So, these days our home has a few more people in it. For a pretty cool reason though - we’ve gone from 2 to 5 kids in the last 2 years. For those of you not aware of our situation, we entered the adoption process a couple years ago here in NC and on the final day of our home study for approval, we found out we were pregnant. At 40. With… a baby. Yeah.. CRAZY. We were hoping to add an older girl or girls to our house of boys, but instead we had a baby. Awesome, but definitely was a little change for us. So then, we put the adoption on hold. BUT we COULDN’T SHAKE the call to adopt. So, when our youngest reached about a year old, we re-entered the processes for foster to adopt. It was such a great process as we now have 2 beautiful girls with us and are getting very close to adoption being finalized. So, 5 kids, now and it’s awesome. But I am noticing that around dinner time that my kitchen isn’t quite big enough. No, I am not talking about food prep. We’re good there. It’s actually about physical amount of people IN MY KITCHEN. I’ve got my older boys and girls looking for samples of food as I am getting it together and my youngest opening EVERY cabinet that exists and pulling our EVERY thing possible. It’s crazy. Now, you must know this. I LOVE THESE KIDS. But on occasion, I need them to well… just … it’s hard to say it. Please…. GET OUT OF THE WAY! I am trying to make dinner!! Again. LOVE the kids. But there are occasions when I need less folks in the kitchen so I can get dinner on the table. SO, I’ve realized that I need to get them less IN the way and more ON the way WITH me. Seems simple right? Well… it is. I’ve started giving them jobs to help with the process and they - of course - all pitch in, because they’re awesome kids. It’s a really well-oiled machine these days and even the little guy gets a job. The same kind of thing exists in our faith life. There are sometimes when we as Christians can stand IN the way of the faith for others. When we seek our own pursuits in church, when we crowd inside the walls forgetting those on the outside, and when we set our own agenda first, we can get IN the way of others seeing God’s grace and feeling God’s mercy. The best way to keep from being IN the way is - you guessed it - getting ON the way. It’s about finding your role, your place, your calling in the ministry. Church is NOT about buildings and programs. Those are nice and all, but they are just vehicles for the gifts of God to come to life. YOU. YOU are the GIFT. So how might God be calling you to stop being IN the way and get ON the way? What gift do you bring to the table that you can use? Even as you might think you’re not gifted enough to help, believe me, YOU are! There is a place for you here. Come. Serve. YOU are the CHURCH. John 14:5-14 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.