Today I spent some time thinking about the life of Joseph and reading about his life in Genesis.  I believe the result of some recent circumstances has attracted me to this Biblical account.  By no means am I comparing my life to Joseph’s however there is something truly fascinating about his story that speaks to me in my circumstances.

As we know Joseph was his fathers favorite what is worse is he almost seemed to rub it in.  If you remember the account Joseph is given a dream where he will rule over his older brothers and his parents and he makes sure he lets them know about his dream.  Just in case they did not get it he tells them all again about his dream.  Well his brothers had enough and they sell him into slavery.

Think about it, in one single day Joseph’s whole life came crashing down.  In one fails swoop he has gone from being the favored son to slave.  Imagine the pain and disappointment what about his dream now there is no way it will happen.  Surely he would experience doubt and wonder.  But I believe this indeed was just the beginning of the road God would take Joseph down in order to mold him into the man he wanted him to be.  I have heard it said “Whenever God wants to give us a gift, he wraps it in struggles and difficulties.”  In fact James 1 tells us “the testing of our faith produces perseverance, and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.”

I have learned a lot from looking at Joseph’s response in those times of difficulty.  Joseph could have become angry, and bitter.  He could have even resented God and others for what had happened to him, he definitely could have been bitter towards his brothers.  However, Joseph chose to respond differently to his circumstances.  I can’t help but think our character is revealed with our response to adversity.  Joseph knew God wan in control at all times and in all phases of his life.  It was this confidence in God that allowed Joseph to keep going when most would have failed or given up.

Joseph was sold into slavery and he took the opportunity and become a servant in the palace.  Joseph was accused of adultery (which he did not do) and was thrown into prison so he helps others by interpreting there dreams.  Joseph then gets forgotten about is prison and Joseph still trusted in God and knew He was in control.  Sure enough God gave him an opportunity to show his wisdom and Joseph had the land prepare for 7 years of feast followed by 7 years of famine.  Joseph saved not only Pharaoh but his own family, and when he deals with his brother he shows integrity, and compassion, and even forgiveness.  Joseph was so committed to God that others noticed Potiphar, the warden, his fellow prisoners, even Pharoah, and ultimately his own brothers.

I think of Joseph’s life betrayed and deserted by his family, exposed to sexual temptation over and over again, and even punished for doing what was right.  He was imprisoned and forgotten by those he had helped.  However, through all of this Joseph never asked why me?  Joseph was determined to be God’s man, no matter what was to come.  The cool thing is that people took notice, they knew God was leading him.

Through all of this Joseph never let it go to his head.  Even though he was faced with great trials and difficulty, Joseph chose to live a life of gratitude and not resentment, conscious of God’s daily protection, love, and grace.

There have been times when I have been tempted to ask of God “why me”?   However when I feel that way I am reminded of Joseph and want to follow in his steps as I face the difficult circumstance in my life.  I pray that somehow others will see in me what was seen in Joseph and even though I may be faced with hard times I pray my life point to my confidence in Christ and that He is in control.

Well my car finally kicked the bucket.  I have 1995 saturn sl2 with 260,000 miles on it.  The other day my wife called and said that there was oil everywhere and the car had been smoking.  I came home early that day to check out my car.  Sure enough there was oil everywhere and there was even oil down in the spark plugs.  I believe the car is done and I do not know much about cars so I just decided to get rid of it.

Here is the problem.  That car was the only car I have that is running, I own a Durango but I do not have the title back yet.  So here I was no car not sure what to do how would I get back and forth to the office?  I did what any normal person would do I posted it on facebook ha.  I asked if anyone had a car I could buy and I could make payments on.  I did not here anything so I started searching for cheap cars that maybe I could buy.  But hold on because here comes the good part.

I was searching and not having much luck when I received a phone call yesterday.  The person on the other end told me they found a car for me and it was free.  This got me excited because it means I can then save my money until I can buy a car outright.  Praise the Lord for an outcome I truly did not expect.

