As I listened to this sermon and the various stories you told, I found myself drifting back to instances in my life conjured up by those vignettes. And isn’t it interesting that it’s not necessarily the times when things were going well that really surfaced, but rather how many times things did not end up the way I had envisioned. Wow. That’s a crock pot full of some funky eats for sure. So rather than going on too much about that, what all of a sudden flashed into my mind were the words of one part of the Vanessa Williams song “Saved The Best For Last” which said “Sometimes the very thing you're looking for is the one thing you can't see.” Now, that early 1990’s song was really about a relationship where obviously the perspective was “Hey, you’re dating all these other people, and I’m right here in front of you.” But in this case, I’d like to apply it to serving God. Usually there is more than enough need, i.e., service opportunities, right in front of us, and not just at church. So may we take a deep breath, exhale, and realize that we might not get what we “want” in life or in service, but rather realize that what we truly need and what God wants from us may just be to serve where the largest need exists right in front of us. Because isn’t that bringing a bit of “heaven to earth” when we exercise the privilege of our giving? A bit of real, “measurable change” as we like to talk about in our church family and even in our own neighborhoods? An extension of your earlier words of “blessed to be a blessing”? So the challenge to myself, and maybe for all of us, is to let the crux of your sermon, fulfilling our ambition, be found with serving where the obvious need exists right in front of us, if we’ll just open our eyes a little more, and maybe listen a little differently to where “God needs to show up,” and in a hurry. Amen.
As I listened to this sermon and the various stories you told, I found myself drifting back to instances in my life conjured up by those vignettes. And isn’t it interesting that it’s not necessarily the times when things were going well that really surfaced, but rather how many times things did not end up the way I had envisioned. Wow. That’s a crock pot full of some funky eats for sure. So rather than going on too much about that, what all of a sudden flashed into my mind were the words of one part of the Vanessa Williams song “Saved The Best For Last” which said “Sometimes the very thing you're looking for is the one thing you can't see.” Now, that early 1990’s song was really about a relationship where obviously the perspective was “Hey, you’re dating all these other people, and I’m right here in front of you.” But in this case, I’d like to apply it to serving God. Usually there is more than enough need, i.e., service opportunities, right in front of us, and not just at church. So may we take a deep breath, exhale, and realize that we might not get what we “want” in life or in service, but rather realize that what we truly need and what God wants from us may just be to serve where the largest need exists right in front of us. Because isn’t that bringing a bit of “heaven to earth” when we exercise the privilege of our giving? A bit of real, “measurable change” as we like to talk about in our church family and even in our own neighborhoods? An extension of your earlier words of “blessed to be a blessing”? So the challenge to myself, and maybe for all of us, is to let the crux of your sermon, fulfilling our ambition, be found with serving where the obvious need exists right in front of us, if we’ll just open our eyes a little more, and maybe listen a little differently to where “God needs to show up,” and in a hurry. Amen.
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