Yesterday I had a meeting with Paul Sartarelli. He is one of the co-pastors of The Chapel downtown. Whenever we have a meeting he has his assistant e-mail me to remind me of the meeting. Now, I have never missed an appointment with Paul so I assume it is just the way he does things. I have to admit that whenever I get a reminder like that I want to mumble like a little kid "Yeah, I know Mom. You don't have to remind me." During my time with God the last couple of mornings I have been impressed to ask God to help me not to avoid humiliation. I really hate humiliation and try as often as I can to stay in my areas of competence so I don't have to feel it...at all. Any way, for whatever reason I have been asking God to help me not run from humiliation because I think in the midst of humiliation is where I can meet our Lord. So, here is where it gets interesting. I had an appointment this morning. It was with someone I have known for a long time but we never had breakfast together. We made the appointment long distance when I was traveling in Minnesota. I put it in my Blackberry but didn't realize that I entered it when I was in the Central Time Zone. Long story short, I arrived at breakfast precisely one hour late. I hate that! I apologized and thought of how confident I had been just the day before when I received the reminder from Paul's assistant. I also remembered my prayer about humiliation and ended up thanking God for answering so quickly. Pride even in the smallest areas is amazingly fragile. Today I am not nearly as confident. I am thankful for reminders and I am a little closer to the One who was humiliated for me that I might be set free.
Friday, July 25, 2008
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4 comments:
Pastor Joe,
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. I suffer from pride all too frequently, but fortunately, God in His graciousness, does remind me - like today's dose of humiliation. You can read about it on my blog, if you like. Peace, Jeff
Wow, I have always appreciated it when someone sends me a reminder and always do so myself as well. Isn't it amazing how we can have such different reactions to such simple things, even when we think we're being nice? Mom's are nice, aren't they? :)
Thanks for being transparent. Not blaming the Blackberry, but my paper PDA never needs batteries and automatically adjusts to time zones. :)
So many good things, though. Your friend waited patiently and probably wasn't even upset - perhaps a little caffeinated - but showed Godly character. You were shown yet another example of God's grace. And, it wasn't a wedding - it would be bad to be an hour late for that.
So glad to know our pastor is a human being. :)
reminders from secretaries are
good things not bad. I suspect it is as much for his benefit as yours. grumbliness does not become a pastor.
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