Wedding Wow!*

When my oldest daughter was getting married, she decided to wear Anita’s wedding dress. Anita and I were honored and thrilled that she would wear the classic gown from 1990. Anita pulled it out of its storage box and had it altered by an incredibly talented seamstress. The puffy sleeves were removed and made more fitting like 2019. The train was adjusted and the bodice was fitted to Mary Allyson’s frame. Just before Mary A was going to leave the Brides’ Room, walk out the door, and down the stairs to the outdoor venue, the bridesmaids stopped and circled around the bride to say a prayer. Her lifelong best friend and maid of honor, eager to join in the prayer, walked around behind Mary A and accidentally stepped on the train.  The 30-year-old fabric ripped loudly at the waist. Her friend felt horrible. Panic was about to ensue because the music had started and the nuptial clock was at T minus 5 and counting.  At that moment Mary A’s hairdresser and friend, Brian, who would also be singing as Mary A walked down the aisle, stepped in with a needle and thread from his “emergency kit.” As he quickly stitched the compromised vintage bridal gown, he calmly and softly sang a hymn, putting the bride and whole party of Bridesmaids at ease. He hid the repair, tied off the last thread and everyone walked down to the venue where the wedding guests had no clue of the incident that could have wrecked the big moment. The tears that flowed that day came from joy and not anxiousness or disappointment. 

The Apostle Paul tells his favorite church at a moment when anxiety was running high amongst the congregation, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 ESV) With a calm prayer or calming hymn, God can change our perspective of any situation. When we recognize that Immanuel, "God With Us," is present, a flood of peace and comfort overwhelms us, and the feelings of upset are washed away. It just took one believer in that bridesmaids’ room to bring peace by turning the focus from the distressing incident to the One who is always glad to be with us. 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Rhythms of Rest*

There was a time in my life that I had just moved to a new city to become a senior pastor of a church. I had 4 preschoolers. I was preaching 3 times each week, doing all the hospital, homebound, and grief visitation. I was officiating a funeral or two each month and trying to write a newsletter article each week. I had also committed some time for some local pastors to help mentor me a couple of times a month. I joined the deacon’s meeting each month and often helped clean up the restrooms when the toilets overflowed. We had also started a Summer Day Camp to reach the kids in the neighborhood.  During that time, I rarely slept through the night, at least one of the kids was awake at some point and when I would put them back in their bed, I fell asleep on the floor of their room waiting for them to finally get easy. I was often up early writing the next sermon because there was always a sermon needed. To say that I had no rest or margin in my life for those years was an understatement. I had no energy to bring my best self to my family or my church. When I shared my plan with the church board to focus more energy on Sunday morning and mid-week and drop the Sunday evening worship, they replied, “Preacher, we are paying you for 3 sermons a week,” though no one on the board attended on Sunday nights. 

Solomon, the wisest man to live on earth warns, “Over-work makes for restless sleep.” (Ecclesiastes 5:3 MESSAGE)  We can exhaust ourselves in so many activities that we never rest. We can spend our lives in a meaningless race for fleeting temporal rewards that we may make our exhaustion sound spiritual. Psalm 127:2 reminds us, “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat — for he grants sleep to those he loves.”  Our real sufficiency comes from how much our all-sufficient God loves us and provides for us not from our own endless efforts to satisfy the expectations of the people around us.  As it turns out, rest in our lives is as important as our activity.

God has emphasized a rhythm of regular rest in our lives from the beginning. In Hebrew thought, the day begins at Sundown, so our days actually start with rest. Genesis 1:5 says,  “And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.” For God to start with evening, means He blesses creation with rest first, then He blesses us to bring our rested self to our tasks during the day. He also gives His people a rhythm of rest each week. He prescribes six days of work and one Sabbath day of rest. God’s rhythms in creation were the best model for us all.  Genesis 2:1-3 (CSBBible) says, “So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.”  How are you doing with your daily and weekly rhythms of rest? 

Hang in there people. God is glad to be with us. I’m praying for us all.