Thinking about God while in church\u2014better, of course, than thinking about NFL football, which is what I usually think about on September Sunday afternoons. Or the New York Jets, which some might argue is not really NFL football.<\/p>\n
Whatever. Back to God. The pastor was doing his pastor thing: Thank God for the blessings in your life, for when good things happen He\u2019s blessing us. When bad things happen\u2014well, you need to live a more Godly life. Look at how you\u2019re living and try to get back to Him.<\/p>\n
Uh, really? That does a disservice to God and a disservice to us. God is not an ever-present judge, dishing out punishments and rewards according to our thoughts and behaviors of the minute. God\u2019s better than that, a comforter and Lover-in-Chief who wants more than anything for us to live with hope and assurance. Faith in God and His love is critical to getting us through the tough times\u2014which happen, in varying quantities, every day to every one\u00a0of us. . \u201cStuff Happens,\u201d remember?<\/p>\n
My first reaction, having been born in New York City and never having lost that Big Apple polish, was to\u2026well, never mind, as I went with my second reaction. I muttered under my breath \u201cFuggedaboudit!\u201d and followed it with an emphatic \u201cGetoudaheah!\u201d \u2013which deprived me of the company of the row of seniors to my left.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s bring it back to you and not just surviving, but thriving. Let\u2019s do some real theology from a real God of real comfort. Do some Bible stuff, and take a look at Job and the other boys in the band, and read it the way it is meant to be read. Sometimes, when good things happen He is, in fact, blessing us. Sometimes when good things happen He\u2019s not–it\u2019s just life, where good things happen as well as the bad.<\/p>\n
And as for the bad: well, God don\u2019t do bad. I still remember my wife\u2019s face when a visiting friend consoled her with, \u201cThank God that you\u2019re important enough to Him that He gave you ALS\u2014it gives you a chance to show us how to bear this burden..\u201dYou know the classic country song, \u201cDropkick Me Jesus Through the Goalposts of Life\u201d? Well, her eyes said \u201cDropkick Her Stuart, Through the Front Door of Our Home.\u201d However, just her eyes\u2014she was too gosh-darned nice to say it.<\/p>\n
God doesn\u2019t originate the bad stuff of life. That comes from another direction, down below, the same place that\u2019s in charge of hiring coaches for the New York Jets. But stuff happens. And having faith, believing in Him can help in working your way through them. Prayer helps\u2014but the best thing about prayer is it brings you closer to the ultimate comforter. That\u2019s the God I know\u2014the one who supplied the Bible quote that my late wife carried in her wallet for all of her adult life: \u201cBe thankful in all circumstances, for this is God\u2019s will for you in Christ Jesus.\u201d Living the years of uncertainty and terminal illness, watching her strengthened by the presence of God\u2014she was a living, breathing sermon, teaching those around her the joy that a love of God offers when you\u2019re undergoing the stresses and strains of life\u2026and life\u2019s end. He was with her in her suffering; He was not the cause of her suffering, nor is he of yours.<\/p>\n
Which brings us back to church and\u00a0pastors. As long as I\u2019m doing country, if his sermon were to borrow the title of another classic country song, it would be \u201cYour Head Hurts, Your Feet Stink, and You don\u2019t love Jesus.\u201d But the song I was singing under my breath was yet\u00a0another country classic, \u201cYou Can\u2019t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd\u201d<\/p>\n
Nor on some days in some of our churches. Wonderful\u00a0places, but at times not so much. But that\u2019s part of working your way through \u201cstuff.\u201d Consider carefully the advice you get and understand that good people\u2014like this pastor or my wife\u2019s friend\u2014can get things wrong\u2026and you just have to use the discernment that God gives us to sort it all out…lovingly, always lovingly.<\/p>\n
And sometimes, make sure to step carefully on your way out of church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thinking about God while in church\u2014better, of course, than thinking about NFL football, which is what I usually think about on September Sunday afternoons. Or the New York Jets, which some might argue is not really NFL football. Whatever. Back to God. The pastor was doing his pastor thing: Thank God for the blessings in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":581,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fatih"],"yoast_head":"\n