A Good Day to be in God's House

Upon arriving home from church my mind always rewinds the last couple hours I have spent in Sunday School and Church and I guess I want to do a synopisis of sorts. I want to know what "I got out of it" .

As I sat in Sunday school and took stock of the prayer requests on our prayer board and chatted with fellow classmates before fearless leader, Dave, does our opener, I was struck with the mix of tragedy and blessing before me. Most of the people in there are directly involved in some sort of health crises or a family member or friend is facing serious health problems. But there is also talk of kids, grandkids, and different activities and I see how blessed we all are, too. It is the stuff of real life.....good and bad....beautifu and ugly. We hold each other up in prayer during the good times and the bad times. The scripture tells us the rain falls on the just and the unjust. It tells us we are not alone and we are commanded by God to love one another....and to pray for one another. That is what we do.

Sunday School centered on St. Paul and his sermon on the Greeks on Mars Hill. It is a short but masterful sermon. We are made aware of Paul's strategies and his sincerity. It is glorious how the Lord placed him at the right place at the right time and then gave him the wisdom and the insight to talk to these learned people. He showed them respect and knew but for the grace of God he was just like them. It was a joy to revisit this passage and try to put ourselves in Paul's place.

The sermon in church concerned Adam and Eve in the garden and our human tendency to blame others for our failings. Yes, Adam pointed the finger of blame at Eve (and to God!) and Eve then pointed at the snake when confronted by God about eating the forbidden fruit. Yes, right from the start the scripture has us nailed. We tend to excuse our sin and to try to justify ourselves. I can hear Jack Nicholson saying, "You can't handle the truth!" No, humans have a tough time with truth....even the most honest person and the person with the most integrity will justify his/her actions when they are not the best. It is in our genes.....(did I just blame God!? He did create us...create our genes!!) We are so good at this we hardly realize when we are doing i!! Yes, it is human (sin) nature.

By the time I have soaked all these truths in I realize when it comes down to the nitty gritty our only recourse is to throw ourselves on the mercy of Almighty God and for us to realize our desperate need of Him. For without Him we are able to do nothing....nothing good that is for sure. This is pretty much the bottom line and the conclusion I come to many Sundays. I am praying I can really handle THIS truth! It makes me very thankful and yes, even with all the problems before us, it is good to know we have a Savior who loves us. We know our future (our place in eternity) is safe in his hands no matter what pain and sorrow comes our way or what sin entraps us and His love and grace is sufficient. Having these truths presented to me (and demonstrated as well) will fuel the rest of the week. Yes, it is a good day to be in God's House.