I'm living my Sunday School lesson this week. Sunday, our class talked about how life's difficulties are sometimes chastening from God, and how when we go through those difficulties, it's a good time to examine ourselves to see if there is something God is trying to tell us about our lives.
Well, I'm having to do that now. We've had an especially trying month or so here at the Phillips household, and it doesn't seem to be getting better. If Gustav wasn't enough to keep us stressed out, and me working nearly 24 hours a day, last night on my way back to work something happened.
I'm going through a four way stop about 9:00 last night. I'd just stopped, looked both ways and moved through the intersection when BAM!, a car slams right into me. It hit me so hard it jarred my whole body, and spun the car around about 180 degrees. She hit me hard. The crazy thing is, that when I got out, I noticed there was no damage to my car. Not a single dent! It was crazy. She only had a small ding in hers. We decided just to go our separate ways and not worry about anything. Big mistake! As I started down the road, I began to notice a squeaking sound, and I could feel the car's alignment seemed to be out a little. When I got to the station, I realized she had hit me in the back tire, and basically broken the wheel on it.
And stupid me, of course, I'd not gotten any of her information. I don't know why I didn't get it; maybe it was the shock of just having been hit, maybe my mind was cloudy because of the hurricane. Either way, it was totally the wrong thing to do. Now, I have a big problem with my car, and fixing it will have to come out of my pocket. That problem is the latest in a long line of financial issues we've had over the last few weeks, so things are very tight right now.
I say all of that not so that I can have your pity. I don't want that. I do want your prayers. And I am spending some time thinking and praying about why this happened, and if God is trying to tell me something with this round of bad fortune we've had over the last several weeks.
2 comments:
Wade,
I'll certainly pray that God will help you discern what He's trying to tell you through everything that's happening to you!I'm a Southern Baptist pastor near Kansas City, Missouri. My wife and I have written a new discipleship resource on church conflict titled "Winning the Real Battle at Church: What Holds Your Church Together During Troubled Times." It has been endorsed by several SBC leaders, including Frank Page (SBC president 2006-2008), Geoff Hammond (NAMB president), Chuck Lawless (Southern Seminary), and five SBC state convention leaders. Gene Getz (president of the Center for Church Renewal and former Dallas Seminary professor) and Woodrow Kroll (Back to the Bible radio) also have recommended our book to pastors and their congregations.
Our book represents a grassroots effort to build up and strengthen the Body of Christ in general and SBC congregations in particular. Nearly every congregation has experienced destructive conflict at some point in its past, and many churches are currently embroiled in major conflict. We've found that the best time to address church conflict is before it strikes. Unfortunately, many congregations wait until they are consumed by it before they attempt to address it.
While we're not associated with a large publisher, ten LifeWay bookstores and several other Christian bookstores across the nation are presently carrying our book. Many pastors and churches have purchased our book on our website, www.winningtherealbattle.com.
We'd greatly appreciate you taking the time to learn more about our resource on our website and possibly place a post on your blog with a link to the site. The churches that are using our book have found it to be a very helpful and practical resource. It's unique among the resources that are presently available on the topic of biblical conflict resolution.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. My email address is pastordavidnoble@aol.com.
Blessings!
David
I've seen some endorsements for your book. I'll take a closer look at some point. My church is currently without a pastor, and I am on the Pastor Search Committee, so this is certainly a topic that I could use some help in. Thanks for visiting the blog, and thanks for your prayers.
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