Computer Problems

For the last two weeks my sermon writing day has began with computer issues. I have adopted my mentor's sermon writing process in part. Monday you read the text, that's it. He writes it out, sometimes I do this recently I haven't been just because the sections have been large. Tuesday I read and take notes on things I observe, questions that I have, and words or phrases that intrigue me and I want to look at in the original language. Wednesday is commentary day, reading what other people have seen and found. My mentor says one of the biggest mistakes you can make with sermon writing is consulting a commentary too soon because at that point you no longer know what your original thoughts are. After working with the text for three days, Thursday is the day I sit down to write, and for the last two weeks, Thursday has begun with computer issues.

I have spent hours in store and on the phone with people who aren't providing the customer service that a company should provide. People say they can't do anything and that I need to call this number. I call the number they give me another number. In store they say there is nothing they can do even though I have a warranty I paid for. It's a very stressful experience that I don't wish upon anyone. And it's the last thing you need when you're trying to write a sermon for Sunday.

But I've come to see in the last few hours that the computer issues have been God trying to get my attention. Last week I sat down Saturday to write the sermon for the next day, and as I'm writing it hits me that the message isn't for this week, God is leading me in another direction. I had to save it for the next week and come up with something new. Fortunately it's God who is guiding all of this and He doesn't drop the ball. He laid the four weapons of the enemy on my heart that past week because that was what He wanted me to preach.

This week is our children's Christmas program at church. There will hopefully be visitors, the parents of the children in the program. The section of John I was going to be using last week is fully focused on salvation, and my thought was God wants it this week so I'll save it, and it's pretty much done. But as I sat down yesterday to finish what I had started five days earlier, I was greeted by more computer issues. More time on the phone, more frustration, and once it's resolved, not motivation to write a sermon.

My wife and I went to lunch, and since she's going to be taking on Wednesday night children's ministry we were able to spend the afternoon together at a Christian book store looking for material and resources for Wednesday night church. While we were there I saw something that I had been meaning to buy but had forgotten about. It's a four dvd pack by Louie Giglio called The Heart of Passion. Last night we watched two of them, Indescribable and How Great is our God.

I have seen both of them before, but last night I was reminded of how awesome God is. In both of these Louie talks about the universe, the wonders that are out there, the size of all of it. Indescribable focuses on the greatness of God, how God is at the heart of everything, and how Jesus came to die on a cross. How Great is our God focuses on the size of the universe and us in it, how small we are compared to how big the universe is, and how small the universe is compared to God. And yet how God, the creator of all of it knows each of us by name, and cares about each of us. God Himself holds us together.

As I listened to him I realized that God wanted me to share that with the people this Sunday. That the God who made the vast universe, a universe full of wonders, billions of galaxies, countless stars, cares about us so much that He came to a speck in the universe to die on a cross in order to save us from sin. It truly is indescribable, God truly is so great.

Christmas is all about the creator showing us how much He loves us. He came to earth, a place you can't even see if you look at a picture of our galaxy, and died on a cross to save us. That is what Christmas is all about, it really makes computer problems seem insignificant.

Peace be with you