge as Women's Campus Minister and am prayerful that God will provide some relationships outside of the college students through which I will be blessed and can bless others.

A month or so after my move, a ladies' Bible study group begins at Ms. Wanda's on Tuesday or Thursday nights and I decide to join.  We later became known as the Twisted Sisters, but that's another story for another day.

One of the first nights after the study, Maryellen and I start talking about something, which turns into a several-hour-long conversation in the middle of the street.  Ms. Wanda later told us that after she watched the news and turned out the lights, she wouldn't have been surprised to find us out there still talking come morning.

Now that more than six years of friendship have passed, I believe we could've stood in the street talking until morning.  We were no longer the obnoxious high schooler and "just another of the single adults in the group."  We were Twisted Sisters and BFFs, provided by God to bless each other's lives with a friendship that will continue to last a lifetime.  She is one of my original Iron Rose Sisters.

Thanks, Maryellen, and I'm glad I get to spend time with you while in Baton Rouge!

P.S.  You know it's an awesome friend when she shops according to your crazy food allergies, picks you up at the airport, insists on hosting you, and fixes you an amazing dinner of foods you can eat!