Dear Reclining Readership,
Oh, Sunday mornings. They hold so much promise, don't they? Open ended, loungey, coffee, the New York Times, (again, a distant memory of my past life, but a good one none the less!...), and then on to church. Many of you know this routine well: about 11:30am in Vineyard Columbus, coffee in hand, finding a seat in the section you usually sit in, (depending on how late you are :-), and settling in, eager to worship God and soak in excellent Biblical teaching, engaging in heading towards Jesus with others.
This morning I mosied into the church I was visiting a few minutes late,(typical Dar es Salaam traffic: a semi carrying pieces of a bridge the Chinese are building had turned over, blocking 2 lanes of traffic and causing diversions through the back mud roads) and hung out in the back row until worship was over. During the flurry of movement between announcements, children being dismissed, and general seat shifting, I moved up to sit closer to Dan & Melissa, and ended up sitting down next to Rich Nathan, who is visiting the Tanzania Team & doing a conference here right now. He was preaching this morning at the church we were visiting. As the room generally settled and announcements were winding up, Rich leans over, hands his Bible to me, and says quietly to me: "I really don't feel led to preach today. I'm not really hearing from the Lord right now. Here, you preach."
...
...
Yes. And silence followed, the Bible lying on my lap. He did not crack a smile, twinkle his eye, or look even slightly bemused. As a large pit formed in my stomach, I attempted a weak laugh, and assured now that he was not joking by his demeanor, did the only thing I could do. I handed the Bible back and said "No."
Let's just relish this moment for a minute. Or sit in the awkward pain of it together. I'd just crisply refused my senior pastor's request that I teach, and we're about 1 minute until the sermon. I'm literally starting to try to run through things in my mind that God's been teaching me this week, but it's hard because of the increasing gnawing pit in my stomach. I think I'd come to the feeble thought 'Well, we all could always use to read through a Psalm...' FINALLY Rich aborts my misery, and smiling cheekily as he stands up to speak, says to me "John Wimber used to do that all the time. Always be ready. Next time, Grace..."
The moral of this story: Pick Your Sit Carefully on Sunday Morning. Also, always have a teaching prepared whenever you leave the house if you're a poor preaching instrument of God on the spot...:-) Also, Rich Nathan can keep a darn good straight face.
Love Grace "Better write that back-up teaching this week! :-)" Mendola
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4 comments:
I sat at the Vinyard Sat. night as a guest and wondered where Rich was. I love the idea of keeping God's lessons in your heart and ready to go...a lesson for all of us to remember.
Grace, I LOVED this story. Wow...what a feeling that must have been. :) That Rich is a kidder. :P You would have been excellent if you did it & will be when you do. much love!
Jenny M
Reminds me of Yogi Bhajan relaying the responsibility of helping others financially, and after ending the "lecture" he asked all 2000 attendees to stay exactly where they were sitting, gather a group of people to go around and then directed everyone to empty their pockets of all money, EVERYTHING!
Oh my goodness girl. I was reading your email and a pit fell into my stomach. What a great teaching moment:) Love U!
Becca
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