THE STUFF OF LIFE

"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

A close friend of mine who happens to be an elderly pastor said he was profoundly affected some years ago by a conversation he had with a female missionary to Papua New Guinea. My friend has often struggled with trying to deal with the mundane details of everyday life which seem to get in the way of the work of the ministry. My friend even hates the whole shaving, showering, and exercise routine of each morning, saying he could be so much more productive for God if he didn't have to waste his time with that business each morning. Honestly, I've often felt exactly the same way! His conversation with the missionary, however, was eye opening. She said that at least half of what she and her family did in Papua New Guinea and in America, in fact, had nothing specific to do with active full time ministry. It was preparing meals and tending gardens and washing hair and cleaning house and on and on and on. She called all of this, "the stuff of life" and said that as committed evangelical ministers we all have to come to grips with "the stuff of life" much as we may not like it.

In the Bible there's actually a lot about "the stuff of life". In 2 Kings chapter 6, a young man lamented to Elisha the prophet about a borrowed axe head that had flown off the handle and into the water. In Luke chapter 15, Jesus talks about the "lost coin" and "lost sheep". My friend the elderly pastor freely admits that he's a perfectionist and that this has caused him some pain and frustration in life. I am also a perfectionist. Like my elderly friend, I like to have all my i's dotted and my t's crossed. I like to have "all my ducks in order". I like it when all is right with my world. When I feel things are in chaos, well, I can't begin to tell you how horrible that feels.

I lived a real life nightmare a few days ago. It was Friday. In the "window" of time between 2:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. I had "a million" things to do. To use a favorite phrase of mine, I was "running around like a nut". One of the "million" things I needed to do was to go to the Framingham Public Library, check my e-mail, and send off a couple of important e-mails. I have to enter a lengthy number from my Framingham Public Library card to use the computer. As I always do, I pulled out my wallet, then pulled out the card and entered the number. I lay the wallet on the table next to the computer. About twenty minutes later, I rushed off to BJs Wholesale Club to hand out flyers. Typically at least several times a day, I kind of take a private inventory of what is on my person. I want to make sure I have my wallet, my change purse, my keys, and my cell phone. As I was handing out flyers, during a lull in the action, I did that inventory. NO WALLET! I was a bit surprised and figured I must have stupidly left my wallet in the car. Making a quick apology, I went out to the car to get the wallet. NO WALLET! In the past three years, I have maybe lost my wallet five times, and each time it's been found within an hour and usually within ten minutes. This was scary. Suddenly it hit me. I'd left it at the library!

According to my watch,it was now 5:10 p.m. and the library was CLOSED. I phoned my son Jon, a library employee, asking if there was any way I could get into the library and get my wallet. He was quite unsure, but thought there was a CHANCE a maintenance man could be in there. I felt like an absolute fool, but I clocked out at BJs saying, "I'm really sorry but something's come up!"

I am not proud of this but I was depressed and semi-hyper-ventillating as I drove to the library in very heavy traffic. At the library, I went up to the door and indeed saw a maintenance man inside. I pounded on the glass door. He motioned his hands that the library was closed. I yelled at the top of my lungs, "I LEFT MY WALLET! I LEFT MY WALLET!"

I don't remember being that hysterical since I burned my hands on the heating system of our old church building on a weekday evening and some firemen came in to rescue me. I remember yelling, "SIR," at them, and just yelling and "talking ragtine" I was in such shock. Well, on Friday I was not much better. The maintenance man came to the door. I explained what happened. He assured me he would go up to the reference room and look for the wallet.

The maintenance man was gone for a good ten minutes. That made me nervous. He returned empty handed. He told me he'd combed the computer area and there was no wallet there. He said some librarian may have locked it up in a safe place and that I should return on Saturday morning. How did I feel? I felt like I was in that scene in the film, "The Wizard of Oz" when the doorkeeper comes back and tells Dorothy and her companions, "The Wizard says, 'Go away!'".

I called a friend for prayer. He told he he had a great Christian song he wanted to listen to and that he would play it for me over the phone.

"I don't want to hear any songs!" I said, "I just can't listen to any songs right now!"

What an awful feeling. Yes, I have been known to lose my wallet for five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, and once over the past year for about an hour. But ALL NIGHT?! No ATM Card. No I.D. No Driver's License. No family photos. No supermarket discount cards. No official Assemblies of God Ordained Minister card. Nothing.

Loss. Loss. The big issue I've been struggling with over the past few years. Loss. Here is was again. Loss. What if I went to the library on Saturday and there WAS no wallet in the safe? What if I needed a new driver's license? I'd have to use my Passport, find a copy of my birth certificate, find who knows what else for an I.D. What a nightmare! I did have one weird dream that night although it was not as weird as the real life nightmare I was experiencing.

Now, I had to work at the answering service around 7 hours on Saturday. I am not sure how I got through that first 90 minutes on the phones before I got a break and could go over to the public library. At the library I went right up to the reference room. I explained my plight to the librarian.

"Oh, yes," she told me, "your son was just up here talking to us about that. We have checked and there is NO wallet here. I'm sorry. Check at the front desk downstairs".

I did go downstairs.

"Oh, yes," the front desk librarian told me, "I heard about that wallet, but we looked and we DON'T have it."

If I had a really bad heart, I'd probably have keeled over dead right about then. Suddenly, the librarian at the INFORMATION desk, not to be confused with the CIRCULATION desk said,

"I THINK I know something about that wallet!"

She went into a back room. In about two minutes, she walked out with MY WALLET!

"It was turned in yesterday," she said, "And I put it in the safe."

Even as I write these words, I feel like bursting into tears. I will never think of Luke chapter 15 quite the same way again. I am not sure why God allowed this to happen, but I'll never preach on Luke 15 without making this story my introduction. Is God really trying to get my attention about the plight of the lost? If so, I think He has succeeded!

The stuff of life. Yeah. We just can't get away from it. It can drive you crazy. And, you know what, God is there in the midst of all the nightmares you can experience with the stuff of life!