Man, what a week... It was terrible this week. Work has been horrible. I've not been feeling well, both from the weather changes we've been experiencing and the stress that the job has been placing on me. I was feeling down about my Sunday School class. I've been discouraged about participating on our Praise Team.
Keep in mind, I know work isn't THAT important. No one dies when things go badly at work. So, I try to keep a little perspective. However, it's very much that everything that gets done is controlled by me, so when things go badly, I'm responsible. Likewise, while parts of Sunday School have gone very well (we have a solid core group, the Romans study has been going well, etc), other parts are really suffering (we're losing a lot through moving, people are busy having babies, etc). We're shrinking rather than growing. “Is it the style of teaching we're doing,” I'd ask myself. Finally, while I love to sing, I've known for a long time that I'm not very good. It's easy to get down about it when you hear really great folks...if you're sensitive to it anyway. In fact, I thought about not showing up to Praise Team rehearsal this past Wednesday.
That's when God gave me a gentle nudge (ie, slap to the back of the head). It was one of those, “No. Go.” kind of moments. OK, fine. I did. It was great. Our team leader asked if anyone would like to say a word of encouragement to anyone else. The first person did. She called out my wife and I for being a friend to her daughter. Wow. That was cool. The second person stood up. She said she was also going to talk about us and our family. Holy cow! That's really getting overwhelming. At the end of the service, another person came up and said that they had wanted to say something too, but they thought having three people all talking about my wife and I might be embarrassing (which, it would have been). But they wanted to tell me how they appreciate the effort we put into Sunday School. Wild! I went from being discouraged and not wanting to go, to completely ENcouraged about the very things I was most uneasy about.
Then today, God reminded me that He's the one running “my” Sunday School class. I have no reason to be disappointed if it's small or if I can't see things happening. We had very nice couple visit today. We also had another young lady approach me about sending her husband my lesson notes. Sure, I said. Turns out, he's in the service in Iraq. Not only does she want the notes, but she wants to record them for him so that he can be up-to-speed on where we have been in the class when he gets done with his service in the summer (if I understood correctly).
Isn't that wild?!?! In one week, God reinforces the things He wants me to do - teach & sing. He brings a new couple to our class when I think it's shrinking and my notes will wind up IN IRAQ!!!
Anyway...God's cool. He's good to remind us that He's in control. He's awesome to sew, stitch and weave the events of our lives together to His glory and our benefit.
Later.