Kicks

I tend to get on "kicks." I'll find some new activity and I'll get real gung-ho about it...but only for a while. After a little time, the thrill seems to wane and my kick will be set aside.

For a while it was chess. I remember the excitement of a new chess board, reading chess books, and studying the games of masters. I memorized many of the common openings (Ruy Lopez, Spanish variation is my favorite with white, and Sicillian for black) and I got pretty good...then I got bored. And now, though I play from time to time, the kick is over and my $100+ chess board sits on a shelf collecting dust.

Sketching was another kick. I got the set of pencils, the sketch pads, and the technique books. I've sketched lighthouses, still lifes of vases and coffee cups and I recently started studying caricatures. And now, though my pencils are still used from time to time, there is still that half finished portrait of my daughter that I never got around to completing. The sketch books are shelved next to "Winning Chess Techniques and Strategies."

Last week I started painting rocks. Courtney had checked out a book from the Library and for fun one night I painted a lizard. Larry (the kids named him) appears to be sunning himself and in just the right light he almost looks real! So next I painted a coiled up snake (even more real)! A few nights ago I tried flowers (for the record, the flowers were for Courtney...she wasn't a big fan of the snake). It's a fun hobby...but chances are it won't last for long. I mean, what do you do with painted rocks? Courtney is not totally sold on the idea of decorating her house with tacky art. Not that she hasn't been supportive. After all it was her suggestion to start a rock garden...in the far back corner of our yard. I can't say I blame her. I mean, just where do you put a coiled up cotton-mouth? It's sad, really. I'm sure in the next couple of weeks Larry the Lizard will join the others on the shelf of the short-lived.

Growing weary of hobbies is one thing, but a far greater challenge is not allowing my heart to grow weary of ministering to God's people. At times, pastoring can be exhausting on every level. It's physically exhausting as I'm often going to bed late and getting up early. It's mentally exhausting as I'm constantly thinking, strategizing, and studying. It's spiritually exhausting as I'm often under attack and working hard to fight the enemy. At times, I must admit, I find myself growing weary.

My wife noticed this a few weeks ago and posted the following passage around the house in several places;

Gal 6:9-10 ESV And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (10) So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

What a reminder! And what a promise! There is a HARVEST coming if we continue to work hard in the lives of people! If we keep on loving, serving, and ministering to God's people, we will see fruit! Love, joy, peace (Gal. 5), virture, knowledge self-control (2 Pet. 1). We will see lives changed, people saved, and eternity impacted. And most importantly, GOD will be GLORIFIED! And isn't that so much better than painted rocks?!?

"Our Response To Difficulty" by Deanna

I have been greatly encouraged by my Bible reading over the last several weeks! God's Word is always right on when it comes to what I need for the day or week that I am facing. The past few weeks have been no different. My family has been under incredible pressure over the past few weeks as have many people in our extended family and our circle of friends. That has led to times of deep discouragement and doubt for me. I have been asking God some tough questions. "Do you care, God? Do you see the pain we are in down here? Are you working on our behalf? Have you forgotten mercy in this trial?" The list goes on and on. But God in His greatness is not changed, threatened, or affected by my questions! Instead, He brings me to passages in His Word such as James 1:2-4 that remind me God has a definite purpose. It is to grow patience and maturity in me through the difficulty. He also emphasizes His involvement and care for me in passages like Is. 49:15-16. My name is engraved, as it were, in stone for God! He cannot and will not forget about me!

If I would need more truth, He reminds me of Joseph, who was mistreated and forgotten multiple times yet Joseph chose not to focus on that (Gen. 41:51-52) and instead chose to attribute it all to God's plan for his life (Gen. 45:4-8). This is the view I so desperately need! I tend to focus on the here and now- how difficult something is- how it doesn't fit into what I want! God wants us to be looking for His plan and heart in the matter. I might not understand but I can respond as Paul did. In Phil.4:11 he tells us that he had "learned to be content in whatever state" he was in! Imagine! I don't know about you but I struggle being content even when things aren't necessarily difficult. But when they are difficult? Be content? Not my first choice!
God, help me this week to remember that you have a plan for my pain! You love me and cannot forget me! You are working within my difficulties to produce your character in my life for the purpose of your glory! God, help me not to resist You and Your plan but to expectantly embrace both!