To add to it I think I just sold the saturn. Praise the Lord.

Well today things came to a halt.  I withdrew from candidacy for Sr. Pastor.  I know this may come as a surprise especially from previous posts including yesterdays where things seemed to be going so well.  But if you look at yesterdays post I included this line

“Please pray for the church to have wisdom, and to be united no matter what their decision.”

I believe unity in the body is crucial.  Please continue to pray for the church and for my family at this time.

I pray that God somehow take this and glorify Himself.

Well this weekend was a big one.  I have decided to post somewhat of the process in thoughts that it might help others as they may go through the process.  To my surprise many people read my blog though I am not sure why.  This might be somewhat of a lengthy post and by all means if you do not want to read it then just move on you really will not offend me.  Or you could just scroll towards the bottom and read that part.

We started our weekend by loading the van with everyone including my mother, and my niece and nephew.  We had to drop my mother off at the church as she was heading to El Salvador on a missions trip and my niece and nephew were going to stay with their dad for the weekend.  So we loaded up my mothers minivan and off we went.  We had decided that we would just have a great family weekend as we needed some time together.  So after dropping everyone off we headed for St. Louis first.

Our reasoning for going to St. Louis?  We wanted to spend some time at the zoo.  By the way if you have never been to the zoo in St. Louis you need to go.  Parking is 11 dollars and the zoo is free to get in.  I have always loved it there and the penguin exhibit is the best.  Here is their link if you want to check it out www.stlzoo.org it will open in a new window.  Well at the zoo it was great it was a little chilly but man we got to see everything and Micah (my son) ran around and he loved it.  What made it so great in my opinion was two things.  First there was hardly anyone there so you did not have to battle crowds, second we had the chance to see nearly every animal.  We had a great time.

Well we left St. Louis and made our way to Jackson Mo.  Here we stayed at the Drury Inn and I have to tell you it was a great stay.  The Drury has started this thing called the 5:30 kickback in which they basically serve you dinner from 5:30 to 7 and it is free.  On top of that you can get free fountain drink until 10pm and popcorn as well.  I will tell you this is one of the most friendly hotels I have ever stayed in.  We had a great time snacking on popcorn and sipping sodas as well as swimming and enjoying the hot tub.  It was great to spend some time as a family just relaxing together and having fun.  If you ever go through Jackson Missouri I would recommend the Drury Inn and you may even want to stay there eve if you doing things in Cape Girardeau.  Here is the hotels site if you are interested Drury Inn.

Saturday we arrived in Golconda, Il.  For those of you who may not have known where we were heading now you know.  When we arrived in Golconda we took that opportunity to show Sarai the parsonage.  She was very excited.  Sarai has been ready to move for some time however I have tried not to tell her alot when I have spoken at other churches because I don’t want her to get her hopes up only to see things fall through.  All of this to say that we loved the parsonage and so did she and it would be a nice place to live.

We then were taken out to our cabin where we would be staying.  What I can say about that is awesome.  I loved it, of course I am an outdoor person and I love being out in the country.  I wish I would have brought my fishing pole as this cabin was right on the river.  I have to tell you the church really took care of us and it was such a blessing.  The cabin was just a wonderful experince and it was great to be out in country enjoying peace and quiet.  If you want to check them out you can do so herehttp://www.popeco.net/barrencreekcottages/ I would encourage you that if you want some time away and are ever over near golconda or you like to fish then stay there.  You can walk out the back door and walk down some stairs and be fishing.  It was great.

Saturday night we had dinner with the Deacons and their wives.  I must say I really enjoyed my time with them.  I did alot of listening as I try to do anytime (I know it is hard to believe).  One thing that stood out to me is the fact that my wife really had a good time Saturday evening.  Tzigane is the exact opposite of me and she definitely is not as comfortable around new people as I am.  If you put me in a crowded room of people I do not know I will get to know as many people as possible she would not.  However, she loved her time with these ladies and for me that speaks volumes because I love my wife and need her to feel wherever we go as well.  I will just say I really enjoyed my time with these men and they seem like they would be easy to work with.

