Trials...to get ME done!



Check Mailing List, Put Away Communion Things,
Count Lunch Money, Clean Up...

One of the things I love about Koriyama Baptist Church is the way everybody pitches in with the work. I think I felt this the strongest about three years ago, the day we moved from our old church building into the new one we're in now. I didn't have my camera then, so the pics on this post were taken within the past three years.

That afternoon, everyone came wearing clothes that looked like it would be okay to get dirty. Some were clearing the entryways and making sure there were door stops so that others going through would have both hands free, wouldn't have to keep turning doorknob handles with one hand. Others were lugging heavy items. Some were taking down things, putting them into semi-organized piles while others scrubbed, vacuumed, cleaned. One usually-fashionable young lady came downstairs with cobwebs in her hair--she had been cleaning in a large, old closet.

There were shouts of "Watch out! That cord's been ripped out and is coming down!" or, "Could you hand me that garbage bag/twist tie" or, "Coming through!" and the oft-heard, "It's been taken to the pastor's study/kitchen/office."


Men Making Mother's Day Meal

And when the end was in sight, the women strangely disappeared. It wasn't because we were tired and couldn't keep up; it resulted in having towels, hot tea, refreshments, for the entire work force. WE WERE FINISHED! I think smiles appeared on faces, and it felt good. It felt so good.

I can't remember how it was worded. Someone once said: "At church, it may look like people gather to get some work done--the truth of the matter is that the work gets the people done!" Hm. Planning, strategizing, cooperating, communicating, then going, "Ahhhh; we did it!"...yes, those things did pull us together.

What came to me today was that when problems come into my life, the truth of the matter is, God didn't really bring the problem into my life for me to solve it, as much as for it to mould me! We can leave problem-solving to God (and yes, He may use us in it, but that's up to Him).  Ooh; does that mean sometimes it may be God's will, not to take a problem away, but to leave me in it for awhile?  Uck.