Stressed

This morning my wife and I had the privilege to worship twice. Both were online. First we worshiped with our congregation in Columbia, TN, and then with our son's church in Mitchell, IN. Both were occasions to rejoice and extol God's praiseworthiness and majesty. When listening to Phillip's sermon in Columbia, the idea for this blog formed in my stressed-out brain.

I have had bloggers block for several days and have not published. Phillip's lesson was on the stress in Jesus' life. I won't repeat his points. Please refer to the online feed of that  sermon for an excellent 6-point message (West Seventh church of Christ).

Of course we all know that stressed backwards is desserts. We think of stress as negative and dessert as very, very, very positive, if possibly somewhat unhealthy. I was given a timely example about stress while waiting for the worship to go live.

I tried numerous times to add a comment or join the audience...all to no avail. Those minutes were increasingly stressful. Have I mentioned I don't do well with stress, and that patience is not my strong suit? That was not my finest moment. Then the sound didn't work. That took the tech folks at the building awhile to figure out. Finally the songs they posted had an echo issue just as they had the previous week. I know how hard and long this week they worked to solve that issue. I'm guessing Satan was active in all those stress points to discourage us. It worked but only briefly. Everything was made right and the worship was inspiring.

This morning's frustrations and this blog took me back to a decade ago. It was toward the end of a two week road trip out west with a colleague. We had concluded several days in Yellowstone National Park. As we were leaving the park via the East Entrance, I hydroplaned my Nissan Sentra on some black ice. The skid occurred as we approached a sharp curb at Cub Creek. It was perhaps the most stressful and terrifying moment of my life. We ended up off road down about 10 feet in a snowdrift. For all the details too numerous to mention here, I refer you to my blog of May 27, 2010. After that episode I started believing more than ever in guardian angels and God's intervention in our lives. His miracles have not ceased!

off road at Cub Creek in YNP

When things don't go as expected, I need to remember WHO is really in charge. Let go and let God. Turn to HIM and all is well. Reflect upon Matthew 6:34 (MSG)...Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Thank you, Lord!