Dealing with Adversity
3.23.10
It's been a while since I've written anything and as I
look at my last entry it was at about the same time that
things stopped going as smoothly as I would like for them to
go. For starters, I developed a head cold. Just
a minor nuisance, not enough to keep me down but enough to
make me want to sleep an extra hour a night. That
lasted about two weeks.
As I got over my head cold, I
developed a cough. Once again, this was a minor
nuisance but around the same time I developed stomach pains.
My personal diagnosis was and still is a muscle pull from
the coughing. I went to the doctor yesterday after two
weeks of having trouble. I was hoping for a muscle
relaxer or even a diagnosis of something to do with my
coughing and something to help me stop. Instead I'm
going to be checked for gallstones beside the fact that I
really don't think that that is the problem.
At the
same time I was finishing up an online class. This
wouldn't have been a big deal except that the school was
having a lot of technical difficulties. I'm the type
of person who understands mistakes happen and that people
are prone to error. However I also expect that if I'm
paying good money for something, I ought to get what I paid
for. When I pay $750 for an online class and there are
19 other students who paid that same money, I expect
problems to be solved swiftly with no concern for the cost
because this is what we have paid for. Instead of
solutions, I only received excuses and apologies.
Last week I had a meeting out of state and returned home
Saturday night. On the way home I hit a chunk of
rubber from a blown tire. It was small and innocuous.
But it was enough to cause me to blow my tire on the
highway. With my spare, I had to get off the highway
and travel backroads the final 80 miles home because I
couldn't go over 50 mph. Within a mile of getting off
the highway I got pulled over. The speed limit had
dropped from 45 to 25 but I didn't see any sign.
Despite having never been pulled over in my life, I got a
ticket instead of a warning - final cost $144.
I
don't write any of this to complain or to receive sympathy.
Instead it is a reminder that we all go through down seasons
in life. Despite my frustrations in the past few
weeks, things could be a lot worse. I was able to
finish my class despite the fact that things weren't working
properly. Although I haven't felt great for five weeks
now, at no point have I felt terrible. And even though
my flat tire ended up costing me a speeding ticket, I was
able to safely get my car pulled off of the road. The
shoulder was wide enough that I could actually pull over and
replace the tire. Before I even had time to pray about
it, someone else pulled off and helped me change my tire.
And even my tire ended up being under warranty so it only
cost me $15 for the wear that I already had on the tire.
It's easy to say that things could have been worse
but that's not even the case. God has been watching
out for me even in the midst of my frustrating time.
Being a Christian doesn't always mean smooth sailing.
What it does mean is that God will be with us during those
rough times and that He won't abandon us.
More Snow
2.15.10
I live in one of the unfortunate areas that has been
pounded by snow in recent weeks. Strangely I moved two
hours south and never experienced a winter up north quite
like this one. Every time the crews get cleaned up
from one storm, another one comes. Schools have been
shut for two straight weeks. The last I heard, they
might go today, ironically President's Day when they were
scheduled to have off.
To add more insult to injury,
they're calling for 1-3 more inches of snow today.
It's not much when compared to the 30 some inches that we've
already received this month but it's an annoyance as much as
anything now.
As a pastor this is more than a mere annoyance.
I had to close church two weeks in a row. This is
in addition to closing the Sunday before Christmas this
year. We finally had church yesterday.
Attendance wasn't bad but some of the elderly I don't
expect to see until spring at this point. I don't
blame them because if there's anything to slip on, it
would be disastrous for them. Of course offering
was up yesterday, but not enough to make up for not
having church two weeks in a row. Almost all of a
church's costs are fixed. Just because church
isn't open doesn't mean that it doesn't have any bills
for that week.
Of course even in the midst of all of
this, God obviously has a purpose. It is frustrating
but every so often we need to be slowed down and to focus on
what really matters. We need to be taught patience and
learn that God is in control no matter what. Even Paul
had to learn this lesson. His heart was in the right
place as he wanted to continue on his missionary journeys.
But while Paul was locked in prison, he wrote a large part
of the New Testament. Some of Paul's most lasting
contributions to the Christian church came during a time
when he was inconvenienced and had to be slowed down.
So,
I don't really like the snow right now and if you're a part
of the 60% plus country that currently has snow cover, you
might not be happy either. But God is still in control
of the entire situation and there is good to come out of it.
God's Newness
1.5.10
In a new year I like to focus on God's newness.
The old has passed, the new has come. January first
marks a time to put the old behind us. No matter how
bad the previous year was, we can say that it was last year
and we are in a new year with endless possibilities.
It's for this reason that I am focusing January's devotions
on newness and things that God declares to make new in the
Bible. Despite my liking of newness, I was very
surprised at something new today.
I live on the east
coast and got two feet of snow a week before Christmas.
Currently the temperature has been dropping into the teens
and single digits overnight and the high hasn't made it out
of the 20's in several days.
All of this left me
absolutely shocked to look out my office window in my
basement and see four irises popping up out of the ground by
about an inch. Even in the middle of winter (actually
only two weeks into it!) I'm reminded that spring is coming.
Soon blossoms will be out in full force and all of the
oldness will be replaced by something new and beautiful.
Of course all of this serves as a reminder of how God
makes us new as well. He takes something that it is
cold and dead and not that pretty and makes something
wonderful out of it. Praise God for His newness!
Bulletin Bloopers
12.7.09
I love bulletin bloopers. They're humorous and a safe
topic to joke about in church. I actually have a collection
of bulletin bloopers on another website.
Yesterday my
wife pointed out that I had made a pretty bulletin blooper
myself. I'm so proud and hope that it means everyone will go
Christmas caroling now:
CHRISTMAS CAROLING: We will
plan on going Christmas caroling on Monday December 21st.
All those who are interesting should meet at the church at
6:30.
I hope that gets everyone in the Christmas
spirit with a good laugh.
Bible Study
11.11.09
Last week was a rather intense week for me. I spent
more time studying the Bible than probably any time since
I've been in school (and actually more than most of the time
I was in school.) I ended up writing three in depth
articles for the theology section of spreadinglight and
wrote over 5,500 words.
When the weekend rolled around, I had the privilege of
hosting my former pastor and mentor of 17 years at the
church. He has retired and is teaching spring
semesters at Jamaica Bible College. He came to my
church to do a Bible study on the life of Peter and his
teachings.
As a pastor, I don't get to be taught very often any
longer. Basically everything I learn now comes in
preparation for teaching or preaching. So I have to
say what a delight it was to simply learn for the sake of
learning once again. It was a true blessing and I have
felt a renewed energy all week even though a 10 hour Bible
study over the weekend took a lot out of me mentally.
Some churches may have better success but I've discovered
that maybe 20% of Christians are involved in some sort of
Bible study program outside of regular weekly church
services. There are many reasons why people are not
and I'm certainly not going to point the finger at anyone
and claim that they are bad Christians if they are not
involved in one. But I would encourage as many people
as possible to find a good Bible study to become involved
in. I believe that it is absolutely worth the time and
energy that a person will invest in one.
