Thank God for Funnies

Washing your car at the local carwash sounds like such an easy task, and normally it is. On one particular day, I decided to take my 3-year-old grandson, Kylan, with me to help me out. I could teach him little everyday things; plus, this would be fun. What a beautiful morning God had blessed us with. We were going to enjoy our day: do a little visiting, do a little shopping --you know, that kind of stuff. But, first, we were going to get our dirty car washed!

We arrived at the carwash of choice, I grabbed my quarters, and we were ready! Kylan was going to be a big boy and help wash the car. I handed him the nozzle and told him to get ready while I put the coins in the machine.

Most machines that I’d used had the knob that you turned to whatever setting you wished. This one was a little different: it had numbers (which I hadn’t paid attention to) and pictures (which I thought were the buttons). I put the money in and kept pressing the picture; why wasn’t this thing working? I was thinking that Kylan must not be squeezing the sprayer nozzle down, but he was. As a matter of fact, he was standing facing me with the sprayer, showing me he was squeezing it. I turned to look at what else might be the problem with this old machine. OOOOh, buttons; that’s what you do. I pressed #9 and, boy, did things start happening!!!

Kylan was still facing me and still squeezing the nozzle, just like his Nonna had told him, when the machine cut on. The initial constant spray was directly on me--with force, I might add!! Poor little Kylan was so scared--his big brown eyes wide and doing his best to control the hose which was moving around uncontrollably in his little hands. I was trying to get the hose from him, and he was trying to let me have it (no pun intended), but he kept facing me, so he kept spraying me, and, well, you get the picture. I’m sure we looked like two stooges, at that point. He must have realized that dropping the sprayer and running would be the best defense because that’s exactly what he did. Needless to say, I was soaking wet, and I most definitely was on my own when it came to washing the car.

I could not stop laughing as I washed the car and as I looked at him peeping around from the other stall to watch me wash the car. I’m sure you are wondering if anyone else saw us. Well, the answer is “yes.” There were other people there vacuuming their vehicles, and we were in plain view. I’m pretty sure we made their day!!!

The moral of my story is this –“Be prepared for the unexpected and find humor in it, if at all possible!!!!!” Or, the moral of the story could be—“Pay attention.” Or—“If you don’t pay attention, be prepared for the unexpected and find humor in it, if at all possible. I wonder which one the Lord was trying to teach me that day. Regardless of the moral, we should thank God for the funnies or comical things that transpire in our normal daily walks of life just as we thank God for the serious things that transpire in our lives. I most certainly thanked God for this funny moment that I shared with my grandson. I don’t think either of us will soon forget it!

Written by Donna Melancon

IS MY WORSHIP GREATER THAN MY WOUND?

No matter how awful our past, we can’t have a life of quality if we continue to reside there. In our lives, we have disruptions that occur. We experience things such as divorces or loved ones passing away. “Dreams fail to materialize, assumptions about life or about other people are shattered.” No matter what we experience, certain things are just painful.


When these disruptions occur, we experience emotions such as sorrow, grief, anxiety, and anger. These are all powerful emotions, and they can take a lot of energy from us, leaving us overwhelmed or making us feel as if our life is over or making us feel defeated or beaten down. While sometimes we don’t have a choice about what happens to us, we have a choice of how we respond to what has happened, and we can choose a life devoted to God by disciplining ourselves to take our sorrows to Him in prayer and turn our heart to Him, letting go of our sorrow and worshiping Him.

When we talk to God, God responds! He knows exactly what we are dealing with and exactly how to help us. By focusing on God, being faithfully committed to worshiping Him, and staying in constant communication with Him, day by day His strength will enable us to carry on. So the question is, “is your worship greater than your wound?”

We all know that sometimes “sorrow can produce bitterness and resentment, but it can also produce faith, peace, and purpose. Out of our sorrows can come serenity, graciousness, and closeness to God.” If we choose to give our heartaches to God and focus on Him daily, then we can experience serenity and graciousness, and we can also achieve closeness with God.

The more time we spend with God the more spiritually sensitive we are to God, the more our hearts will develop and grow. BLESSINGS and POWER come to the ones who constantly devote their time to God versus being “one day spiritually-on and one day spiritually-off.” At some point, we have to learn to let go of our grief and to focus on God.

When we take our hurts and our sorrows and redirect our energy to worshipping God, we overcome our sorrows. Daily communication with God is much easier than we sometimes think. No matter where we are, we can always communicate with God and glorify Him.

When we go through pain and we turn to God, we are doing more than just surviving the sorrows that we are experiencing: we are “becoming productive and acquiring a meaningful life and getting a sense of wonder.” Something that was shared with me recently that is so effective is when I find myself faced with a tough situation, I should just start to say, “God, God, God, God, God…” until He comes into focus. When we can keep our focus on God, He, in return, will help us and bless us.



Written by Donna Melancon

Inspired by the book Wonder Women of the Bible, New Hope Publishers, written by Brenda Poinsett.

WOOHOO!

If you aren't coming to Community on Wednesday night, then you are missing out on a mid-week upper. Last night was phenomenal!

I love going because it gives me a chance to see people I haven't seen in a while because we are in two services on Sunday morning or because I'm busy with kids or women's ministry. I love going because I'm meeting people I've never met before – some are new members, some are old members and some are visitors. But even better than that, we get to meet with family, our church family and circle around tables eating with them and then praying with them. There's singing and worship. It's just an uplifting experience.

Then there was choir practice. There were 92 people there for the practice. God has given Pastor Rick the number 80, as in we should have 80 people in the early and late service singing in the choir. If you enjoy the music on Sunday morning, you should come try out the choir. You don't have to be a soloist because I assure you I am not. But last night we were raising the roof, worship God Almighty and praising His name. "For the Lord is good, and His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations!" Psalms 100:5

Last night as I was sitting in choir practice and when I was standing worshipping my Savior, it dawned on me – "For Christians, Easter is our Independence Day." When I think of Independence Day I think of freedom. We enjoy freedom in this country, and we celebrated it on Independence Day. For Christians, we have such freedom in Christ because He not only overcame death, He defeated it! And by His victory over death, I have freedom. "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Cor 3:17) That's what I felt in choir practice last night – FREE. Free from the bondage of sin. Free from fear and anxiety. I was free to open my heart to Him knowing He would never harm me. I can lay down the stresses of my day and just worship Him. He wanted to meet with me last night. I sought Him, and I found Him waiting for me with arms wide open.

Are you ready to abandon your dignity and pride? Are you ready to abandon and release your hold on what you think is important in this life? Are you ready to release your anxiety and fear? Abandon it all. Find freedom. Come Sunday morning to Calvary. Come and find freedom, excitement, energy, new life. Come find encouragement. And then, come to Community on Wednesday for an empowering and energizing time with your family.

I love you, ladies. Great things are coming. Can you feel it?