August 2020
I am bored.
I am ready for schools and businesses to open and for things to get back to normal.
Do you remember the movie Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell? One day follows another and it is the same thing over and over. For us, the long, hot summer drags on. The waiting continues.
Think back to the Old Testament. Thousands of years after Adam’s sin, generation after generation yearned for their Messiah, their King, the Chosen One who would free them from their bondage. Now THAT was waiting. We’ve got nothing on them.
Yet this seems to be taking FOREVER. I am not good at the mundane, the same thing day after day. I want a vaccine to be discovered and for all of us to be safe from the virus. I want things to return to “normal”.
But, oh my goodness. I am self-centered, spoiled and SO not deserving of the incredible blessings God has given me. I do NOT have a clue when it comes to suffering, to famine, to destitution. I live in a home, community, and country that has not experienced real hardship for decades. Whoa, is me! I am not worthy to even lodge a complaint!
In Groundhog Day do you remember what did change? Bill Murray’s character, Phil Connors, after a lot of trial and errors, actually evolved into (give me slack…) a nice guy. What changed was his attitude, his perspective. Maybe I should get out of my head and look to God instead of complaining, bickering, arguing, and wishing this would magically go away! God is still on the throne and His Kingdom has no end. This season, on the other hand, will end (it can only last a lifetime…) and when it does, I hope that I come out of it knowing God more deeply, allowing His love and grace to be seen through me, and serving Him and all those around me in ways I never even imagined.
He is my rock, my salvation, my only hope. I have everything I need - especially now.
For this month’s Tom video, I bring you Christmas in (JULY) August. This video is from Scottsdale Bible Church, December 2018. It was Tom’s last time teaching before he was promoted to heaven in January 2019. Although the message is within a Christmas series, Tom’s lesson is perfect for us today, in THIS season, as we wait. (Jamie Rasmussen’s introduction of Tom begins at 24:31 and Tom’s lesson begins shortly after.)
For more Tom messages and lessons, please check out https://www.prioritylivingaz.org/. And, I hope you’ll look beyond the numbingly sameness of each day and take time to count your blessings thanking God for all He has given you. God is good. Always.
PS: Please join (virtually or in person) Redemption Arcadia for an evening of "Shraderisms" on August 19th, from 6:30-8:00pm. For more information please visit https://arcadia.redemptionaz.com/events/shraderisms/