Time to Refresh

What a week. Last Sunday we concluded one of our bigger friendship events of the year. A winter storm had us scrambling a bit but we still had a very successful event. Meanwhile a few friends had challenging crises so I spent the first part of the week trying to support and encourage them. At home we put a finish on our wood floors which necessitated moving out of our house for two days. While out of our house the worst snow storm in the past 20 years hit the Seattle area and we had difficulty just getting back home.

Our brand new heat system at our church facility stopped working and when I took the service person into the auditorium I stepped into a pool of water. Yes, the cold temperatures caused a water pipe to burst and half of our auditorium was under a couple of inches of water. Much of our sound equipment also got soaked.

After professional plumbers and clean-up crews got the mess under control, I worked with a handful of volunteers to put our auditorium back together so that we might worship on Sunday, just in case anyone could drive to church as we continued to have snowfall for three days in a row.

Sunday morning the weather was so challenging that the musicians couldn’t come nor could our children’s workers. We held an unplugged worship gathering with me leading the acapella singing of Christmas carols and worship songs and then preaching a sermon to about one-third of our normal Sunday attendance.

Sunday night I reflected on the previous seven days and took note that the “personal tank” was pretty low. I already canceled all my Monday activities and took the day off. I spent about an hour shoveling snow out of my drive and just marveling at the beauty of the snow that had complicated so many things over the past few days.

Over these days I experienced grace, favor with people, guidance and provision. Still, those blessings don’t put an “S” under my shirt. With the insight of input from my wife I could see that I was emotionally getting into the “red zone”. Now I’m looking to lean into God and do some slowing in my pace in order to refresh.