Matthew Can Also Throw Down the Gauntlet!

Once again, I am going to relay a little piece of brilliance that I heard at church this morning.  It wasn't in the sermon so I can't share the link.  Honestly, I can't believe you would want to miss a word that my Minister, Matthew, shares each Sunday - it's the one day I spring out of bed!

This morning, Matthew issued a challenge to every adult who was listening to the children's story.  Okay, so it was cleverly disguised as a message for the little ones of our congregation, but it was definitely for adults - or at least it was definitely for THIS adult.

The lesson was about the potential pitfalls of playing "follow the leader" without the proper research and preparation.  Even Peter Pan didn't play "follow the leader" while blindfolded.  Matthew told a great story about a little boy wanting to follow the skateboarding lead of a bigger boy.  At the end of the story, Matthew issued the challenge.  He had us all repeat the catchy and deceptively simple phrase "If He leads you to it, He'll see you through it". 

How is that a challenge?  Well, yesterday something happened to me that caused me for more than a fleeting moment to consider abandoning my Happiness Quest as a hopeless cause.  I threw myself a world class pity party, revelling in the fact that under the current circumstances happiness may be an unrealistic target.  But there I sat this morning, enjoying the input of the kids (apparently young Maddy who is 2 suffered a horrendous skateboarding accident in the middle of the road :-) ).  And then, out of nowhere, came the challenge:  it was as if Matthew was speaking to me -  and believe me, I got the message - God is not going to send anything my way without equipping me with the tools to handle it. Not a new message of course, but one that was completely obscured by my self-absorption.   By the way, so engrossed was I in my anguish that I likely would have skipped church today had I not committed to singing a duet with my sister - to think what I would have missed!!

This message is simple enough for a child to grasp but sometimes just too complex for the average adult to remember just when they need it the most.

Thanks, Matthew!!