It's Friday...But Sunday is Coming

The title of this post "It's Friday but Sunday's Coming" is attributed to Tony Campolo and is a description of the feeling of hopelessness the disciples had before the Resurrection. It is a reminder that though things seem bleak at moments in our lives that God will come through in the end.

It is Friday as I write this post and I've just finished up some Bible stories that will be used in CPC's music camp, packed books and weeded the front and back lawns. I am certainly feeling the hopelessness of "Friday". The fact that I'm going to have to head down to Atlanta without my family June 1st pales in comparison to all of the hopelessness I see in the world around me: cyclones, earthquakes, war, the unstable economy and the price of gas. All of these have a common denominator whether they be personal (seemingly insignificant questions) or the global questions. The common denominator is "Where is God's faithfulness". When the uncertainties that we face in our personal lives or as a human race come, we often begin to doubt that God is faithful. It must be an inkling of what the disciples felt as they watched Jesus die on the Cross thinking it was the end. They had put all their hopes in Jesus. They had left their nets, lucrative businesses, meaningless lives for something...Someone greater. On Friday that Someone died. Perhaps they thought they had believed in vain. Then came Sunday and the Resurrection. All too often we rush ahead from Friday to Sunday. But what happened on Saturday? Despair. Questions. Shattered faith. Uncertainty. For we who wait expectantly for Jesus' Second Coming, every day is the Saturday between that awful Friday and that glorious Sunday. We know that Christ has risen and is at work. We know this by faith, but what we see day to day is a reminder that it isn't finished yet. So history marches on, the earth gets hotter and our anxieties about the future increase every day. The temptation while living in the "Saturday World" of despair and gloom is to believe that it isn't true or that somehow God has forgotten about us. So if my house doesn't sell by the 26th or if it doesn't sell for the whole Summer should I believe that God has forgotten about me? No. If gas goes up to $10 a gallon or the earth gets another few degrees hotter, does that mean that God has abandoned us? No. It means it is Saturday and we are in that long stretch before God's timing is fulfilled. And God's timing WILL be fulfilled. On a personal note I look forward to Sunday. We have an open house from 2-5, our neighbors to our right are holding a yard sale (more traffic) and our neighbors to the left decided to go ahead and have their once-a-year grass cutting. So everything is set for a good showing on Sunday. But if by Monday the 26th we do not have an offer, will God have failed? No. Not at all. He just has a better plan that I don't quite understand. The wonderful thing is that I can talk to the Lord about all of this. Whatever is on my mind. If it is gas prices, earthquakes, fear, whatever it is, I can talk to Him. How often do I talk to Him about these things? Not often enough, honestly. How about you?