Provision

It was that time again.  Time to plan the annual Men’s Rafting Trip in Colorado.  I had taken a group of fifty men a year earlier and discovered how some guys get the nickname “Bob” when they go rafting.

That’s all I want to say about that.

Now as I pulled out the file, I came across the list of men who had gone with me.  What a difference 12 months had made!  I was amazed at the profound changes so many of them had witnessed. 

  • Three had been fired from their work. 
  • One had quit his job and was unemployed for four months. 
  • One man endured an extended season of severe depression.
  • Another had faced a dangerous autoimmune disease and was out of work for several weeks.
  • One man’s career was at a dead end.
  • Three others lost their businesses.
  • One left for another state with no job in sight. 

Put in Biblical language, “their brooks had dried up.”  That is, they looked to a means by which God had provided for them in the past – health, strength, job, career – only to discover that the resource was no longer available.

Little did I know as I scanned that list that I, too, would soon face a drought of my own.  Up until that time my ministry was fairly evenly split between an itinerant ministry and a part-time pastoral staff position.  Within a matter of weeks, my traveling ministry had dwindled to two continuous months of inactivity.  Then the church where I had served for four years terminated me, along with a number of other staff members, because of budgetary restraints. 

Downsized!  [click to continue…]

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