Up To The Plate!

This is an article that Rolland wrote for today's church bulletin. It was written from the heart and I thought it was really good, so I thought I would share it on our blog.

A letter to my family,

In light of the imminent changes that lie before us, it is imperative that we search our hearts, for the best, most God-driven response.

In my thoughts and prayers leading up to deciding to accept a new position in a new town, many different thoughts immerged. I thought, 'Why would I want to even consider leaving my home, my church family?' I pondered the possibility that if I did leavemy home and ministry perhaps some terrible thigns could happen to the church family that I'm leaving behind. 'What if some people stop coming because we left? What if people use our leaving as an excuse to leave themselves?' More than that, 'What if the Sunday school program falls, and the parents with young children choose to abandon....' What if, indeed! Could I even consider leaving with presence of such 'what ifs'? The more I dwelt on these thoughts, the more I thought of saying "no!" to the possibility of leaving. The I began to pray. I started asking God to give me peace in my decision, to give me wisdom and discernment to make the right choice. Above all, I asked that He would help me trust Him! That's when it dawned on me that perhaps I was looking upon this situation with the wrong set of eyes.

I discovered that there are two ways of perceiving this situation. The first, like I had been, dispairing and uncertain. The second, in faith and deeply trusting God. Do we believe that God's small church in His Kingdom here, is going to fall apart, or that a ministers absence is detrimental to the work that can be done? I refuse to believe that our little church here is not able to handle this difficult time! The other way we can look at this is as though God has deemed us worthy to face the challenges that lie before us! We know that God will not give us more than we can bear! It's in this thought that I came to the realization that this isn't a 'what if' situation, it's a 'what now' challenge. If, in fear of the 'what ifs' I chose to stay, then my prayer for trust would have been in vain. (More and more, this is sounding like a defense for our decision. It is not the intention of this article to defend my choice, there's no need. Your support is unparalleled. Yet I find it necessary to affirm that there are no worries.)

Certainly there are questions and concerns! Rightly so, there should be. We should wonder about the possibilities, we should think about the implications of the changes that lie before us. And instead of saying 'what if' these things happen, we ought to say what now? How can we trust God's working and His plan for our little family? More than that,what can we do to enhance the work for the kingdom here? There are may works that need to be done here and providentially many people capable of doing such works. So we can look at it as though there will be great suffering and fallout, or great challenges and victory! I too, am challenged by the impending changes. I too see that there is work to be done before these changes happen, and I too will step up to the proverbial 'plate' to meet these challenges being pitched our way.

This is a time for great unity and mutual effort, without fear and distrust. With one heart, one mind, one passion, let us press on toward victory, in full trust of our King's workings here. Let us rejoice in the trials that lie before us.

In Him,
Rolland