Only God can work through situations that seem impossible to human beings.
Like yesterday.
OK — maybe I am exaggerating. Maybe it was not an impossible Sunday. Still it was an unusual Sunday.
Yesterday, while I was attempting to preach, the following happened:
- The air conditioning stopped working. (Remember that I live in Texas and it is late May.) Fortunately, our very fine volunteer who takes care of many of our maintenance issues was dealing with it. At various times, I could see him walking around at the back. I could see another person walking around at the same time. Wasn’t sure if he was trying to help him or not.
- At one point, there was a loud noise behind me as the air conditioning attempted to turn on. (I just remember that this noise seemed to happen twice.)
- Somewhere in all of this there was a loud boom at the back. It happened twice. It seemed to come from behind a wall near one of our back rows. (I later learned that it came from the nursery where one of our toddlers kicked the wall.)
Finally, the message was over. Someone led a prayer during which three cell phones went off. Again, all of this is in one Sunday morning.
The morning ended and people stood around for a while talking. Just as Charlotte and I were getting ready to go home, a man stopped me near the stairs and said, "I want to tell you about a conversation that I just had." He went on to say that the message had deeply touched a woman he had been talking with and as a result she was planning to deal with a situation in her life in a very Christlike manner.
I know that God was at work. Only God could take that morning and redeem it for good. 🙂
God is definitely at work! God can work through us and in us and in spite of us! It might be what you said, it might be what you didn’t say, it might be how you reacted through the entire air conditioner situation. It might be what God said through you. Sometimes God allows others to hear something that we didn’t actually say, but God allowed their thoughts to go that way.
Jim, thanks for the reminder that God works inspite of our efforts. I love that.
Increasingly I’m aware that just showing up is the most useful thing I do. God does all the important stuff, and if I’m paying attention, I get to see it.
Thank you Arlene. This is something I have to remember when I might otherwise react in quite a different manner.
Jim–There is a lot to be said for showing up and for paying attention to what is doing or wishes to do. Thank you.
Jonell–These are very good reminders that are relevant to what happens every day. Thanks very much.
I think sometimes God works in those seemingly impossible moments to remind us that it is His work and not ours. I also think that Satan doesn’t want God to be real to us so he tries to distract us by using things like air conditioners, cell phones and toddlers.
Hey Jim -I read your blog all the time, but haven’t commented in a really long time. Sorry about that.I was out in Abilene a couple of weeks ago for a week with my mom and wanted to make some comments then about something or other you were posting every day, but her computer wouldn’t let me do so and I was bummed about that. But, here I am now.This post on your Sunday is really interesting. It’s amazing how God can work in us and through us when we least expect it. I often feel that way. Like somehow everything is going wrong and I’m the least of the least and then someone will say something to me that let’s me know that God was using me, anyway, to reach them for good. What a JOY that is.By the way . . . I don’t know how long it’s been since you’ve stopped by Finding Direction and despite the fact that I haven’t commented HERE in a long time, I’m always getting "hits" at Finding Direction from your blog! I’ve gotten some today, as a matter of fact. I’d say that I get hits from here several times a week, at least. I find that very interesting, although I have no idea what it means. Just thought you might like to know. You help me out, brother, without even knowing it! Thanks!! Cheers & Blessings to you all today! Dee
Thank you so much for making me laugh. I really needed that! I’ve been preaching for a long time and I love to be reminded that when things are much less than perfect (which in my experience is most of the time) God continues to work. By HIS Gracemh