Prepositional Phrases

I spent some time a few years ago teaching 8th grade English. We spent a lot of time on grammar, which seemed somewhat 'dumb' to the students, but which was essential to learning how to communicate their thoughts in writing. One of my favorite units was on prepositional phrases. We did a few exercises in which the students had to go through sentences, and pull out all of the prepostional phrases, and then realize how important they were to the meaning of what was being communicated. The prepositons clarified the relationship of ideas within the sentence by 'pre-positioning them'; changing, re-positioning, or omitting them changed the meaning . Such little words as 'in' or 'on', and 'by' or 'for', when switched around, were powerful catalysts to communication.

A few weeks ago, our pastor, Jeff Leake, gave a sermon message about pre-positioning ourselves to be in line with God's plan for our lives. In the Saturday evening service, he recapped the 'story' of how our daughter, Leah, and her husband, Brad, purposefully pre-positioned themselves to learn God's Ways, to listen to His Voice, and to trust His Direction, even when it didn't make sense, or wasn't easy. Over the years, I watched Leah take God at His word, not changing it around to suit her own meaning, but waiting and trusting that His plan for her was best, even in times of fear, discouragement and disappointment.

That's one of the reasons why their wedding a few days ago was significant. It was a living representation of Matthew 6:33... seek God's ways first, and He'll take care of the rest. The whole story really does sound like a good romantic comedy/chic flick, but the best part about it is ... it's true.

A good friend, Mary Beth, has a blog posting with a great photo from the wedding, and some of her personal thoughts. Here is a photo of Leah and her bridesmaids. Samantha was Maid of Honor, Ashley was Matron of Honor, and the others were Betsy (sister of Brad), and Megan and Jen (very special friends of Leah)... look at all of those prepositions!!

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

*Click here to listen to Pastor Jeff Leake's message http://www.allisonparkchurch.com/%2ffiles%2fSermons%2fJeff_January_12_Moving_Forward.mp3