On My Way to Louisville

Yesterday, was a long but good day. I continued our exposition of Ephesians with a message on verses 5-6, entitled "Spiritual Adoption through Christ." In Sunday School, I began a four-part series I'm calling, "A Biblical Understanding of Charismatic Experiences." Yesterday's lesson was called, "Should Christians Pray in Tongues?" I actually lost my voice during the first service yesterday. And by the time Sunday School began, I had a sour throat. But by the time I got to the second message, I was feeling a lot better. God is good. I don't usually preach my way out of hoarseness. I praise God for giving me the strength to preach. And I pray that our congregation is being enriched by our exposition of the Hymn of Grace (Eph. 1:3-14). God willing, next Sunday I will pick up our study with the redeeming work of Jesus Christ (1:712). And George is to teach Sunday School on "Does God Give Direct Revelation Today?" I look forward to hearing his lesson.

After church, I received a big shock. Before Crystal left, she wanted to know what time I was leaving for Louisville Monday morning. When I looked at the paper, it said I was leaving at 11:50 Sunday night. The paper had been sitting in my mail tray all weekend. But I did not think to look at it. I usually don't travel on Sundays. So I just assumed that I was leaving Monday morning. When I got of the shock, sort of, I began to copy the notes that I needed for work I have to do while I am away. This took several hours. Then I went home and packed. And after I got something to eat and took a brief nap, it was time to head for the airport. All of this was quite humbling, to be honest. I was so upset and tired and... upset. But in the process of the evening, I was gently reminded by the Spirit of things I have been recently learning and teaching about responding to times like these. In fact, one of the messages that I intend to preach today will directly address that issue. So I felt convicted about getting so upset. And I felt a little stupid for not handling my scheduling better. I still have a lot of growing to do. I trust that this will not happen again. And I hope that if it ever does, my attitude will be better.

Anyway, I am writing this post at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. It was midnight when I left LAX. I arrived here at Chicago about 6 AM. And I have a two-hour lay-over here. I am scheduled to get to Louisville about midday. And I have two messages to preach today for the Central District Baptist Association of Louisville. And I have one message to preach tomorrow, possibly two. At the same time, I have a lot of work to do to be ready to preach our Midweek Service at MSMBC Wednesday night. I am scheduled continue our exposition of Psalm 119 with verses 89-96. So the next several days will be quite interesting, to say the least. But I trust God that God's grace, strength, and wisdom will be sufficient. Pray for me.