I still can't claim that I'm a great preacher by any means, but it's something I've come to love. Can I be honest with you about some things? Preaching is hard... and exhausting. Sermon prep is hard. ("Have I preached this same message already...?" "have I used this illustration before?") Leaving my emotions and attitude at the door despite what's going on in my personal life is tough sometimes. Scheduling out my week is hard too. Ministry is such an interesting beast, but I love it. :)
When my last series ended, I knew I wanted to start another series right away because the flow and build in a series is great, but I wasn't sure where to go. I started to pray about it and bounce ideas off of colleagues and friends. One thing kept creeping into my head, but I kept squashing it down a bit. I'm not qualified to preach on that! Sure, I've experienced it - pretty heavily at times - but how can I do a sermon series on it? What authority do I have? Won't this just be opening myself up for attack?
If you haven't guessed it, my next sermon series will be on spiritual warfare. Why not go into my second year of preaching with a bang, right? God confirmed to me that I am to move ahead in the planning of this series (with the power and authority of Christ!) and it's not been without it's trials already.
I'm aware that ANYTIME I'm doing the work of God, I open myself up to the attacks of the evil one. And I also know that the evil one doesn't want others to know or believe that he's always on the prowl, so of course he's going to target me in the weeks to come. Already this past weekend I had to deal with a situation that was the first of what I'm sure will be many attempts at bringing me down.
Then Tuesday came... it began like any other day. I met a friend and got a workout in, but by the time I got home, my feet were hurting quite a bit. Out of the ordinary. We had only done a mile more than I had been doing, so it really shouldn't have made a difference... or so I thought. By Wednesday morning it was obvious that something wasn't right. I couldn't put any weight on my right foot and I was writhing in pain. So I went right to urgent care to get an x-ray and see what was going on. Fears confirmed... slight stress fracture.
My friend, Allan and I have been doing this 100 mile running challenge to raise awareness and $$ for the prevention of human trafficking in southeast Asia. I was 38 miles (and ahead of schedule) when this injury struck. The evil one strikes where it hurts, doesn't he? How am I going to catch back up? How can I just sit around letting the days pass without adding miles? I had made a commitment to complete this challenge AND a commitment to myself to live a healthier lifestyle. Ugh.
The doctor said it was minor enough to not have to wear a giant boot thing if I would be sure to wear this special shoe and try to stay off of it as much as possible. When I am without pain, I'm allowed to put weight on it, but I need to wait weeks before I can jump back into the 100 mile challenge. That wasn't a problem on Wednesday or Thursday because I was still feeling that initial stabbing pain. Today it's just a dull pain and I've only had to take the actual recommended dosage listed on the Ibuprofen bottle as opposed to the 5 at a time from the previous days. Today I'm tempted to ignore the pain and go about life as usual. One mile couldn't hurt, right? Wrong.
I know I'm a terrible patient. I don't like resting and though I've gotten a lot of work done, I'm BORED! My couch permanently has my butt print in it, or so it would seem. I like to go to the kids' sporting events, but I'm not supposed to be driving at all, let alone that far. Thankfully a friend was willing to drive me last night and it was nice to be out of the house. I'm supposed to play paintball with my kids tomorrow... instead, I get to watch. (Maybe I'll get some good pics, right??) I've had people offering to do stuff for me and to help out, but I gotta say... I like doing things for myself. I'm not good at letting others do stuff I should be able to do. For example... I ran out of pain meds yesterday so instead of asking someone to run to the drugstore, I got in my car and drove myself. It wasn't a huge deal, but by the time I got home, I was hurting. Was it worth it though? Well, I didn't have to bug anyone else...
All of that to say that this is simply another way that the evil one will try to keep me down and prevent me from speaking the truth. I've experienced it before, especially while working with those of Islamic faith, and I'll experience it again, I'm sure. I also know that this won't be the end of the trials. I'm planning a 4-6 week series, so I assume I'll face a lot in the next month or so.
So my plea to you is to join me in praying as this series approaches and for the duration. Please pray for those I minister with and those I minister to. I believe God has a message for us and I plan on delivering that message. Would you stand with me as the battle rages on?
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