I really enjoyed this past weekend. As many of you know, I celebrated my birthday yesterday, and was blessed to be able to enjoy the Sens game on Saturday night as a result (yeah, they lost, but it was still great being there).
Yesterday, I got together with a few people, including my sister and brother-in-law, and enjoyed supper. It was great sitting and chatting with them — I need to do that more often.
What was most encouraging for me, though, was preaching. I guess I’m the typcial preacher, lol. I preach the same message twice. First, I do it on Thursday night at Bikers’ Church. Then, I preach a longer version on Sunday at City Church.
This past week, I was really discouraged at how things went on the Thursday night. I had trouble getting into a flow with my thoughts. I felt disjointed and unable to clearly share what I wanted to share. It was, in my mind, not a very good message.
As a result, I went into Sunday with a negative attitude. I was defeated before I even started. I just wanted to get it over with and move on, recognizing that not ever message can be top notch. To understate it: I was not looking forward to preaching.
It’s funny, because I’m doing a series called “The Upside Down Life”. Last week I spoke about how God’s strength is revealed in our weakness. That when we are weak, we discover strength.
Go figure that on a Sunday when I was weak, God showed up. As I closed the service in prayer, I knew that I had connected. It was a “good preach”. People were clearly touched.
Now, I am the first to acknowledge that we should never base our mood on how we preach. In theory, that’s very true. But I don’t know any preacher who doesn’t fall into that trap (at least from time to time). When you pour out from deep within you, it is very hard not to focus on how you do in delivering a message. Sunday morning turned my mood around … I’m still feeling it today.
Yeah, it was a good weekend.
How do you deal with emotional ups and downs?
