Sermon for June 25th

Sermon for 062506

Keeping a Jesus Attitude in the midst of the Storm

My week has been nuts. A funny thing happened earlier this week, I have been needing work and Alfred Yoder at Rosedale had asked if I would be willing to do some part time maintenance work over the summer. I don’t have a whole lot of options so I said yes. It is a kind of day to day thing, sometimes they have work for me and sometimes they don’t. Well, on Monday, he called me and asked if I would be up for some work, and I said “yes”. He said they had some sand that needed to be dug out of some aerators. I didn’t think that that sounded all that hard so I said sure I’ll be there.
It turns out that aerators are a part of the Rosedale sewage system. They are two big pits of sand, maybe 15 by 40 feet and they are the last step in the process. After the sewage has been treated it gets dumped on top of the sand and it filters down in and gets aerated. A really thick sludge that you don’t want to think to much about collects on the top of the sand and after a while, I think it had been ten years since the last time they had to do this, the sand gets so saturated with… stuff, that it doesn’t work anymore. Then Rosedale hirers some poor saps like me and the other guys to come and dig it out.
First we took off the top layer of… junk, and I don’t know where they took it from there, but watch your step if you are ever back behind the trees at RBC. Then we had to dig out 6-8 inches of the super saturated sand. We were using a bobcat, which is a little dump trunk to dump the sand in and then drive it over to the place we were dumping it. Before we had started, Dawson, one of the head maintence guys, asked me if I knew how to drive it. I didn’t, so he gave me a quick lesson. It went something like this, “first make sure the kill switch is up then you turn it on like this, the foot pedals do that, make sure your seat belt comes down like this, oh and don’t run into the side of the aerator, here is the keys, oh and Daniel knows how to run it too, see you later.
Daniel worked it for the first couple of loads, then at one point, he was like, you do this one. So I climbed into the bobcat. I managed to turn it on and was even able to back it away from the wall. I started to head toward the dump pile, when all of a sudden the shovel, which was full of sand, started to rise to the sky. I couldn’t figure out how to stop it, it just kept going. When it reached the top, as far as it could go, it jerked backwards, and just unloaded about half of the sand right on top of me and the bobcat. So here I am, sitting sort of buried in sand, and I am done with the Bobcat. I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off, and Dan and the other two guys were laughing so hysterically for a few minutes that I just had to sit there. Finally Dan regained his composure long enough to remind me of the kill switch and I turned that thing off.
Although that was a funny incident, that day was probably the lowest I have had in a long time. I can’t remember a day when I just felt like crying for no reason. A year ago I felt that it might be time to move on from the radio station and told the Armory board that I felt that way and would reevaluate at Christmas time. At Christmas I still felt that way, and Kris and I both felt that the Lord was moving us away from the radio station. I still feel that way. So at Christmas I resigned effective June 1st and started checking out my job options. There were quite a few. Three positions in the Rosedale area actually, that I felt fit me quite well. The first two fell through in late February, early March, but the last one, to me, was perfect. It was the job of director of enrollment services at RBC, and I was excited about it, I believed I could do it well. It appeared that Rosedale was excited about me too. But three weeks ago the word came back, that no, they were going to pass on me and look for someone else. That was really, really hard. Not only did this “perfect” job opportunity go away, but now I was seemingly out of prospects.
At first I was really mad, I mean, how dare they do this to me. Couldn’t they have told me sooner? I’m perfect for this job, what are they thinking. But you can’t stay mad real long, it is an emotion that just burns and isn’t productive, and really, they can hire whoever they want, and if I’m not the kind of person they are looking for then, I can’t blame them for saying no.
After the anger though, despair set in. How do I make enough money to keep paying the bills? What entry level job is out there that pays enough? I looked into radio, but radio is a really hard place to get into. You have to be willing to work for nothing for up to a year, and I just can’t do that. I could get several part time jobs at the same time and I may end up doing that if a few other things I have shot for fall through. I still don’t know what we’re going to do.
But that is how I found myself, setting in a bobcat, covered with “organic material”, and being absolutely shattered. I felt like the prodigal son in the pigpen, except I couldn’t figure out what I had run away from, or where to go back.
I was hoping that by this sermon something might have happened to make it all better, but that was a little wishful it seems. I am going to try to talk this morning about praising and trusting God when you are going through a storm. I don’t know how well, I am succeeding, so forgive me if the only person this sermon is for is me.
On the youth trip, we were encouraged to keep a Jesus attitude in all situations. Most of the verses used were in Philippians, so let’s start there. Please turn to Philippians 2:1-5 or just follow along as I read.
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
The Philippians were experiencing persecution, a few verses earlier in Philippians 1:27 Paul had told them that “whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” whatever happens. And what is that manner. Having love for each other, doing nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but putting the needs of others first, looking to others interests. How hard is that to do? The interests of others… but I need to find a Job. But if I pull out the old overused cliché, what would Jesus do? What would he do in my situation? Of course they don’t match up well, because he would never be in that situation, but what would he do, what is the correct Jesus attitude for me? I came to the conclusion that it really wouldn’t faze Jesus. God will provide all of our needs according to his riches in Glory. I shouldn’t worry about the finances of it at all. Eventually, one way or another, it will be taken care of. According to this I should be taking time to serve others, even when I just want to spend all of my time searching for a way out. I need to trust that the way will come.
I like another passage that Paul wrote, that reflects his attitude during times of trouble. It is 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 “We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

Paul faced a lot of adversity and yet kept a Jesus attitude, lets look at the bad things he mentions here, things that would reflect a human attitude instead of a Jesus attitude. Troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger, when have I truly felt hunger, dishonor, bad report, regarded as impostors, regarded as unknown, dying, sorrowful, poor, having nothing. If the passage just had those in them, it would be depressing. The only problem I have right now is a lack of a Job, and yet look at Paul’s attitude as a reflection to these. Great endurance, purity, understanding, patience, kindness, in the holy spirit and in sincere Love, in truthful speech and the power of God, with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left, genuine, known, living on even though dying, always rejoicing, making many rich, truly in the end possessing everything. I want that attitude. Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, poor, yet making may rich.
I confess that I don’t have that yet. But I want it, and am striving for it. More importantly, I am asking for it. I don’t think you can achieve that attitude without help from the Holy Spirit. I don’t want my attitude to be controlled by my employment. I want it to be the same all the time, a Jesus attitude. I want to feel better before I get a new job, not because of it. I hope that there is someone else who may be having a rough time of it who needed to hear this. God loves you and has a plan for you. We need not worry about God’s control. He has it. I hope in a few months I, we can look back on this time of distress for me as a valuable memory, and I will be able to tell you that it all turned out ok. For now, I am still here, and it still hurts, but I believe it will all come around. I ask that you would pray for me, that I would gain a Jesus attitude. I don’t believe I have got it yet, because I am stilling thinking of me. I am going to finish by playing a song that reflects the way I have been feeling, and the way I want to be. I want to Praise him in the Storm.


Praise you in this Storm by Casting Crowns. Go Here to see the Lyrics.