The introduction to James in The Message says, 'When Christian believers gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does.
Sounds familiar in 2007 at UBC. Yesterday I picked up the Annual Report to read because I wanted to see in print how the year was. A lot of changes took place with testing and challenges and a budget crisis.
Our Associate Pastor, Donna, (thankfully) is remaining on staff as Pastor of Visitation and Counseling and our Youth Pastor, Mark, resigned his position to pursue other ventures. (thanks Mark for your gifts with the youth) Downsizing has been tough and these changes have been more difficult for some than others.
For me, 'considering testing and challenges as a gift' is very hard to handle. It definitely would be easier not to have difficult challenges because it forces my faith into the open and shows my true colors (vs 3). And showing my true colors is embarrassing because it shows sides of me that I don't like, never mind my friends seeing it. Often I don't have control over my colors, but the friends God put into my life help me to understand them and accept me where I am and they encourage me to 'hang in there' and stand me up when I can't.
God wants me to stick with him and not give up. He wants me to become a 'mature' believer and believe him, not just believe in him. It's a challenge to 'not try to get out of anything prematurely'. My friends remind me of the words God said in Joshua 1:5 - 'I'll be with you, I won't give up on you; I won't leave you.' I know God won't leave me or give up on me and my true friends won't either. I trust him and I trust them.
Maybe someday I will be able see how challenges and tests are gifts and I will be able to see how my faith grew because of them.
Nancy
