God was throwing his weight around at church last Saturday. It was the first Saturday that I was not scheduled to serve, but I saw an opening on the roster, which meant they did not yet have anyone else to serve. So I sent an email offering my services, should I be needed.
Having said that, I was not in a great place and not really in the mood to see anyone or go to socialise and chitchat, so I said to God that if I didn’t need to be there to serve, I would give the Young Adults service on Saturday evening a miss and go to church by myself on Sunday morning.
I received an email, however, saying yes, thanks very much, and they really appreciated my heart, as well as the roster for that weekend, which had my name on it!
So I thought, “Okay, God, you obviously want me to be at the service. You want to teach me something or minister to me in some way, but I don’t really think there’s much point, because seeing as I’m serving through the whole service, I’m not really going to benefit from the worship or the message!” (You can see I was really in a sulky, brattish mood; I thank God for His mercy and understanding in putting up with me – if I had been Him I would have thrown a few lightning bolts my way a long time ago!!)
Anyway, I got to the church on Saturday evening and had just finished unpacking the tripod and setting up the camera, when Quinton, the Young Adults leader, came up to me and said that he’d phoned someone else up during the week and asked him to operate the Lights and Camera that night in order to give me a break!!
While I obviously felt the exasperation you would expect, I couldn’t help laughing out loud at God’s ingenuity – the only reason I had come to church that night was because I had thought I had to serve, but God obviously wanted me there to participate in Worship and receive a much-needed message (from the visiting Neil Smith of Planetshakers church in Australia, no less!) and He was willing to use any means necessary to make sure it happened, orchestrating my presence and my availability!
I praise Him for always knowing best and for watching my back ... even against my own self-destructive phases!
Romans 8:28
Isaiah 40:10–14
