Wow - I made it!

If you're easily grossed out, you probably shouldn't read this...

I woke up this morning at 3 AM with a bad case of the runs. I knew it was going to be a rough morning but I also knew I had no choice. If I call in sick, what do we do? I guess I could've had someone read the manuscript I'd written but I assumed it was too late for that. I was able to get about another two hours of sleep before finally getting up at 9:00.

I didn't show up for set-up until 9:30. Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of guys there so there was still a lot of work to do at 9:30. I had to go 3 times the last 15 minutes before worship but I made it through the entire service. We did have a plan for a "commercial break" in case I had to run to the bathroom while preaching. I was so exhausted and sick after preaching that I just sat in the lobby with my sister-in-law whose baby was sick, too.

And to top it all off, we had a bunch of sleet dumped on us about 9:30 and I figured not many people would be able to make it. I had the thought, "maybe I should've just stayed in bed" run through my mind. But there is a reason the Psalmist calls worship "the sacrifice of praise." I believe God honors our sacrifice when we give the best we can even when we know our best is subpar. And we did have a good-sized crowd and people were worshipping. I had trouble but I could tell others were engaged. Just goes to show that my thoughts, worries or feelings are often wrong. In fact, I was sitting in the bathroom at 10:25 feeling very desperate and very much wanting to just go home. I did have the thought, though that maybe things are this difficult for a reason, maybe God's about to do something great!

I had been worried all week about my message, too. I was preaching on the transfiguration and wondered how in the world it could connect. And to make it worse, I had trouble preacing today because I was so tired. I kept losing my train of thought and losing my place in my notes. But again, even when our 'best' is pretty weak, God takes it and uses it in ways we could never manufacture on our own. I had several people thank me for the message, so I guess God blessed the effort.

I was going to go to my cousin's to watch the Super Bowl, but I think I'm just going to go to bed. Although I think another visit to the bathroom is coming first...