Mark Sorensen My earliest memory of going to sleep as a child was looking at a painting that hung over my bed of Jesus. He was alone and sitting on a hill, overlooking a city below. I would stare at that picture for hours. It’s funny because I often imagined that that was how God watched over us all. But, replace the city below with God sitting in front of billions of TVs. Each person in the world occupied their own TV set and God would watch them all simultaneously (you can’t say I lacked imagination as a child).
Can I be honest? Lately, I believe that God has LOVED watching the “Mark” channel. Seriously. Between the move, extra unforeseen financial expenses, moving a child to college, getting another child ready for high school in a new city, praying for and watching my wife start a new job back in the public school system and, oh, I could go on, it has all seemed quite overwhelming of late. Then? The roof falls in. Literally.
On Monday of this week while we were dropping off our son at college, we get a call from some new friends (God put these people in our lives at the RIGHT time, I might add) who shared the unfortunate news that, as they came into our home to let our dog out, they noticed the kitchen ceiling was no longer where it should have been. Instead, it was now residing on the floor amidst a lot of water coming from above. Apparently, while we were gone, the toilet on the second floor began to leak into the floor which led to it pooling in the kitchen ceiling and, hence, the collapse.
I have heard that things come in 3’s but, honestly. We have moved into multiples of 3 lately. Maybe you have been there? Seems like you keep hitting circumstance after circumstance until you find yourself standing amidst the broken pieces of what has fallen apart in your life? Here comes the encouragement. God does not take delight in seeing His children struggle. When it gets to be too much, come back to this truth… you are not alone. Love this from Deuteronomy:
Be strong and brave, and don’t tremble in fear of them, because the Eternal your God is going with you. He’ll never fail you or abandon you! Deuteronomy 31:6
I shared something in the last sermon I gave in the Woodlands that, I believe was more for me than anyone else. God promised the Israelites the promised land but when they got there, there were still giants in the land. The truth? God is with us. He never said it would be easy. But he did say, “I am with you”.
So may you find comfort in knowing that conflict, struggle and unfortunate circumstances exist. But they are also temporary. God? Eternal. Righteous. Holy. Loving. And He is on our side.
So, keep that head up, friends. God is near and you are not going through this alone. (Also, not a bad idea while that head is up to look for pooling water in your kitchen ceiling… Just saying.)
