When I started as pastor of Faith Church, I remember standing before the congregation most Sundays thinking to myself, Look at all those smiling faces, those well-dressed people. They don’t need to hear this sermon. My feeling has long been described by the phrase “you’re preaching to the choir”.
Five years has passed, and my perspective has turned 180 degrees. I now look out each Sunday morning thinking, they all need this!
Why? Because I have learned a lot about your stories, your families, your struggles. And most of all, I know about my family, my struggles. All of us have them. We are a people in progress. We all have a story to share, a tale of what the Apostle John would describe as the light crowding out the darkness in our lives.
Yesterday, then, I shared three stories from Michelle’s and my life. My car accident when I was 17, a difficult situation in Michelle’s past which led to her struggle with anorexia, and finally our year of personal pain as church-planting missionaries in Jamaica.
Ours is a story of restoration, of God’s healing in our lives on multiple levels, and we praise him. But you know what? We still need restoration. Michelle and I are still sinners in need of a savior to change us, and that is our prayer. Don’t put us on a pedestal. It’s not like we have been perfect for the last 12 years since our return from Jamaica. Many of you have seen us mess up in big ways right in front of you. If you haven’t, just ask our kids! Our prayer continues to be that the Lord would change us and make us more like Jesus. God wants to make us new! He wants to do the same in your life too.
So what about you? Do you need to share your story? Might sharing be the beginning of healing?
(If you want to read a longer treatment of my accident story, you can do so here.)
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