The word of the day is gratitude.
This is been one of those weeks that weeks to week week and won’t stop week weeking, you know? And yet I have known God to be with me in undeniable ways — including and beyond those that are easier to point to with others.
As an example of the latter category, we had that terrible electric storm Monday night. Tuesday morning, I noticed our power flickering and acting strange. Assuming a correlation, I made the necessary connections and reported it to ComEd. While I was home for lunch, however, we lost power entirely. And I noticed then that only part of the house had lost power. I connected with Bill K. (Property & Finance) again to report the change and he connected with an electrician he had worked with. The electrician thought it sounded most likely on ComEd’s side of things, but Bill decided to bring them out to be sure. And indeed, there was a major issue with the main lines at the breaker box, which may initially have been a minor thing from when ComEd upgraded the meter and had been escalating unbeknownst to us since then. A surge of some sort during the storm may or may not have tipped things as they did, but these wires shorting at the box could have been a much bigger issue than my family enduring without electricity (and a/c) for a day and a half.
Alongside my gratitude that “it could have been much worse,” there is immense gratitude to be partnered with such a loving and responsive community, and for God’s provision in enabling a rapid repair. Among clergy, living in parsonages is sometimes joked about as being the worst part of compensation: churches can have boundary issues, they are bad “landlords,” repairs take forever and are shoddy, etc. The truth is that most of these have never been my experience anywhere, and they most definitely have not been my experience here and now. For my family, living in parsonages has always been one of the best parts of my compensation, and you all have reinforced that by living out your community love for us in this way.
As an additional piece of gratitude today — and somewhat of an update — it appears they have finished the asphalt work at the end of my driveway as of Thursday morning. At long last access is restored and we can park in the drive again! Huzzah!!
How is God moving in your life this week? Where has gratitude sparked in you?
Remember, we’re all in this together,
Pastor Michael