Somehow, Someway

If you stopped by or called the church office this week, then you have probably noticed neither I nor Joanie have been there much. We apologize. It has been a week of the unanticipated.

The stomach flu has run its course through our entire family. Joanie has been the latest victim (we are praying that she is well by Friday morning). This bug has completely thrown our schedule out of whack as we have had to care for the children and one another. We’ve both spent time working from home with sick kids in our arms as we planned, wrote, emailed or chatted on the phone.

Additionally, as you all know, our beloved brother Marvin passed on Wednesday. We were fortunate enough to be healthy enough during the day on Wednesday to spend time with the Marshall’s. His passing brings about both feelings of loss and gratitude for a committed servant of God and a life well-lived.

In the midst of sickness and death, we have begun the first steps towards Hood MCC’s first digital Church Management System. While we have some paper records dating back literally 100 years, we have no digital records from which to pull information – and doing so is a necessity in today’s world! This system will help manage and automate processes for our church which would typically be the work of a church administrator or secretary. We are quite excited about this kind of practical, efficient, time-saving help!

And all this is not to mention Monday’s Disciples Women’s Ministry Installation Service, planning for Sunday Worship and preparations for Sunday’s Movie Night (which has included the construction of a movie screen)! It has been a full week…actually, too full of a week.

We have been worried about getting everything done…two bulletin’s instead of one, a homily plus a sermon, completing construction of our movie night screen, spending an appropriate amount of time with folks journeying through difficult situations, responding to emails, messages and phone calls. Oh, yeah, and rest so we can get well..that is supposed to fit in there somewhere, right?

We’re not complaining. Just acknowledging.  Because the truth is this: you have had a week like this at some point as well. Haven’t you? We all have.  In fact, some of you are right there with us this week…even experiencing more trials and difficulties than we have.

But you know what this week has reminded me? Just when I think I’ll never get a visit arranged because of a sick child, help arrives. Just when I think I won’t have the time or inspiration for a homily, God sends an idea that pours out of me. Just when I think I’ll be sick in bed for days, sleep comes, nausea subsides, and energy finds its way back into my body. Just when I’m weak, I find some strength to take the next step. Just when I fall, someone picks me up. Just when I cannot figure out how, then a friend shows me somehow. Just when there seems to be no way, then God makes someway. Just when…

Despite all that life can throw at us, we find somehow, someway to take a step forward. And, yeah, sometimes there is a subsequent step or two backwards. But there is inevitably enough steps forward to get us to the next day, through the next problem, into the next task, beside the next person, within the next moment of God’s overflowing grace.

We cannot always explain how. But the next step comes. And somehow, someway I am certain that the explanation lies within the goodness, the mercy, the strength and the love of the One we call God.