I won’t lie…it has been a week; or two. Maybe three.

This time of the year is my busiest season providing my photographic services for some 16 school campuses in the area taking school pictures of literally…thousands of students. Then I’m processing, uploading, dispersing proof order forms, collecting orders, processing those orders, delivering those orders while then preparing to make another round to each campus to do what we call ‘re-take day’ for those who missed the first day or maybe didn’t like their first pose and wanted another shot at improving it. Then, there is the barrage of relentless emails and messages that are non-stop looking for extra prints, missing prints, request to turn in late orders, etc. Needless to say I have stretches of days where it seems hard to keep my nose above water.

Oh…did I mention that in the midst of all this flood of activity and responsibilities… that I was also in the process of this other ‘minor issue’ of trying to get my house ready to sell, and close on after living in it for 22 years. There was a list of things needed done for inspection as I try to prepare before we close and packers/movers come in this week and begin the process of relocating west to be closer to family.

And one other small detail: my wife is already out there (California) where she started her new job last week; which this was all part of the plan when we made this decision to move. So basically I’ve had all this to trudge through on my own.

Can I just tell you I have been…’tested’ these past few weeks?

And I don’t share this to ask for sympathy or to whine and complain either. But if I miss a few mornings posting here over this next week you will know why. ;-)

I can also tell you that I’m pretty sure that had it not been for the grace of God and what all He has done in my heart these past three years that I would have imploded. No, really….I don’t believe I could have withstood all this...emotionally, mentally, and physically. And yet, He has been with me the whole time. There has been that inner…peace that has upheld me. A peace within…while it seemed there were ‘contrary winds’ howling continuously. It reminds me of that time Jesus was sleeping in the boat as He and His disciples made their way across a body of water under the direction of the Lord. (“Let us cross over to the other side.” – Mark 4:35)

Sometimes we will experience that…those ‘contrary winds’ that beat against you while we are actually ‘doing the will of God’. But I also have to add that I believe many, many sincere believers find themselves beating against violent storms for just the opposite reasons. They are out of the will of God (as in Not abiding in Him) and they are doing their best to find their way through the darkness and suffering needlessly. It happens often…where we ‘reap what we sow’ or ‘get destroyed for a lack of knowledge’. So this then sets up a great question of “How do you know the difference?”

One would be silly to jump to conclusions regarding either scenario. Trust me on that one.

I spent many years hearing a lot of teaching in the church world about an ‘easier path’ where all we had to do was ‘rebuke the devil’ and walk in all this power and victory and how God does not let bad things happen to His kids, etc. (I may have over-simplified that but you get the idea). But this past week, I could not help but let my mind ponder what all I have been through and continued to ask God for clarity and understanding as to ‘why me, Lord’? Especially when I had to swing an axe-pick to dig a ditch twice, to satisfy a dirt engineer on some minor concern of his.

Why me, Lord? Have I done something wrong? Am I being chastened? Have I missed you somewhere? And I was reminded that there are times when we are truly moving in the direction God wants us to be moving in and contrary winds arise to buffet us and to steer us in another direction. Not only did the story of Jesus being asleep in the boat on that stormy sea come to mind, but other verses as well. Passages like: “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God’. (Acts 14:22) and “Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him from them all.” (Ps. 34:19).

Peter’s words echoed through my spirit on more than one occasion reminding me to ‘think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” (1 Pet. 4:12-13)

But it was the admonition of James’s writing that really gave me pause: “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials…knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience…But…let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

Now before I address the ‘meat’ of this message, let me offer up this word of encouragement if you find yourself going through it these days but are not really sure if you are ‘in the will of God’ or suffering needlessly because you are out of it; - “All things…All things….All things…work together for the good to them who love God…” (Rom. 8:28). Now it’s important that you underline the last part of that promise instead of just leaving that off like we are prone to do. Who are the ones who ‘love God’? Those who keep His commandments. (John 14:15). They ‘want’ to do the will of God, even though they miss it at times. So whether you are suffering for ‘missing it’ (John 5:14) or are in the midst of it…IF you love Him, He’s going to use this for His good and guess what the end product will be? You will be conformed to the nature and likeness of Christ! (Go read Romans 8:29 now).

This compliments what James says well…so that we will be ‘perfect and complete’. Seems I recall Jesus saying that was the plan for us there in Matt. 5:48. (“You will be perfect like the Father).

But here was a rather interesting question I found myself asking the other morning when I had just about reached my limit (or so I was convinced) – “Lord…why is patience such an important trait to have and manifest?” And guess what verse popped in to my mind? It’s found in Luke 21:19 where Jesus was teaching on the ‘signs of the end of the age’ and He had been talking about wars and commotion and conflict and adversity. Then He drops this line: “By your patience possess your souls”. Another translation reads this way: “By holding fast, you will gain your lives.” I like the Amplified version that spells it out this way: “By your patient endurance (empowered by the Holy Spirit) you will gain your souls.”

Then, I read the next verse and it really gave me pause: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know…that its desolation is near.” (Luke 21:20). I’m just gonna leave that one there for those who have been watching the news of late.

May I share a very telling definition of the word ‘patient/patience’? It is ‘the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset or complaining; to remain steadfast despite opposition, difficulty or adversity’. 

Then there is that other noteworthy point that patience seems to be one of the ‘earmarks’ of having the fruit of ‘love’ which Jesus says will be the indicator of who His true followers are. (John 13:35; 1 Cor. 13:4; Gal. 5:22)

All that to say…that when you are really ‘going through it’, there is a reason. The same reason a coach pushes his athletes in spring training or a drill sergeant pushes his new recruits who will be going to war. Things are going to get ‘testy and tough’. Count on it. Do you recall what the dragon tries to do to the saints in Rev. 12:15? He wants to ‘carry them away in the flood’. And did Jesus not indicate in several places we could count on a ‘flood’ coming to test our foundations? (Matt. 7:25;Luke 17:27)

I do have strong reason to believe that the flood represents, among many things, a strong tide of ‘distractions’. Deadly distractions, to be exact. Distractions that can cause a driver to swerve into oncoming traffic or off the road and over a cliff. Silly distractions that mean nothing in the long run. Remember, in the midst of Jesus’s greatest test, He ‘set His face like a flint’ (Isa. 50:7). And we are commanded to “set our minds on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col 3:2)

Friends…it really is that serious. I have more to say on this warning for us to be careful that we not be caught up in the ‘cares of this world’ and we end up being ‘unfruitful’. (Mark 4:19). Having said that, I may be ‘hit and miss’ posting here over the next week. A good friend of mine will be making the road trip with me to get my truck of belongings out to California…but I will be back on Monday. Remember…in your patience…possess your souls. Let patience have…its perfect work.