Last weekend I enjoyed one of the best trips of my life, spending an uninterrupted 24 hours with my son, Jordan, at his apartment in the suburbs of Chicago. Barely escaping the snow of Iowa on Friday afternoon, I made good time and was embracing my son by about 8:00p. Elated to be with him, I must confess that my heart was troubled, as I had just crammed a week's worth of church work into one chaotic afternoon so that I could make this trip.
Oh, things were done...but I felt, honestly, not very well. I had gotten the bulletin done, made some calls, and put together a sermon of sorts for Sunday, but I was far from happy with the quality of the work. Don't get me wrong, I was certain that the passage was what God wanted, but not certain at all that I had given the message that He wanted. I just wasn't used to having to "produce" on such a tight timeline.
After enjoying supper with Jordan at his favorite spot (TGI Fridays, for the record), we returned home and hit the sack before long, as the day (okay, the week) had been long and we had a big day scheduled for Saturday at the Chicago Auto Show - one of the premiere car shows in the country. It was going to be another long day (although a lot of fun), as after the show we were attending his Saturday night service together, then I was heading back to Iowa so that I could lead the service at my church Sunday morning.
I fell asleep listening to tunes on my phone (in a strange room it sometimes takes unusual things for me to fall asleep) and slept father fitfully through the night until I was startled awake at 7:30...not the kind of sleep I had hoped for before a big day! The house was stone quiet, and knowing I wasn't going back to sleep, I got up, got dressed, found a cup of coffee, and began perusing the books scattered on shelves all around the home's perimeter (he's living in an apartment in someone else's house).
I'm not exaggerating when I say that this family must have had more than 500 books around the house - quite the readers! As I moved from shelf to shelf, I recognized many classics and many others I had always wanted to read, but nothing really grabbed my attention unti...I saw "the book" - a smartly colored book by a man I've read a lot - Andy Stanley.
Within seconds I was sitting on the couch, engrossed in one of Andy's latest works, and God began to do His work. By the time Jordan rolled out of bed an hour later, I had read 1/3 of the book, and God had rewritten my entire message for Sunday!
The title of today's blog is centered on this one idea: some would have thought it crazy to leave Iowa with so much undone - with Sunday around the corner - the weather ominous - me almost totally pegged out in my energy level. I confess, I wondered if I was a bit crazy. Taking off to my see my son totally resonated with the "Dad" in me, but totally conflicted with the "performance" side of me.
Left to myself, I would have told you that what I needed was more time in the office to prepare and finish what was pressing in on me. But what's really crazy is to ever think that all that "stuff" hinges on me. Don't get me wrong - I'm all about being well prepared; but I was reminded through this that there are times when I need to walk away and just trust that the Lord is in control...not me. I still marvel that the Lord took me to the book (out of more than 500 options) that would transform a below-par work of mine into a message that only God could do!
The craziness lies in trusting in me...the sanity lies in trusting in Him. I wouldn't suggest that you presume on this and just blow off the next thing you need to prepare for, but I would suggest that you, as I, work on counting on Him more and on ourselves less. BTW (by the way) - the car show, and more importantly, the sermon went great!
