Moving From Chaos to Hope

Moving From Chaos to Hope

            This past fall, I was on my trip around the country and met a pastor who served a church in the Mid-West whom I will call Steve.  We had lunch together, and he told me his story.  He was from Florida, serving churches there and doing very well.  He loved the area.  His wife was a college professor, and was offered a job in the mid-west to teach at a large University.  To accommodate her job, he relocated with her and pastored a smaller rural church while she commuted to a very different setting in the city.  They had two small girls.

            One day, his wife told him she was leaving him.  There was clearly more to the story but he had the decency to stop there, and wouldn’t say anything negative about his soon to be ex-wife.  He went on then to tell me about the next few days after she dropped the news.  While he was left trying to figure out how to take care of these two little girls, the growing church he was leading experienced a major fire in their sanctuary and other areas.  He took me on a tour of the church.  Everything was still in chaos.  Offices were scattered.  Workmen and tools were everywhere.  The beautiful but old sanctuary was a mess, in between disrepair and repair. 

            And yet, I was amazed by his demeanor.  I followed him on Facebook after I left.  He would ask folks how to put on Halloween costumes, how to do this or that with little girls, all clearly new territory to him.  Before I left, I took this picture of the sign Steve had just put up on the front of his church:

 

            I left this small town and church amazed at the sense of humor, but more importantly, the power that this pastor had found.  Specifically, he found a God who offered hope in midst of chaos.  When strong foundations like family and church crumbled (in a sense), he was able to hold on to something stronger that held him through the storm.

            This weekend, we are going to remember this truth about our God.  He still does it.  God can move us from chaos to hope.  Let’s talk about this some more!  See you in worship!

Pastor Pete