Blessed Coming in and Going out

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Deuteronomy 28:6 - You will be blessed when you come in and when you go out.

Deuteronomy 28 has some amazing promises for those who are obedient. I've always found verse 6 to be an interesting promise.

Recently a long time volunteer told me he will no longer be able to play worship on Sundays. He has been playing faithfully at Redemption Church since 2005. When he told me the news of his departure I have to admit my thoughts were as follow...

"Oh No!  You can't.  What am I going to do! Have you prayed about this?  Oh My... that's a lot of rehearsal time walking out of the door.  That's a lot of personal investment walking out the door.  Our musical excellence is going to be taking a hit. It's going to take a while to build the team back up..."

I thought all of those thins in an 8 second span... Then I remembered Deuteronomy 28.

It's easy to bless someone as they are coming into your life, your team, your church... Often times things don't end well... I mean that we don't necessarily bless them as they leave. That is a shame and God doesn't want it that way.

We should bless people as they leave.  Leaving my team shouldn't be a criminal offence, nor should I take that personally.

Here is what I told my friend. "You have been such a blessing to us.  I can't look anywhere in this church without seeing you and your family. Your fingerprints are all over God's kingdom here. I understand you need to leave. Thank you for telling me. It's been an honor to have you on the team."

We are going to be taking some time on his last day to honor his service and to live out Deuteronomy 28:6.  We will have an all team volunteer meeting to build a culture of blessing people as the come and as they leave.

• What do you think?
• How do you deal with departure