Emotions

Ever had a weekend that was really exhausting, even though you didn't really do anything? As Nancy reminded me yesterday, God made us emotional creatures. And it was definitely an emotional weekend for me.

The constant backdrop of uncertainty about my father-in-law's heart problems set the tone. It's been good to see God's faithfulness in ministering to him in these days when we are so much more aware of God's sovereignty in providing us a limited period of time to work for Him in this world. So many times in the past Nancy's dad has been depressed over relatively minor things. Yet now he seems to be at peace with his circumstances. Today he gets transferred to the heart hospital in Saint John for more tests.

I'm sad to think we may not have him with us much longer. But also so proud to see his faith and the impact of his life, and knowing that, when the time is right, God will have something much much better for him. So there is an undeniable joy as I ponder our Lord's grace and mercy.

To "add fuel to the fire", I went to the funeral of a friend who had been battling cancer for the last couple years. Jerry Reynolds was one of the first (and most memorable) people we met when we started going to Cleary Baptist Church nearly nine years ago. I hadn't seen him in a while, and it was good to be reminded of the huge spiritual impact he had through his family and his service to the church. His love and joy and faith were truly contagious.

The rollercoaster of feelings continued Sunday. Although I had concerns about my family being able to adapt to being the only white folks in church, we were all blessed by our visit to New Jerusalem Baptist. In particular, it was refreshing to see a church that was literally bursting at the seams, instead of the propaganda we've heard so many times that people won't fill a church beyond about 80% capacity. In the evening, we were blessed as Cynthia finally went forward (at Cleary) to profess her faith in Christ and ask for baptism. God is so good.