Just a month and a half ago we moved from northern Indiana to southern Illinois. This, as we knew it would, came with many struggles (can't help but think of the Illinois fans that I have dealt with so far). These struggles started months before we moved with the stress of packing, leaving a church family and a job that I loved and that I felt more than comfortable doing. The anxiety that followed when we considered that our income would change, our insurance would change, our stability, and knowledge of so many of the surrounding elements would change.
I'll take a moment here to mention just how wonderful Kim (my wife) is. She has never questioned the move, the change in jobs, the change in income, or the change in comfort. She has never mentioned that fact that I have taken her (once again) away from all of her friends and have moved here four hours away from her parents. Further, she has taken on so many new duties (such as teaching a Sunday School class), she has taken on new responsibilities (with the additional stress), and she has been my sounding board and listening ear more than I could mention. Bottom line, she's amazing.
One of the biggest challenges for me has been the ability to write a solid sermon every week. And yet, I am not expected to write one sermon, but two sermons (for the morning and evening services). When I stop to consider that fact that every week I am going before people double, triple, even quadruple my age and share with tell a teaching from the word of God, scared is an understatement. The people that I am "teaching" are scholars, executives, business owners, and teachers themselves. At any moment I am expecting one, or all, of the people in the church to stand up and ask "what are you talking about" or "what are you doing up there". Weekly I open my Bible and share a teaching based on truths that are taken from the best selling book of all time, a book that was written by the creator of the universe, the creator of mankind. It is not uncommon for me to ask myself "what are you doing". This is impossible for me! Today a friend of mine reminded me that "God lives in the impossible".
"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)
How do we get through the impossible? I know that for me it is through the daily, sometimes hourly, reminder that God has called me to this task. It is when I remind myself of this that the anxiety is lifted and it becomes a joy to write a sermon. This is because I am no longer studying, preparing, or writing, but rather God that is writing through me, it is Christ that is working through me. When we allow The Spirit to use the gifts that He has blessed us with to bring Him glory and to further His Kingdom it is no longer an impossibility or an anxiety but it is a joy to see it His work fulfilled.
May God continue to be glorified as He ministers and does the impossible through me.
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