One Pastor's Perspective

Yes, there is much room for faith. Stock markets across the world have fallen into a slide (or more of a black hole). We will soon be back in the stone ages, with Fred Flinstone cars (which DO NOT give off deadly carbon monoxide) and kitchen appliances made out of living animals (who speak to the camera when we are not around).

And, yet, God is still on His throne and there are STILL people in Florence (and in this world) that DO NOT KNOW CHRIST. And we STILL have a job to do. Put things into perspective, gird up your courage, and lets face this day KNOWING that He will lead us if we will only have faith and follow.

And then, do what I do . . DON’T LOOK at your retirement account and try to avoid as much news as possible!!!!! I call it my “head in the sand” strategy! (just kidding)

Have you ever been on to go so much that you feel like you MEET YOURSELF coming and going?? This week, I have shaken my own hand FOUR TIMES in my driveway!!! That is how life has been for David Wike for the last couple of months . . . I feel like I am trapped in a revolving door, and every time I think I can jump out it speeds up a little.

I think if we can just make it to November 9th, things will have to slow down a little (one way or another). That is my goal . . .

Negative talk; I have heard very little of it. Sometimes I am the first to hear, and sometimes the last . . . So, I really don’t know what is going around out there right now. But I do know this: In a church of our size, there WILL be negatives. In fact, Jim Sanderson (our RSI consultant) says IF we are doing this right, we can EXPECT it!!

And, all I really want to do is ask people to PRAY! Get it out of their minds that this thing is about David Wike, or even Ebenezer. This is a GOD THING!! If not, we shouldn’t (and I would like to think WOULDN’T) be doing it!!

Like Peter, the wind and the waves are STILL in turmoil all around us. It would probably make sense to us to give up . . . But God hasn’t sent that memo yet!!

Be still and KNOW that HE is GOD!!!

Hearts of Stone. That is what I believe it would take to NOT see what God is doing here. And, yet, there are some who do not see it and will not see it. I don’t know what motivates them (or DEmotivates them). I am stumped.

I know the economy is rough. I know the cost of living is going up. I know the cost of a gallon of gas is horrible (although I DID hear on the news last night that some stations are under $3.00, but I haven’t found that in Flotown yet).

I also know that God is leading us, and if we will only obey, He WILL PREVAIL!!! In the words of a very wise high school senior I know (very well), “God has got this.”

Be still and KNOW that He is God. That He is in control. That HE is in charge. Let’s let Him REALLY GET IT and look back one day and KNOW that it was Him and not us!!!!

Well, I survived. We survived. I believe yesterday was the most significant day in the modern history of Ebenezer Baptist Church. All things considered, it was a positive day. Most of the people were either positive OR had no comment. ONE did say we need a lesson in economics. That was her only comment. After the sermon I preached, after the video about the thing, I wanted to reply “No, we need a lesson in faith.” But, like a good little boy, I just listened to her and smiled.

Jim (our consultant) has prepared us for the fact that we won’t win EVERYONE over. But to succeed, we must win MOST. In this day and age of economic instability and a rising cost of living, it really WILL take faith to accomplish this. And God is here, ready to walk every step with us.

To someone on the outside, it WILL seem crazy. But God is at work in this and the only SANE response for us is to JOIN HIM. Period.

Below is a link to the campaign video, in case you didn’t get to see it!

EBC H.O.W. Video

Yep, here we are. D-Day. I have decided to cook breakfast for my family, and they don’t know it yet. I hope they like it.

Cooking gives me time to think. And all I can think about is what will happen at Ebenezer this morning. Will God’s people respond?? Will we all catch His vision for EBC??

Will those who come behind US find US faithful???

Time will tell the rest of this story . . .

HAHAHAHA . . . I’m over here on the swing!!! (See yesterday’s post). ANYWHO, Here we are on the Friday before what is probably the biggest Sunday in Ebenezer’s modern history. This really is a big day, and the week has been no short of the SuperBowl week I blogged about earlier. This has been a week of high pressure, and almost every oddball thing that could have happened has happened. And now, the weeked comes . . .

I hope all of you have a relaxing, restful weekend. I hope all of your football teams win. I hope God removes EVERY EXCUSE and REASON we could possibly have NOT to come to church and NOT to worship Him in this time, and we all actually come and see what He is doing!!

And my prayer is that we will see HIM in all of this!!!

A man is in bed with his wife when there is knocking on the door. He rolls over and looks at his clock. It’s half past three in the morning.”I’m not getting out of bed at this time,” he thinks, and rolls over.Then, a louder knock follows.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” says his wife.So he drags himself out of bed, and goes downstairs. He opens the door and there is man standing at the door. It didn’t take the homeowner long to realize the man was drunk.

“Hi there,” slurs the stranger, “Can you give me a push?””No, get lost, it’s half past three. I was in bed,” says the man and slams the door.

He goes back up to bed and tells his wife what happened and she says “Dave, that wasn’t very nice of you. Remember that night we broke down in the pouring rain on the way to pick the kids up from the baby-sitter and you had to knock on that man’s house to get us started again? What would have happened if he’d told us to get lost?”

“But the guy was drunk,” says the husband.”It doesn’t matter,” says the wife. “He needs our help and it would be the Christian thing to help him.”So the husband gets out of bed again, gets dressed, and goes downstairs. He opens the door, and not being able to see the stranger anywhere he shouts, “Hey, do you still want a push?” and he hears a voice cry out, “Yeah, please!”So, still being unable to see the stranger, he shouts: “Where are you?”

And the stranger replies: “I’m over here, on your swing.”

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Yep, it is already Wednesday and there is so much to do. And, yet, so much has already been done to get us to this point. If you are an Ebenezerite, do you realize this weekend is the culmination of almost FOUR YEARS of direct work?? (Not to mention 230 years of preparation??)

Just as Queen Esther, I believe God has brought us to this place for such a time as this. I think that is really cool . . . To think that God would trust US with such a task.

And I pray that we will be faithful to HIM.

So now I know . . . I know what it feels like to be a quarterback on SuperBowl week. MAN THE PRESSURE!! And, EVERY crazy thing that could happen HAPPENED yesterday. And, yet, this morning God is STILL on His throne. WOW, He is awesome!!

I have planned a Tuesday morning walkthrough for the team, followed by a press conference. And, YES, we will allow the press to come in to the walkthrough, because our game plan is solid and we are NOT AFRAID if the other team sees it.

You see, I believe God is even cooler than Bear Bryant. One of the things about the Bear that you had to love is that he would almost TELL you which hole ‘Bama was running the ball through and DARE you to stop him!! And, most times, they would do it AND RUN OVER YOU.

Satan can’t stop God. Plain and simple. He can cause us to stumble (IF we take our eyes off Jesus), but he CANNOT STOP OUR FATHER. PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I might act like Ric Flair at the press conference!

(PS – If you did NOT understand most of this blog, find someone you trust that is familiar with football AND wrestling. And, I am joking about the press conference . . . OR AM I???)