- I'm so glad we had services today. I hope the rest of you who came are as well. I don't know how many of you made it yet, my guess somewhere around 300 less than the last two weeks. But I am glad that we weren't one of the 700 metro churches that cancelled.
- Enjoyed watching the Patriots going 18-0. Looking forward to the second game.
- The two messages that I have taught in this series have been about areas where I personally struggle in big ways. Today's message about worry .... I wish I could say I was always good at trusting God. Many, many, many of you inspire me in this area.
- I'm really looking forward to Vision day on February 3. Lots of good things to tell you. Mostly I want to talk to you about the new campus at Madras. Easter is just around the corner and we will be ONE church in TWO locations.
- By the way if you didn't hear Glen Burns (WSB TV meteorologist) said we sat a record for snow fall yesterday... (drum roll) .8 inches. That's right less than an inch. It was a scary .8
- We finish this series up next week. It has been one of the best. If you missed today go to the church site and click on Resources and listen. While you are there vote for the drama series on the front page. Come ready to hear the last as we look at "A Better Ending." It's not about heaven - if that's what you were thinking.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
"Snow" Sunday Mind Dump
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5 comments:
Thank you for covering this series. I struggle with worries, esp. since I've been diagnosed with GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) and am currently on meds for that. Im hoping to one day stop these meds, and I know I cant do it without the Lord. I have learned a LOT in this series, and have been working on what I have learned. I truly feel this is one of the most beneficial seriesfor me, as it relates directly to me. Thank you all fo rthe spectacular work ou put into this.
You stated, "The two messages that I have taught in this series have been about areas where I personally struggle in big ways. Today's message about worry .... I wish I could say I was always good at trusting God. Many, many, many of you inspire me in this area."
Do anyone of us have this completely figured out? It can sometimes be like trying to nail Jello to the wall.
The current message series speaks to me at a time when my work has been cut back. There are the initial concerns, call it worry, that immediately surface in the first hours after the reality of a situation confronts us. The temptations to charge forward or run and hide seem to tear us apart. It is in the midst of those moments where we can easily miss God's quiet voice of assurance and peace. The faithfulness of God comes through, if I am listening, in a gentle reminder of where I am at and where I have been that has brought me to where I am at. There have been many reasons for worry in the past and I have not always heard Him in those times. Yet, here I am and He has brought me through and will again do the same, if I let Him. Now if I can only learn how to let Him lead in other areas of my life. That is the journay that lies ahead. That is the opportunity before me. To learn to live in the reality of His Kingdom that is already present but not fully realized.
Maybe that is why the words of Paul have always been an encouragement:
10 [My goal] is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
12 Not that I have already reached [the goal] or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
Phil 3:10-14 (HCSB)
That is something that has always helped me to keep my eyes focused in the right direction. It has not always been the first thing I do but it has become an easier thing in these later years of seeking Him.
May you also be encouraged with these thoughts.
73 - Thanks great stuff.
Ed,
I have loved this series but I still have questions. Doesn't some worry spur me on to plan for the future? I realize worry will not help me if I have a serious illness, in fact it may make things worse. But won't some worry help me get off my duff and plan in case I lose my job (ie save money, get an education, don't buy that house now). Won't some worry help me to lose that weight or stop eating fried foods? Won't some worry make me more cautious driving the car etc? I think you get the point. I get confused between personal responsibility and planning and "don't worry, God will take care of it". I know a few people who made what I considered reckless decisions saying they were not worried because they had faith in God. I realize this is a fundamental, probably elementary question, but I had to ask it anyway.
(to anonymous 1/22 8:08 a.m.) Planning for the future is time well spent and it's something that God commends in many place in the scripture (the book of Proverbs is full of this). The same is true about saving money for the future. So since God encourages us to plan and save but tells us in many places not to worry they can not be the same thing. Planning is looking at goals and with God's guidance making steps and schedules to accompish them. Planning done right actually will help me with worry. But for most of us - or maybe I should say just me - worry is when I lay awake or finding my mind focused on the endless "What ifs". Things that go beyond what I can plan and do. They are the constant thoughts that make me feel like it all depends on me having the "pefect plan" - I have to depend on me. Human beings are made to plan, it's required that we reason and think things through but all plans must have a good amount of space for trust in God. My life is not depedent on me. Worry causes me to think that it is.
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