God Said No!

I work for a company on the shipping and receiving team. All of our inbound/outbound are scheduled appointments. One day a driver showed up well past his appointment time. When that happens we push them to the back of the line and we get to them when we can. This was driver was so upset that we were not going to put him in a dock right away and start unloading him. He started being a real jerk about it. Raising a big fuss. I stated several times that we were sorry but we would get to him when we could. He went back out to his truck and called our company complaining about the whole situation. The person in the office came down to see what in the world was going on. We explained the situation and they understood. One of my co-workers finally went out to tell this driver to back into one of our docks, so he did. It was my job that day to unload him. While I am unloading the truck, I kept thinking about the way he had acted earlier. I kept getting angrier and angrier. I finally finished unloading him, signed his paperwork and started towards the door, to head out and give it to him. In my mind I was going to give this guy as much attitude as he gave me. I was going to let him have it. Boy was I mad!! Well, I was about halfway between the dock and the cab of the truck when The Lord spoke to me. He told me no. No, I was not to repay evil with evil. 1 Peter 3:9New Living Translation (NLT)9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. Ok, Lord. I'm hearing you. Then The Lord told me no again. No, don't go out there angry, I was to treat him with mercy and grace. So by the time that I reached the drivers door, I was at a complete peace. In fact while dealing with the driver at the end, we were both relaxed and much better towards each other. In fact I asked him if he would like some samples that our company provides of the product that we make. He was more than grateful for that, since it happened to be a little after lunch time. I wish that I could say that this was the only time that this has happened, but alas it is not. The Lord has made me a more patient person in the last few years, but I am not all the way there yet. Things still happen that make my blood boil and my anger to rise. But God has always told me no! Do not take that anger out on anyone. Give it to Me and let Me deal with it. And that is exactly what I have done. It's The Lord's battle, not mine. In Him I place my trust. When God tells me no, it's for my benefit. He is protecting me, and for that I am grateful. Praise His holy name. Rev. Kev.

Praise You In This Storm.

This has been the most upsetting, difficult, frustrating week. As many of you know or may not know, we were supposed to close on the house we are selling and on the house that we are buying and then move that afternoon. We are all packed up and ready to go, when we get a call from our lawyer stating that the people buying our house do not have "clear to close". Great! Now what? They are hoping for next week, but even that is up in the air. Who knows if it will really happen at this point. Anyone's guess. Then on top of that, my debit card was hacked, to the tune of $86.00. That is not really a large sum of money, but when you are getting ready to close on two houses, any amount is huge. So I had to go the bank to get this straightened out. So nothing seems to be going right for us this week, to say the least. So what are we going to do about? Stomp up and down? Scream, yell, curse? Throw a tantrum? Yeah, I don't think so. What we are going to do is.....Praise Jesus while going through this storm. I keep thinking of the Casting Crowns song of the same title. Jesus says it best in John 16:33 New Living Translation (NLT)33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” You may be asking yourself "how can you praise Jesus in all of this trouble you are having?" Well let me tell you. I praise Him because we still have a house to live in. Yes everything is in boxes and a pain to have to find and re-open, but they are still here, in the house. Not loaded on a truck somewhere, sitting, waiting. I praise Him for the debit card issue, because I was able to get to the bank right away and get things taken care of, before any more damage was done. The were able to refund all of the charges and make things right. For that, I am thankful and grateful for His provision and protection. So I encourage you that no matter what you are going through, trust in, put your hope in, and praise Jesus for the storm. He will bring you out on the other side! Keep your eyes on Jesus. Once you take your eyes off of Jesus, you will sink. Just like Peter did when he got out of the boat.