This past Sunday I had the opportunity to do something revolutionary, something that I can’t remember doing before. I woke up, got ready, got in the car with my family and drove to MCC…together. We went in, sat down and enjoyed a wonderful time of worship. It was pretty amazing!
Don’t get me wrong…I LOVE my job! I love preparing and delivering messages. At the same time I [and our leadership] recognize the necessity of recharging our batteries from time to time.
So, during the month of July I am on a sort of “creative break,” and we are having great guest speakers. This past Sunday, our student pastor John Lovell spoke. During his message he shared insights that he’d taken away from our student’s week at Centrifuge.
One particular part of John’s message really struck me. He referenced the story of the three Hebrew boys and the fiery furnace in Daniel chapter 3. He centered in on this particular exchange between the Hebrew boys and Nebuchadnezzar:
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If the God we serve is able to deliver us, then he will deliver us from the blazing furnace and from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” [TNIV]
It’s one thing to love and follow God when he’s doing everything the way we want. It’s a whole other thing to love and serve God when he doesn’t fulfill our wants and wishes and dreams.
John then asked us to think about what situation we needed to say “Even if he doesn’t” to.
It was a great Sunday, and I really enjoyed getting to listen and be challenged by John’s message.
It also made me really excited for this Fall and all that is in store for us at MCC!
I love having the time to recharge, but I can’t wait to get back at it!
Josh Scott 