> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.belonging.house/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # I will stay - URL: https://www.belonging.house/i-will-stay/ - Published: 2026-09-08T23:08:59.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-08T23:08:59.000Z - Description: I herd cats and would rather be alone with a book. Growth only comes when you stay in relationship, even when it's hard. - Author: Christ John Otto I will stay in relationship 9826 1021 0:00 /1905.214693877551 1× I will stay in relationship with others who are passionate about Jesus. Anyone who has tended a fire knows that sometimes a piece of wood or a coal will fall out of the fire and it will begin to grow dim and it will become cold. The only way to keep this from happening is to poke up a fire and keep it all together. Push it back in and the coal begins to burn again. Of course, the problem is fires are hot. And burning hurts. When you gather a lot of highly sensitive and creative people together, and you begin to see sparks fly and heat created, those highly sensitive and creative people want to flee. And when you flee you begin to cool. Of all the Twelve I wills, this is the one that is the most difficult. Staying in relationship and staying close to other people. I make the joke that "I herd cats." And there is truth in it. And I should know because I am the chief cat. Like Greta Garbo, I just want to be alone. There are many days that I say to Peter, it's not good that I am in ministry, because I hate people. I am very happy sitting in my room reading a book, working on a project, or writing. Writing especially is a solitary exercise. You cannot write in a group, and you cannot write with disruptions or destractions. Most artists and creative people just want to be alone. But being a disciple cannot be done alone. You have to come into relationship. In our readings today we have three examples of this. Ezekiel is told that if he flees from his call to be a prophet the blood of those who need his warning will be on his head. Paul tells us in Romans that our chief debt is to love one another. And Jesus in Matthew give us this familiar passage about confronting others about their sin. I want to briefly unpack this, because it says a lot about the Kingdom. Many people think that Jesus is giving us a series of rules we must follow in order to bring order in the church. I have lived in several Christian communities where people tried to do this as a system. Every time it failed. The Kingdom of God is not a religious club where we follow the rules. Before Jesus tells us about going to someone who has sinned against you, he first tells them about the one sheep who has gone astray. The context is God's unbounded mercy. And then Jesus follows this with the story of the unmerciful servant who refused to forgive another servant after he had an extreme debt forgiven. We can't take these things out of context. The emphasis here, and everywhere is that we are all wandering sheep we are all in need of forgiveness. Blessed are the merciful for you shall obtain mercy. The more love you give the more you will receive. I mentioned last week that most folks in the independent charismatic community believe that church is a fun religious club that you attend in your leiesure time. This is a leisure activity and you do this for fun. And the minute it stops being fun people head toward the door. There is better music and more fun at the one word verb church down the street. I quick "Zest" and now I go to "Verve." Have you been to "Vroom" church? How about "Vibrate." When you run from one ministry to another you will never grow. Growth only comes when you stay in relationship. There are no solitary Christians. Listening to podcasts or reading books will not replace interacting with other people. This is why getting into a fire team is so important. The basic framework is very simple. It is simple on purpose. You meet with one or two other people and you say, what has been your source of consolation and your source of desolation this week? What is your source of gratitude and what is your source of pain this week? And you listen to one another. This isn't group session, this is learning to share life with someone else. And then you go to the Bible together. And you learn to listen to the voice of Jesus. And then you listen for one another, and you talk about what God is saying and you pray. Just like Matthew 18, this isn't a set of rules, this is about developing a relationship with one or two other people. And two things are going to happen. You are going to get annoyed and irritated. Any time you get close to another person they are going to get on your nerves. They are going to have little blind spots that make you crazy. They are going to have habits and beliefs that are obviously wrong to you. And you will discover that if you want to stay in relationship you have to give up the idea that your job is to fix them. And you will also discover things that you really love. And you will discover something really important. Love covers a multitude of sins. You can only find this out if you stay in relationship. You can only find this out if you keep walking with other people. I have been shepherding my herd of cats for a long time. One of the things I have learned is that the ones who have made the biggest changes and the ones who have seen biggest transformation are the ones who stayed in relationship. They stayed. Even when things were hard, or when things were uncomfortable. The point of Matthew 18 is that that if we are humble and in relationship and we come into agreement with one another, there is no power on earth or in heaven that is greater. There is power in finding the lost sheep. There is power in forgiving. There is power in making relationships right, and staying in relationship. We are all in this together, and staying together is the most powerful thing in the Kingdom. I will stay in relationship with others who are passionate about Jesus.