Pastor's Blog

The Wait

July 7, 2019

“The Wait”

This will be the last in my series on the life lessons learned from a recent visit to a glass blowing studio in the Quad Cities. The process of taking molten glass and making a masterpiece out of it has striking similarities to the process our lives go through as we mature. What I have left from this is a great souvenir on the credenza in my office. Feel free to stop by sometime and see the glass bowl that has elicited these stories.

I wasn’t prepared for the end of the evening. When all the work was done, our coach took the glass vessels we had worked on and put them in an annealing oven. I do not know all the intricacies of this process but he assured me that without this long “soak” (a week long process) in the oven, the glass would be way to fragile to be of any use. He assured us with these words, “Properly annealed glass is one of the hardest substances known to man.” All of a sudden what seemed like a long wait to enjoy the fruit of our labor made sense and we didn’t want to rush this part of the process. 

If you’ve been reading this series of stores designed to encourage, you probably already see the connection. Have you ever seen a person who models calm and peacefulness, even when life is trying to derail them. If you were able to sit and talk with them, you’d probably find out they have spent time undergoing very difficult times. It’s these times that shape and grow our faith as nothing else can. 

Luke 17:5 records a dangerous request by the apostles. The best way to increase our faith is to go through some difficult times. A quote I heard a long time ago says, “A faith that hasn’t been tested can’t be trusted” Adrian Rogers. The testing of our faith serves as the annealing oven for our life. Remind yourself of the benefit a strong and durable faith brings when you are under testing. When you do, you’ll never regret it.

Pastor Dave

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