I was reading my Bible this morning. It was the part right before Jesus was betrayed by one of his best friends and then killed. He’s experiencing agonizing sorrow, so he does the only natural thing. He prays. Jesus is in such turmoil that he asks God, “If there is any way, get me out of this.”
Have you ever felt like that? I know I have. It’s usually the result of something I’ve brought on myself. Then I usually take it a step further and say, “”And if you get me out of this, I’ll never do it again. I’ll never get myself in this situation again. I’ll do things differently next time,” only finding myself repeating the same mistakes again.
I find comfort in knowing that Jesus understands the pain we humans sometimes go through. He was human, too, after all! But even in his humanness, Jesus was able to go on to say, “But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?”
I hope God can give us all the faith and the strength to say, “It’s not about me, God, and about what I want. It’s all about you and what your will is for my life. Reveal yourself to me. Help me feel your presence. And then tell me, What do YOU want?”
You know, you’ve got to keep a positive attitude when you’re the pastor of a brand new church. You have to be able to deal with rejection, many times on a daily basis. You’ve got to have a high tolerance for uncertainty and personal sacrifice. At the same time you’ve got to possess a lot of self-confidence and perseverance. I guess the same can be true for most human beings, regardless of their occupation or station in life. We all have a choice to make. Will we see the glass half full or half empty?
My friend Tim sent me an email that reminded me that when we are feeling less than positive, even downright discouraged, God has a positive answer for our situation. Let me share some of God’s promises with you:
When you say, “I can’t go on,” God says, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need.”
When you say, “I can’t figure things out,” God says, “Trust me from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for my voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; I’m the one who will keep you on track.”
When you say, “I’m not able,” God says, “I can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.”
Sometimes we just need a reminder of how great is our God!
Well, our temporary page for our website is up and I’m so excited. The full site should be up and running in no time. In the meantime, let me fill you in on what’s been going on.
We had a wonderful time at the Mansfield Pecan Festival yesterday. I think our clowns and their helpers passed out at least 1000 balloons. Nearly 500 people filled out a card for our free raffle. Gift certificates to several restaurants as well as Target, totaling over $100, were awarded to one lucky winner. Nearly 500 of our business cards and New Day Calendar of Events flyers were handed out. We got the word out that New Day is the new church in town. Many, many thanks to Pam, Tim, Laurin, Dagmar, Patrick, Becky, Cindy, John, Shannon, Ashleigh, Sandy, Hal, Rachel, and Russ who worked to make this ministry event a success!
I’m trying to make a final decision on a site for our future worship gatherings. I’m leaning toward renting an existing church on Sunday nights. There’s one not too far from the Methodist Mansfield Hospital. It makes sense since they already have the worship space plus a nursery and children’s classrooms. If that doesn’t work out, I’m going to look into renting out the Mansfield Activities Center (MAC) for Sunday nights. The downside here is that we’d have to go out and purchase a sound system, computer, projector, equipment for the children’s area, etc.
I’m in the process of interviewing people for our worship/music leader position. Music is such an important part of any worship gathering that we want to take the time to find just the right person. Other than that, I’m spending my days out in Mansfield trying to meet as many people as possible. If you know of anyone who might want to be on the ground floor of starting a brand new church from scratch, give me a call. I’d love to contact them with more information.
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