Sunday Church Service

This is the second night this week I have worked on this post. I started it this last Sunday night. Warning that it is a little long and rambles some. Sometimes it helps my mind to just get thoughts out of my head.

I went to church today at the church I have visited the past few times I have been up there in Arkansas. Honestly I did not want to go. Once I get into my sleep schedule up here, it is often hard when something messes it up. I work 6 PM to 6 AM, get to sleep about 6:30, and wake up between 11:30 and 12:00. I stay up for a couple of hours, reading, checking email, whatever, then go back to sleep about 2:00 to wake up at 5:30.

Well on Sundays I have to get up at 9:00 and that is hard in the first place, after being up all night with only 2 hours of sleep. What got me going is the fact that I need to be a witness to the guys out here. I have gone to church before, and they know that I am a Christian, so it would be inconsistent of me to not go.

Even when I got to church, during worship, I was thinking I would really like to be back at Living Hope. I miss church at home.

During the preaching though a couple of things happened. First off the pastor started what felt like was an addendum to the sermon. It did not seem to fit with the sermon at all. He mentioned money and that you cannot out give God. He told how at a PK conference a speaker spoke about the amount of debt 60000 men represented, and how that should not be the case. So he determined to get out of debt. He was able to on an unexpected gift, even after God told him to contribute to the church’s building fund from his retirement account. He mentioned the word “hope”, which has been on my mind lately. In fact I read just last night in I Timothy to not put your hope in deceitful riches, but to put it in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

I have been struggling a little bit lately with what is next in my life. I am in a position I have never been in before. I know without a doubt the money I can make in the oilfield, and have a good idea that I could make plenty with further investments whether I stay in the oilfield or not. So I have been trying to decide how much energy and focus I should give to that, or even if I should.

My thinking has changed over the past few years. First was the no debt thing, gotten directly to me from the Bible. And for me that includes my house, so that is what I am working for. But I have been asking and just started looking at what the Bible says about accumulating money and financial independence. I have seen that true wealth or financial independence is having more in passive income than what you spend. But is that what we as Christians are supposed to strive for even if it is possible? I have gotten the idea lately that no it is not. And the idea of “Well, I could do so much with that money, time, etc!” comes to mind. But our trust, our hope must be in God, so while I believe that financial independence is not wrong, I do think that it is wrong to strive for that, to put our hope in that.

Side note: Speaking of hope – I was talking to mom about the hurricane and evacuees. (And seeing it again now with the government “bailout of Wall Street”) And I could not get over how some people put their hope in FEMA or the government. Their hope for a better life is found in the only thing they know, the government.

That just should not be the case. Our hope should be in Jesus, and the Church especially should be demonstrating that. And I just do not think we are doing that very effectively. I know for myself, I am making very good money with what I am doing, and I am scared to think of how I am going to live, if I were to quit and pursue what I know I am supposed to be doing – teaching. Lack of trust in myself.

So to get back to the second thing that happened in church that affected me… I was sitting next to a man and his 3 year old son. During the sermon I glanced over at his son next to me, back to the pastor, leaning on the seat of the chair, just closing his Bible and I heard the phrase “… and I treasure it.” What 3 year old uses the word treasure? What adult uses it? It just totally caught me off guard. Did I actually hear him say that? And then to compound the point, at the invitation he looks up at his dad and says that he is going to go and pray. So he does, as his dad follows behind to pray beside him.

It just seems strange to me that God would take the time to orchestrate two or three little things to encourage me in something as small as not wanting to go to church or even in just having the wrong attitude towards it. Honestly it blows my mind. I do believe that He does work in our lives daily, but that can be easily said or believed, and not seen.