Sunday message: Elephants, revisited.

A quick one here, about elephants, the ones that get in the room.  We had a sermon last week about fear keeping us from what we need to do in the Lord, and one statement from it played into my Monday last week.  You see, as the Pastor was telling his personal story of fear, he described his first oversea air trip.  He at some point fought with his fear telling him he would end up 'One with the Caribbean'. This is the part that would get me.


You see, I knew two things that had bugged me all weekend- that we were coming up on some longer hours at work, and that I would rant and pout and do all the things I normally do when I feel my 'God-given right to work 40 hours' is about to be abridged.  And I tried all weekend, right up into Monday morning, to pray about it, and all weekend, God kept telling me, "That's Monday.  Concern yourself with today."

And Monday came and I made it a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Little things became huge disasters, 'calm responses' came out of my mouth snappy, and I ended up trying to un-convince the Plant Mgr that my upset was over WORKING the OT- which in my head I accepted because we need the $.  My problem was that I had let my reactions to everything else become the reactions I feared.

And when I finally managed a prayer that wasn't a frustration-laden tirade, you know what I heard in my head?

"I have become one with the Caribbean."

And when I got that I was pushing on the butt of an elephant I built my house around, trying to get him out, it was over.  I can't say the rest of the week went exactly smooth, or that the OT did NOT hit (it did), but I did get back up on 'dry land' the rest of the week.  Lesson being:  When you TRULY seek wisdom on a thing from God, remember He teaches NO lesson he doesn't teach step-by-step.