Calming Influence

So if you saw my last blog post, you know that I was pretty scared about what's going to happen to me and my family in 2010. I'd like to tell you a little bit of how that changed on Sunday.

We go to church in a building that used to be the gym of another church before we bought it. We've retrofitted it with a nursery and Sunday School rooms. The problem we ran into on Sunday was that our heating system couldn't keep up with the coldest day in quite some time in Charleston. We were fine in the main sanctuary. We're adults, we can put up with a little bit of cold. But the kids in Children Church, and especially the nursery, would need to keep warm. On top of that the Nursery was probably the coldest part of the entire building. It wasn't a good idea to keep the kids back there any longer than necessary. So we had our normal worship time and then instead of a time of teaching, we had a short time of prayer.

We were invited to seek out an Elder if there was anything we needed to pray over. I sought out one of our Elders and told him what had happened with my wife losing her job, and how scared I was about the upcoming year. I confessed that I knew I shouldn't be scared, but that in reality I was.

This brother took me in his arms and gave me a big bear hug. He told me head knowledge wasn't going to get me through this, only a real faith, and obedience to God.

My situation didn't change one bit Sunday morning, yet, by the time service was ended I couldn't even conjure up the emotion of the paralytic fear I had been dealing with since we found out about my wife losing her job. Somehow being able to go to a brother in Christ and tell him that I was scared, that I didn't know what was going to happen to me, helped me. Somehow a big bear hug, and being assured that I was going to come out on the other side quieted the fear in my soul. I'm still uneasy about 2010 and I don't have any more answers than I did last week, but the paralytic fear and panic is largely gone.

What's crazy is this is the kind of story I would always hear from other people and be amazed at, but I was always convinced this kind of thing would never happen to me. God is already using this situation to teach me things, to show me how real he is. My situation hasn't changed, yet, my fear is gone. I still don't know how we are going to make it the rest of the year, but I no longer have a bone chilling fear thinking about.

2010 looks like it'll be a bumpy ride, but some way, somehow, we're going to come out the other side.

Good News Story

On the weekends I work in a ministry that teaches children about the Christian faith. Most all of our kids come from great families. I'm positive these kids have already heard everything we talk at home, probably several times from their parents. It's a fairly low risk ministry. I'm confident that if I mess up anything it'll be corrected at home.

What I do is present a story of a Bible character to the group. I do my best to keep the kids attention with a little bit of humor, and sometime even a bit of silliness. Last night we were finishing up a two week story on Gideon. Gideon was a man whom the Lord called a 'mighty warrior' long before he won his first battle. My point in the story was to let the kids know that God saw them, even now, as the great and might warriors they would become for him.

I was about knocked off my chair when they said they saw ME as a might warrior for God. I certainly don't think of myself in that way.

Part of our regular routine is to break the group down into small groups with each adult having about 4 to 5 kids. The children recite Bible verses they've memorized and earn rewards like badges and pins.

So last night I find myself with this cute little girl in my small group. She's the friend of one of our regulars and is very motivated to get some of these rewards. As I begin to work with her, I realize everything we are talking is pretty new to her. One of first verses we learn is John 3:16, and it seemed to me that this precious little girl had never heard it before. It's up to me to present her with the very fundamental truths of the gospel as I explain what John 3:16 means.

I felt an incredible, tangible weight of responsibility as I worked with this little girl. My ministry had suddenly gotten very serious. There was also a wonderful sense of privilege. God was trusting me to impart the story of His love for this child to her.

I did no more than a plant a seed. A seed whose fruit I may never see this side of Heaven.