Good afternoon PPN Family,
A few weeks ago, we had our annual Waterworld Connect 4, and I think It's definitely one of the best ways to kick off the school year! As I stood frying sausages, I couldn't help but look out at the incredible diversity within our community. We represent many countries and cultures, yet we come together as one big, vibrant family.
Recently, at Lyfe group, (it’s a fortnightly get together with a bunch of youth where we do life together, and learn more about Jesus and our relationship with him) we looked at something we all have had experience in: arguments.
Many of us shared stories of conflicts at work or within our families and what struck us was that the root cause often boiled down to misunderstanding or miscommunication. We realized how easily our differences in perspective can lead to friction if we don't take the time to truly understand one another.
We then whipped out our phones, as all youth usually do, and for the next 20 or so minutes completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Afterwards, when we got our results, we went through our little paragraph about our personality and spent time learning about our strengths and weaknesses. This insightful personality test highlighted just how unique each of us are and prompted us to reflect on how these differences, rather than being obstacles, can actually be our greatest strengths.
In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 Paul writes: “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we all serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.” This passage reminds us that our differences are not accidental. We were created to be different and to work together.
My prayer this week is that as we continue to understand and appreciate the uniqueness of our wonderful PPN community.
Blessings,
Pr Andy.
