Parting the Mist

April 24, 2019

Sermon preparation often feels like driving in a heavy fog. I creep along, not seeming to make any progress, when suddenly the mist parts and a great shape begins to materialize right before my eyes. It has happened so many times I’ve lost count, but it never ceases to amaze me. One moment I am despairing, the next, it all becomes clear and I find myself writing frantically, trying to put it down on paper before it all passes and fades once more into the mist. Ah, but I’ve captured it, and all is well in my world.

Sermons are not the only things that work this way. For a couple months now, two pastor friends and I have been talking about doing an event in the park across the street from the Dunkirk church this summer. We meet weekly for prayer and have prayed and talked, prayed and talked, but that is all. Until the mist parted this morning. 

Last week, pastor LeeCroft Clark hosted a luncheon for north county pastors to share with us the work of the Addiction Response Ministry. This has been his passion for a number of years as he has worked untiringly to serve and redeem those lost in the fog and despair of drug and alcohol abuse. At the meeting, a paper was passed around for us to give contact information. I took a photo of it and contacted the pastors who signed it, inviting them to our prayer and planning meetings. This morning, we doubled our attendance, and after prayer we talked about the possibility of working together to minister to kids throughout the summer. Next week I’ll be contacting the city officials for a permit for a kickoff celebration involving at least four area churches! 

I’m sure pastor Clark didn’t have a summer kid’s ministry in mind when he spoke to us last week, but God has expanded his vision beyond what he saw to include these kids. Perhaps we can be instrumental in preventing someone from taking that first step down the road to addiction. We never know when we start what the journey will bring, but I am grateful that when we persevere, sooner or later the mists part and we see the shape of good things to come rising before us.