We drove up to Seattle yesterday, arriving early afternoon. Spent the next few hours incl. dinner with my folks and then went over to Steve & Michelle's AirBNB place where we'll stay (with them) until driving home Saturday morning.
The plan was for ALL of us to be together today but Jason has come down with some kind of cold that has him running a low grade fever. That doesn't make for a good mix with 95-year old great grandparents so S & M are keeping him away from my folks until (hopefully) he's done with the bug today or tomorrow. I'm really hoping for some four generation pics. We'll see.
Michelle is almost horrified at the neighborhood of this AirBNB house. Not because of safety or the like, but because the streets are SO narrow. Cars park on both sides of the street and that leaves just enough room for one car to drive down the middle. "What happens when a car comes from the other direction??" Uhm....I grew up with that. It's called Seattle. And that's why they make a reverse gear.
We should get home early afternoon Saturday if we get out of here on time. I don't expect traffic issues on a Saturday morning in October.
Then I'll preach Sunday morning at our church, cover for our pastor who's on a hunting trip in Eastern Oregon.
Some of you may remember that the last (first) time I preached at UFC in early January there was considerable kerfuffle because something I said in jest was taken 180 degrees wrong and several took GREAT offense at what they thought was some kind of racist remark.
I was, frankly, devastated, and later almost angry that some heard all wrong and took offense at an imagined statement instead of hearing the gospel and its power to save. I vowed that I would NOT preach at UFC again. Told our pastor, "I'd rather do my own dental work than run the risk of that happening again."
About six months ago I got to thinking I was not being a good steward of the gifts and abilities God has given me. That led me to pray he would fix that IF my assessment was correct. I would not seek out opportunities for service, suspicious of the trap the ego can present. But if he brought opportunities to me I would view them as such, as his work, and respond accordingly. That doesn't mean I'll accept anything and everything; i'm clearly not suited for some things. But if it was within my ballpark....
So when Brett asked me a couple of months ago if I'd consider being back on the list of "on call" substitutes what was I to say? Then a couple of weeks ago he asked about this Sunday.
The word trepidation comes to mind.
Much prayer and tons of prep!
No comments:
Post a Comment