Saturday evening we arrived back at the cabin and just enjoyed some quiet time together and I went over my sermon and then we went to bed we had to be ready for Sunday.

Some of you may want to skip to this point because you really just want to know how things went Sunday.  Sunday started with Sunday School.  My wife and I sat in the same class and I really enjoyed our time in that class.  There was some good conversation and some great input.   Sarai also went to a class and Micah to the nursery.  Sarai made a friend right away which is fairly easy for her to do.  Of course everyone seems to fall in love with Micah and he was just loving it all up.  I must say I really was not nervous, during any of this time.

After Sunday school we headed up the sanctuary for the service.  I had a great time in the service and as far as I could tell the sermon went well.  My text was Mark 4:26-29 the parable of the growing seed.  I preached like I normally do, even though I had all kinds of advice given to me about how to preach and what to say and not to say.  If you are reading this and you are heading to a church in view of a call the best advice I can give you is be yourself.  Whatever you do, do not try to be someone you are not.  You will only disappoint the church when they think they are hiring one person and you turn out to be someone else.  Be yourself, preach your sermon, and be transparent.

Following the service we had a lunch.  Which I was the last one too because well I like to talk.  It was funny because they told me to go to the front of the line which was nice but I almost felt bad.  There was some good cooking down there in southern Illinois and man I enjoyed some great food.  My daughter had way to much dessert but they can sure cook.  During lunch I sat with some teens and talked with them a little bit.  I love teenagers and to be honest I love hanging out with them and seeing what is on their mind.  I enjoyed our lunch but I new the Q and A times was coming and I wanted to be focussed for that time.  After we had lunch we had the Q and A time.

During this time I was asked several questions.  However, I was never asked a question that seemed to have some sort of ulterior motive to it.  I felt every question asked was a good question and I enjoyed answering them to the best of my ability.  If you would like to know some of the questions just shoot me an email from the site and I will let you know.  What I believe is important for any pastor in this process is to try to understand the question and think it through and then deliver the answer.  So often we get frustrated or upset with a question and really there is no need to be.  So my advice would be to remain calm, take a deep breath and think it through.  If you do not know an answer just tell them you do not know the answer.

Taking everything into account I felt the weekend was great.  I had a great time my family felt loved and we enjoyed ourselves.  I could see myself ministering there.  However that decision is not up to me.  Nor really is it up to the church but up to God.  Please pray for the church to have wisdom, and to be united no matter what their decision.  I can tell you this no matter whether the answer is yes or no.  I met some great brothers and sisters in the Lord and I pray God will bless them.  It was a weekend I will not forget, and a weekend where this verse rang true.  1 Peter 1:22 “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart ( NKJV)”

Part 3 Is yet to come.

This weekend is a big weekend for myself and my family.  We will be heading to southern Illinois to a First Baptist Church in view of a call.  So far things have gone well.  My wife and I traveled to souther Illinois a little over a month ago to interview with the committee and then preach at a another church so the search committee could here me preach.  That first interview lasted about 3 hours and went very well.  I was then recommended unanimously to the church which brings me to this weekend.

I must say I am excited, but I am also not really nervous as much as I am I guess afraid of the unknown.  I have never been a senior pastor.  I have been youth pastor and an associate pastor and even a children’s pastor but never a sr. pastor.  There are many things I have been trying to wrap my min around over these past several weeks.  One of which is this uncertainty.  None of us want to end up at a place where we question whether or not God really called us there.

If you read this blog could you please pray for me.  What ways the most on my heart is my family.  The road in ministry is never an easy one but I also do not believe it has to be as difficult as it sometimes becomes.  My family has suffered through a great deal in ministry much undeservedly so, and if I am honest I do not want them to go through any thing like they have already gone through.  Please just pray that I will hear the direction that God tells me to go and that the church will hear it as well.  I will keep you posted.