Encouragement through Worship
Heb 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some
are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one
another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching. NIV
Did you know that we can be of encouragement to one another
through worship? I sure didn't know, especially when I was
young and wild and only cared about myself. But now that I
have matured in years a bit (I am called a dinosaur by my
students! It must mean something!) I have started to realize
the importance of regularly coming together for worship.
These meetings are not only such a blessing to me, but I can
also be an encouragement to others who attend. And so are
you! Let me share with you what happened to me last Sunday.
It's a day I will never forget!
My brother-in-law and his family had come up from Virginia
to orchestrate with my mother-in-law's moving sale. I was in
charge of keeping the kids. That was easy. They were so
happy to be able to play with their cousins that it seemed I
had the best job of everybody.
The sale was to be on Sunday, and it so happened that this
was the Sunday of the Spring time change. And since the sale
was to start at 7:00 a.m., by the NEW time, all the adults
(except myself) had get what seemed to be a VERY early
start! I hadn't changed my watch the day before and when I
woke up at 6:00 a.m. I glanced at my watch and said to
myself: "It's only 5:00 a.m. by the new time standards. I
better force myself to stay in bed!" So I forced myself to
stay where I was. I tossed here and there. I felt like I was
running a marathon! Finally tired of tossing (this is hard
work, believe me!) I got up. My watch read 6:35, so I
figured it was really only 5:35 and I'd have an extra hour
to play with. Then my youngest son came charging upstairs:
"Papa, it is time to wake up! It's 7:35 a.m.!"
"7:35 a.m.? Are you sure?"
"Yes, papa. You remember the time change!"
Oh no! I had it all backwards! Instead of being an hour
ahead, I was 2 hours late! I still had to send the
newsletters, feed the kids, get ready for church and pick up
my wife by 9:00 a.m. from my mother-in-law's home 20 minutes
drive away. Normally we had to be in church for 10:00. But
this day, my kids had to be there for 9:30 to help set up
the puppet stage for the kids church. I had barely one hour
to get ready before we had to leave, and instead of my usual
two kids, I was responsible for getting four out the door on
time!
Feeding the bunch didn't turn out to be so bad after all.
The kids had already fed themselves before I got up, and
being a master magician, I was able to transform myself from
a grumpy-looking zombie in pajamas into a decent
(hopefully!) well-dressed church-goer within the limits of
our time restraints.
As I sat down in the driver's seat of the van at 8:30 a.m.
with all 4 kids securely fastened into their safety belts, I
went over the usual checklist:
"Do you have your coats?"
"Yes, papa."
"Do you have your Bibles?"
"Yes, papa."
"Do you have your water bottles?"
"Water bottles? Oh no, we forgot them!"
To my horror of horror, I now had to release the troupes,
open up the house, and send them off to accomplish the
impossible task of finding their water bottles.
But it got worse. As soon as we were inside, my youngest son
yelled:
"Papa. Grams' cats have escaped! We need to find them!"
Sure enough, my mother-in-law's two cats who we were
responsible for while she was in the hospital, were nowhere
to be found. In most households, this wouldn't constitute
much of a problem. But because we have 4 pet birds that
would be considered a delicious treat to any pair of
felines, we quickly embarqued on a two-part search: 1. to
find a pair of cats; and 2. to find a pair of water bottles!
After a hectic search (Boy, these cats can run! Try to catch
cats who are determined to remain free to roam around the
house with the only purpose of anticipating a delicious
feathered snack!) we had both cats cornered. To make sure
they would not escape again, we put them in their crate and
locked them up in my son's bedroom. Amazingly enough,
finding the water bottles was simple after that search!
We were now back in the car, 20 minutes late, and as I
backed out of the garage, I discovered it had snowed during
the night. And not just a little snow either. Now everyone
knows you aren't supposed to have snow in April, so
naturally, the roads hadn't been plowed. Oh no! It took all
of my driving abilities, along with the protective help of
many guardian angels to keep us from slipping into the many
attractive-looking ditches, but I finally arrived, 25
minutes late, at my mother-in-law's place to pick up my
wife. We had exactly 5 minutes to get to church in time to
help with the puppet stage.
The rest was history. We flew down the highway, which,
miraculously, had been plowed, and somehow we managed to
arrive at church on time. It was a miracle!
As we entered the church, Mr. Jack came to us apologizing.
Today there would be no puppets during kid's church!
We might have been angry, but instead we rejoiced that we
were half an hour early for once. We spent the time before
worship meditating over God's Word. What was amazing
is that once worship started, all the stress we had gone
through evaporated. We were an encouragement to one another
as we all sang praise to the Lord. As I looked at my kids
and my wife, I realized that there was no better place to be
than in church worshipping the Lord. All our morning
adventures had been worth this special moment. At the end of
the service we all thanked each other for being such an
encouragement to one another and praised the Lord for the
special blessing that had been bestowed on us.
My friend, if you are not taking the time to regularly
worship the Lord with other believers, you are missing a
huge blessing! Your hectic schedules will keep your hearts
pumping with anxiety. Come to the Lord and hand Him over
your worries, and come rejoice in the company of saints
worshipping the Lord. Come and be a blessing to others and
see your burdens evaporate in the presence of the Lord. You
won't regret it!
Rob Chaffart