Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Overwhelmed, not overboard

So ...

I'm overwhelmed. Look in the dictionary and next to the word overwhelmed, you will find a picture of me. I'm overwhelmed. Flat out overwhelmed. Like a deer in the headlines overwhelmed. Like a man with a dinner date that he's 30 minutes late for overwhelmed. Like it's pouring down raining and my umbrella is in the trunk of the car overwhelmed. Like a woman behind a curtain with 30,000 fans chaning her name, and it's her first concert she isn't the opening act for and she suddenly realizes she left her guitar in the hotel overwhelmed 

It's Wednesday, I think, and I've finished my sermon, as always on this day. But when I began the process of printing it, there was no ink in my new church office printer. I could find none, nor anyone who knew where any was.

So...

I'm overwhelmed. Like a teenager caught in the process of opening the door to his house and he's 20-minutes past curfew and the lights suddenly come on in the living room overwhelmed. Like a 13-year-old girl who was practicing her pitching against the stone wall of her house till one got away and went through the back door, the glass back door overwhelmed. Like a guy on a first-date and he spills a drink -- all of the mountain sized drink -- on her new blouse overwhelmed.

So ...

I'm slowing down. I still have the sermon to print, somehow. I still have the bulletin insert with my sermon notes to print. I still have....

All my work to give away.

Bu I'm slowing down, gathering myself. Paul says this in his letter to the Philippians:  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.   And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Now, if I could simply find my prayer shawl ...

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