Rain on Sunday

I woke up this morning to find a light rain falling. It was clearly enough to use the windshield wipers but not enough to use a rain jacket. A quick check of radar showed the storm mostly north of us, and not moving south. It might not even be raining in Bentonville, ten miles south of us. The forecast called for the rain to stay mostly to the north. It would most likely be moved on out by the time church was over.

I put the finishing touches on preparation for Life Group lesson. I actually spent more time preparing for this lesson than I normally do, at least of late. The scripture was 2nd Corinthians 5:11-21, which is a very dense writing by Paul, taking some digging to understand. Our pastor is on vacation, and our Hispanic pastor was to speak. After church would be an enchilada dinner, a fund raiser by our Hispanic church.

So I arrived at church early (Lynda stayed home with a headache), had a couple of good conversations, and prepared for the service. It was a good service, though two of the worship choruses were mostly new to me and the other isn't one of my favorite. But there's no law that says the music must always be to my taste. The first part of the service was a little shorter than normal, and Pastor Beck got up to speak.

Surprise, surprise. He spoke from Ephesians chapter 4, not 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. I listened intently to the preacher, expecting him to bring it back to the scripture I had studied, but he didn't. So I had a dilemma: In the second hour, teach the lesson I had studied or teach something from the pastor's sermon.

Then, the pastor ended his sermon somewhat early. We were out twenty minutes or more earlier than normal. By this time I had decided to stick with my prepared lesson. I felt it would be difficult to shift gears at that point. Starting class early, we had the chance to also end early, after a full lesson, and be first in the enchilada line. Except, of course, the other two classes meeting at that hour had the same opportunity.

Class went well. After a good time of prayer and sharing, I dug into the lesson and the class responded. It was a free-wheeling discussion of the ministry of reconciliation as described by Paul and how to apply it to our lives. We got into getting beyond spiritual milk into weightier issues (which we were doing), with the entire process of how a God uses us in the conversion to Christ (preparation, sowing, watering, tending, and ultimately harvesting), and with what this means for our day to day living. We even dealt with racial and ethnic reconciliation. It was definitely the right lesson to teach.

And, we were first in the enchilada line. It was a great turn out for great food. I took some home to Lynda plus two extra dinners to have this week.

With it still raining after church, and even somewhat now, I didn't walk this afternoon. I put a few finishing touches on my financial spreadsheet, then filed most of the related papers. I have a little filing to go, but not much. I say that knowing some papers are eluding me. I'll find them when I straighten up the mess in The Dungeon, and will have more to file. But it feels good to be at this point.

Tonight I'll eat light, maybe walk a shorter route if the rain has really stopped, read and discard one magazine, read in a writing craft book, and look at stocks. I'll drop in bed around 11:30 p.m., probably not tired, but ready to say this glorious Sunday has ended, that it was good to have been in the house of the Lord, and good to have a relaxing day in His presence. For, even though I mention getting some things done, it has truly been relaxing.