Yesterday, Ruben Garcia, a man in our PromiseGroup, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the pituitary gland.  I went and visited him in the hospital and he was having severe headaches.  Last night was our scheduled PromiseGroup meeting.  The night that our small group gathers for hanging out and Biblical discussion.  However, when someone in the group is going through a very difficult situation, you throw the original plan out the window and respond as a family.

Small Groups are not a Bible Study.  They are sets of relationships; therefore, when you have a need in the group and you respond to it by not following the plan of a Bible Study/discussion, you are not ruining the group.  You are actually following the real plan.  The real plan is to be a family.  Families respond in time of crisis.  They stick together.  Last night, it took a few moments for that to sink in, but we realized soon, that the issue at hand was much more important that discussing the sermon from Sunday.  In fact, we had an opportunity to live a sermon instead of talk about one.  So, we planned meals and thought about ways to serve our family member.  How could we provide for financial concerns they have?  How can we take care of their kids while treatment is being done, how can we feed them and give them rest?

We have planned out meals for the next few days and we are helping in other ways.  We are the first responders as his ‘family’.  Being in a small group is so awesome.

When in doubt…serve someone.

+robin