Loyalty and consistency--Heart to Home devotional

7:24 a.m. Today's project is to prepare for tonight's Heart to Home "Chocolates Galore" class by Wendy Simmons, a chef at the University of California dining facility. Steve will come early with me to church, we'll make sure the kitchen and the classroom across the hall are unlocked, so that Piecemakers quilting and craft group can meet, and then he'll go on to participate in the men's Bible study. Tuesdays are a real blessing at Calvary Chapel!
A Devotional for Heart to Home

Good evening, Ladies! I'm Dana Kruckenberg, leader of the Heart to Home ministry, and let's open in prayer!

Loyalty and consistency

Welcome, and thank you for spending time with Wendy, Suzanne, and one another. I can't wait to get started, but I want to share with you about loyalty and consistency in service to the Lord!

Against the backdrop of financial and myriad other woes that beset Christans, like persecution at work, illness, and tragic losses, I've found ministry to always be a privilege and solace, a blessedly sweet assurance that, as II Chronicles 16:9 words it,

The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal towards Him.

What comfort Christians have received, while awaiting deliverance from a trial, to know that God's favor rests upon those who are loyal to Him, who freely give of their time and treasure to serve Him by serving others, using their gifts and talents to uplift, cheer, and build up the Body of Christ!

Exemplifying the loyalty and consistency that God requires of His choice servants, is Wendy, your teacher! (She didn't know this was coming!!) Wendy, with her faithful helper Suzanne Clough--CLUFF!--who actually helped out while on crutches one year, has taught her Chocolates Galore class every year since the April 2005 inaugural session. We've had chocolates and cookies set out at the sign-up tables as weather permitted for our spring sessions, and even one summer, for about 5 minutes!! After that first August, we figured that women kind of knew what chocolate candy looks like!! I know the pastors miss the tray that headed upstairs after sign-ups...

In every ministry, there are people who come alongside and pitch in with enthusiasm and energy right from the start, without whom there would be no ministry! God can use visionaries to create concepts and leaders to format the structure for a ministry, but someone has to step forward and say, "I'll do it! Just tell me what you'd like me to do." That's Wendy and Suzanne! By the way, my longtime friend Paige here, taught our women a much-needed budgeting class last summer, after years of instructing at Harvest, and I'll be hitting her up again for a class when we start our fall series later on, which she hasn't heard of yet!! [Recognize any other instructors also]

Obstacles and roadblocks get thrown up against all of us who dare to step forward in the Name of Jesus, and this class is no exception! But God is mightier still, like yesterday, when the Holy Spirit told me to get up and hurry out of the $2 movie "Marmaduke" we were watching to give Wendy a call! Turned out God knew there was a real need for a "how's it going?" and "Here's the time you can get into the kitchen" phone call! Wendy, ever the professional, and very well practiced in offering her gourmet chocolate class, is here, and you girls are in for a treat!!

If any of you aspire to perhaps lead a class, open your home for a Bible study, or offer your service in any way to the Body of Christ, look at the examples of the instructors here tonight! Prayerful willingness is the first heart-step! But "counting the cost" of discipleship and ministry, as Jesus put it in Luke 14:28, loyalty to the Body and consistency in service no matter what trials threaten to derail you, are the qualities that will carry you through!

Let the delicious fun begin!