THANK YOU PATRIOTS! (extra entry)

This may sound very stupid and very worldly to some, but the Patriots pretty much “made my day” yesterday.

The Sunday morning events at church (leadership prayer, coffee & fellowship time, Sunday School, and 10:30 service) were O.K. but not particularly outstanding.  Since we’ve just gone through one of those periods of a few people saying, “I’m offended about (fill in the blank) and I’m leaving the church”, and since ours is a very small church anyway, it means coming out to minister to a pretty empty room.  Several people were missing from church which made it a really empty room.

Pastors are told they should not be spiritually or emotionally impacted by walking out to minister to a really empty room.  The fact is 90% of pastors ARE badly impacted by it.  I know the numbers are that high, because I talk to my colleagues behind the scenes.  Even though they may SEEM all positive and confident on Sunday mornings, I’m telling you, during the week behind the scenes, if numbers are down, they’re affected.  I was trying not to notice the mostly empty room during the service, but I gotta tell ya, it wasn’t easy.  We also needed a minimal amount for an offering yesterday.  I made the mistake of really setting myself up because I kept thinking “if we don’t get such and such a figure, we’re in real trouble”.  I actually DID think we’d get “that figure”.  Well, we didn’t.

Also, have you ever had someone make an offhanded remark who had no idea the remark was cutting through you like a knife?  Well, that happened after the service yesterday.  Instinctively, I reacted to the person.  I didn’t yell or make a scene or anything like that, but suddenly and WITHOUT THINKING, I made a very “passive/aggressive” comment back to him.  Over the next few minutes, I was feeling really guilty that I’d made the “passive/aggressive” comment.  So, I went up to the person and said, “Look, I know what I said was kind of inappropriate and I’m sorry I reacted like that.”  I even quickly shared some of WHY I’d reacted the way I did, and I could feel my voice cracking and my eyes watering up.  (That DOESN’T happen with me too often.)  Amazingly, the person gave me a mini-lecture about that if I was really a good Christian I wouldn’t think or act that way.

Honestly, ten or fifteen years ago, I would have gone home, composed a resignation letter, made some phone calls to friends in other parts of the country asking if they knew of other churches open, and been a complete bear to my wife and family.   I have no plans to write the letter or make the calls, because I know God wants me in Framingham right now despite the drop in church attendance and income.  I WAS pretty negative and depressing to be around for about an hour, but it pretty much passed.

I DID spend some quality time in the Bible and in prayer during the afternoon, which I really needed to do.  It may sound stupid, but I said to God, “Lord, I just NEED something today.”  I didn’t know what the “something” would be.

I watched the Patriots game, and into the 4th Quarter it was getting to be a real nail biter.  As we were into the last part of the 4th Quarter, with the Patriots losing, it pretty much had the feel that it was going to be a Chargers win.  I began to feel a little disappointed that this would be the end of the Patriots season, but I also felt proud of them that they’d taken us to the playoffs and really done a GREAT job this year.  The thing I most respect about the Patriots is that these guys just DON’T QUIT!  These guys give their all until the very end.  Well, they didn’t quit yesterday!  Those of you who saw the game saw that one “good” field goal by the Patriots and one “missed” field goal by the Chargers meant that the Patriots won the game and will continue on towards the Super Bowl!  As I was yelling “YES!” at the end of the game, I realized the Patriots gave me the “something” I needed to turn my day around!

The Patriots also provided me the example to keep going and giving my all, NO MATTER WHAT!  The devil is “charging” at me and at our church in Framingham.  The devil is not going to win!

“...and having done all, to stand.”  (Ephesians 6:13)