Yesterday was a very difficult day for me. In fact, it was a somewhat difficult week, but that is not what my musings are to be about on a Monday morning. As for my musings …

-My presentation of the sermon yesterday left much to be desired. I had a great early morning time of prayer and a good practice run of the sermon. But I allowed my mind to get twisted about some stuff and it spilled over into my presentation of the message. I am flawed. I, and others, are painfully aware of the fact that I am flawed. I hate when my flaws interfere with the message. The good news is that God is still God and He can speak clearly to people’s hearts when I don’t speak so clearly.
-Attendance was remarkably low in my 10:30 church. My 9:00 church ended up with about our average attendance, but they arrived very late.

-Saturday, I did a funeral for a local family that did not have a church connection. It may seem odd to some of you, but I like to do those. It gives me a chance to meet people I don’t know and to help them at a critical time. Those are opportunities to show the love and compassion of Christ.
-Also on Saturday, I received an early morning message that a person in my church passed away. We knew it was coming but it is still a loss for that family and her friends. We will have that service later this week.
-At my 10:30 church we had our first meeting for those who are interested in serving in our Vacation Bible School. It was a very encouraging meeting. It was encouraging because of the number who have committed to serve and by the enthusiasm and passion to serve the children that was evident. It is difficult not to be enthusiastic when you are talking about VBS with the lady who is our director. This will be her 3rd year of leading VBS and she absolutely loves doing it and loves the kids. She thinks about VBS most of the year. She takes vacation during VBS to give everything she can to the kids and volunteers. It is so much fun to serve with people who love what they do.

-Yesterday afternoon I had a board meeting with my 9:00 church and tonight I have board meeting with my 10:30 church.
-There has been some flu type bug going around recently. It seems weird to me for that to be happening in June. Hoping that it ends soon, too many people have been suffering from it.
-I had a scare on Thursday evening. We had trouble renewing our subscription to some of our office software recently. I thought we had resolved it. Then I got an email just before I went to bed Thursday that said due to complications we would no longer have access to all the office software that we use. That got my attention. I tried to get to some of the programs that we use and I could not use them. It took a few minutes, but I was able to resolve the issue. Then I went back to the program I use for all my writing and sermons. I could not fine my folder with my sermons and I just about finished the sermon for that week. Panic began to rise up within me. After another several minutes, I located the folder and everything was intact. However, I was now wide awake. I believe got about 3 ½ hours of sleep that night.

-This morning mind keeps going back to something in the verse Colosssians 3:12. That we are “dearly loved” by God. What a powerful truth. We, you and me, are “dearly loved” by the one who created us, but the one gave everything for us. It is even more remarkable when you realize that He knows all our flaws, and still we are “dearly loved” by Him.
Here’s hoping you live today with confidence because you are “dearly loved”. Pass it on.

Dennis