This is life

Do you ever feel like you’ve passed through a 24-hour period and lived much more than a day? Last night, I came home after conducting a funeral. I was tired and emotionally drained. It had been a hard day, and I came home to a dirty house. Dishes and the remains of dinner lay everywhere. The family was asleep. I unwound, cleaned up, and then collapsed in the late hours downstairs, and put on a Third Day worship DVD and had my own private worship service.

Your love, oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
Your justice flows like the ocean’s tide
I will lift my voice
To worship You, my King
I will find my strength
In the shadow of your wings

Today, I woke earlier than I would have liked, and talked with Charlene about unfinished business from yesterday. Then the normal rush to work, kids to school and a friend, fighting disruption after disruption to get to focus on what I needed to do. So much of church ministry could be spent worrying about the wrong things. Phone call after phone call, minor irritations, silly interruptions, and some time trying to figure out what God wants me to say on Sunday. Time trying to listen to him among – even through – all the other noises. Lunch with two friends – safe people – and then an afternoon of appointments. A day full of confrontation, friendship, interruptions. Then, tonight, the mixed feelings of having kids (how can you not like your four-year-old son saying, “Dad, I sure do like you”) and looking forward to when they collapse in bed so I can collapse too. This is life – way, way out of control, glorious and frustrating. And tomorrow’s an entirely new day.