May God Bless Us...Every One

 Good morning and welcome.

 This past week has been especially intense at times.  As you may know, I deal with a lot of the benevolence that the church does for folks, both members and non-members.  One of the things I do with those who ask for help is try to engage them in conversation, asking them about their day, their family, and life in general.  It usually doesn’t take much prompting for the floodgates to open, and I often hear things that make me wonder just how people survive in today’s world.  And it’s good, I think, for them to be able to tell their stories to someone who  listens without judgment.

Sometimes, these encounters are especially intense, and sometimes come one right after another.  When the day is over, I am tired and worn, not from physical exertion, but from mental and emotional exhaustion.  Such was the day on Monday of this week.

The next day, a member of our congregation asked me how I was doing.  I told her that I was OK, but not great.  I told her that I had dealt with some difficult encounters the day before.  She then strongly encouraged me to sit down and visit with her.  I knew she wouldn’t rest until I did so, and because I knew she was familiar with confidentiality and all that goes with it, I found a chair and sat across from her.

After some initial conversation regarding the encounters on Monday, she asked me how I manage to maintain my faith, especially on days when things are emotionally intense and there seem to be no answers.  She knew that my work often consists of listening to someone describe their life that is falling apart, or perhaps life has already fallen apart for them, and they need some basic thing such as food or shelter.  Or maybe it consists of providing not only a listening ear, but also whatever lay-counseling I can provide.  Or perhaps I can do nothing except commiserate with someone who is trying to get her family into a family shelter only to find the beds constantly filled day after day.

I gave my friend three reasons or ways that I maintain my faith.

First, God provides.  He encourages, supports, and lets me know that He's on the job, so to speak.  He provides a measure of peace and fulfillment even when things don't end up being rainbows and unicorns for those we are trying to help.  His strength, power, and compassion are endless.  He continually works to refill my cup.

That work of “refilling my cup,” as I put it, is often through others.  Others who look after my health and well-being.  My wife, other staffers, the other Elders, and people I know and love who I can trust implicitly.  And this woman who I am visiting with is one of those people.  Without God's work through those I encounter day to day, I don't know where I'd be now.

Second, I know several in the non-profit community who I know are also “out there,” so to speak, doing the hard things every day.  They keep going even when things are tough...and things are tough much of the time.  I keep up with them and their ministries.  I talk with them, visit with them, lunch with them.  We exchange ideas, new ways to serve, and share successes.  And we commiserate with each other.  And we understand each other.  We encourage each other.  We help each other as we can.  The non-profit community is an incredible resource to help me maintain my sanity and my faith.

Third, the RiverWalk congregation supports me in the work that we do.  They contribute financially to the church so we can do what we do.  They encourage me and others.  They help out when they can.  Many of them themselves are busy pretty much behind the scenes doing the everyday things that help other people.   Providing transportation.  Offering a listening ear.  Sitting at a bedside.  Sitting with children.  Preparing food.  Buying groceries.  Cleaning house, and running errands for those who can't do those things on their own due to illness or trauma.  It is gratifying, humbling, and incredibly empowering to have such a church family who supports servant ministries the way RiverWalk does.

Yes, the work is sometimes hard, but I’m not the only one God has endowed with a sometimes hard job.  There are countless others who have been given the good work of helping, restoring, relieving, uplifting, and just caring & listening.  With all of those jobs, however, comes the needed resources from God Himself to complete the work.

 

As that great Apostle Paul has said, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.  And the Hebrew writer likewise, makes this statement at the end of that letter,  “Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.”

 

May God bless us, every one.

Blessings,