This weekend @ The Gathering we’ll be continuing our present series, “They Promised Me Chocolate” with installment number three.  We’ll be turning this week, applying the Bulldog Principles (never sour, never settle, never stop) to the major disappointments that we’re bound to face.  We’re going to be starting with the disappointments we face from our family.

All of us are members of families populated with messy people. The truth is, people come in one basic size: messed-up.  And we’re all on the continuum between what we are and what we ought to be.  We are fallen, broken, and damaged in various ways.  And we bring all of our issues (spiritual, emotional, and relational) to our families.

Who of us hasn’t been in a situation where our families, instead of being the encouragers and healers that they ought to be, were the very people who wounded us the most?  This is possible mainly because our family is the first place we learn how to trust, or live in suspicion.

This weekend we’re going to be talking about why our families damage us so much, how it happens, and what the solutions are.  We’ll learn how to take the Bulldog Principles of trust and apply them to our family situation.

No matter how dysfunctional your family is, no matter how great the disappointments have become, your family is still your family.  You will never be able to run far enough to get away from their influence.  So you might as well learn the three important ways in which you can bring redemption, reconciliation, and restoration to your family.  It can be done, and you can be the one who starts the process.

Remember at 9:00 and 10:30 AM this coming Sunday, we’ll be talking about family disappointments and how to remove the splinters you’ve received from your family tree.  You know someone who needs the hope and encouragement that comes from gathering together.  The Gathering specializes in God simple; not church complicated and our goal is to help you make the original connection or reconnect to God, yourself, others, and your place in the world.