Ok, so I’ve been a bit out of touch lately. I had a lock-in with my students for New Years and it was great. It wasn’t a traditional lock-in and I’ll be writing about it later so I can give the justice it deserves. When the kids were home from school I spent most of my time at the house so my wife wouldn’t have to deal with it all on her own. I tried to do work at the house but with 4 kids I ended up getting about half a week of work done over 2 weeks so I was pretty well swamped when I got back into the office. Add to that my internet has been real sketchy at the house and I was hardly even tweeting much less writing blogs.
Yesterday was the crux of the crisis. I had a meeting that was following up on the lock-in. That was fine and dandy as far as meetings go but I really don’t like meetings and having one on a Wednesday is just doubly annoying because I have stuff to do for service. During the meeting I received a call but let it go to voice mail. After the meeting I called back and found some frustrating news. Then I called my wife because we were going to lunch but she had forgotten and was just finishing lunch with a new friend of hers. My dad has been letting me drive one of their extra cars because the van is acting up, but the battery was shot so I figured it wouldn’t take long to replace and ran to do that before lunch. The alarm apparently engages when you disconnect the battery and must be disengaged after you reconnect the battery. Unfortunately I didn’t have the remote so I had to wait for my mom to be able to bring it out to me so my 15 minute job turned into an hour long job. Then I decided to run to the church and get the youth building cleaned up and reset for service real quick before I ate lunch. I got the upstairs done and then ran down to clean the bathrooms only to find a burst pipe. I eventually got it repaired but not until I had to lay in frigid water. During this I got another phone call that frustrated me. Anyways, after I fixed it and turned the water on one of the toilets wouldn’t stop running and another wouldn’t flush at all. The repair was quick and easy but it drove me over the edge.
By the time I got home I was fuming and nothing could get me back on track. I wanted to just cancel the service because I knew it would be wild and obnoxious being the first service after Christmas break. I prayed, tried to psych myself up, and my wife wanted to help but I was feeling depressed. Any one of those things wouldn’t have phased me. Any two or three might have irritated me, but the avalanche was overwhelming.
When I got to church and walked into the youth building it was like a switch flipped. I was excited and joking around. It was wild and obnoxious but I laughed and had a good time. My sermon topic was “Jesus for the broken and diseased.” I spoke about some of the healings Jesus did, specifically Matthew 8 where he healed a leprous man by touching him. I had a different illustration prepared but the events of the day and my own attitude and the switch when I walked in. The reaction at the end from the students was very impressive.
Come Holy Spirit, but please on my schedule
Murder at the Piedmont
Some more info on my newest sister in Christ
Young and Old Warms my Heart
Highs and Lows
Sorry it has been so rough.
Thanks
Hang in there…you sound like an awesome YP.
BTW…I think plumbing emergencies are works of Satan, I’m just sayin’.
Thanks, and yeah it seems like every plumbing disaster I’ve ever faced it at the worst possible time in the worst possible circumstance. I had a pipe freeze and burst when we were without power and temps were dropping to the single digits once. I had to crawl through 6″ of water in the crawl space to repair it. Fortunately I have a wet suit and wore that so I didn’t get hypothermia. The devil must love pipes and crap.
Wow, rough day, dude. I’m glad to hear the youth service went well and that God pulled you through the avalanche. I’ll keep praying for you, Nick
Yep, God is always good and I appreciate the prayers.
I was wondering where you were. Glad to hear a little of your world, sorry it’s been sucking. Sometimes a hundred mice nibbling away is worse than being trampled by an elephant.
Okay so the old adage “when it rains, it pours” is so true. And it seems like a spirit can only take so much. I love the words in one of Natalie Grant’s songs:
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http://p.rhap.com/Tra.18354891
You would think only so much can go wrong – Calamity only strikes once
And you assume that this one has suffered her share – Life will be kinder from here
Sometimes the sun stays hidden for years – Sometimes the sky rains night after night – When will it clear?
But our hope endures the worst of conditions – It’s more than our optimism – Let the earth quake
Our hope is unchanged.
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Anyhoo, glad you caught a break in spirit in a good way. I just prayed for your youth ministry.
Mostly it hasn’t been the suck it has just been hectic. Most of Wednesday was horrible but God used it to setup this amazing service. More than anything I could have done so it was worth it.
That day sounded like a country song for you Nick. I’m glad to see you didn’t crack under pressure because it’s so tempting to sometimes, I know for me, throw up my hands, hide and want to get away from people.
Keep up the good work and stand firm. I’ll be honest, I’m lazy, if I’m tired after work, I won’t go to Wednesday nights to help out with the youth.
And then my dog left me … yep just like a country song, which is why I don’t listen to that stuff. I am so grateful to my volunteers because I know they have to be exhausted. A couple of the guys commute so the get up long before the sun and work hard all day then show up to help. I don’t know how to thank them enough.