Whirlwind: noun A rapidly rotating, generally vertical column of air, such as a tornado, dust devil, or waterspout. A tumultuous, confused rush. A destructive force or thing.
That’s the word I’ve used to describe our lives over the past few months—at least from our perspective. From God’s perspective, however, we can say by faith, that He is in control. And though that was a major theme of our lives last year, it didn’t dawn on me that there is another line that follows that one, ...and we’re not. That’s right, if God is in control, we are not.
You cannot have two sets of controls in any vehicle. It’s true airplanes have two sticks or control yokes, but they work together, and the pilot and co-pilot communicate the words, “my airplane” when they take the controls. The other takes his hands off the controls. Professional airline pilots have a carefully choreographed plan as to who does what during each flight. This is a procedure that has been honed for decades over the development of aviation, and is one of the reasons flying is as safe as it is.
At our Bible study the other night we talked a little about why Jesus selected the disciples he did—uneducated fishermen, and also, about those who responded and those who didn’t.
Why does God call the “B” squad so to speak? Why did He not choose the political leadership of the world. Today that would be the World Economic Forum, the UN or some other world renowned figure.
And then what about those who declined to follow—those who said ‘no’.
No matter who we are, we all feel under prepared for the things God puts in our path.
Why is that? Could it be because God is in control?
In our text for Sunday, we are looking at those who are put forth as examples, the little children, or as he NKJV states, ‘infants’. This is God’s ‘A’ squad.
Maybe you’ve heard the saying, God equips the called, He does not call the equipped. Last month I accepted my sixth full-time call to serve a congregation with my precious wife by my side. What a blessing she’s been! I can genuinely say that God is equipping us.
We’ve served several other places in fill-in, or interim capacity as well. I was blessed to begin preaching and doing fill-in work even during my college days, so that in seminary, I had already been preaching for a couple of years.
Our first official parish was a two point parish in Northern Minnesota in the little town of McIntosh. The churches were Trinity Lutheran and Mt Carmel Free Lutheran churches during the years of 1987-1993.
Then we accepted the call to serve Grace Free Lutheran in Dekalb Illinois from 1993-1995. From there we moved back to Minnesota again, to serve Hosanna Free Lutheran from 1995-2000.
After that I did interim work as I felt called to tent making ministry as I worked at Crysteel Manufacturing, in the truck equipment industry, where I sold, designed and did customer service. The main congregation I served during those years on weekends was 30 miles down the road from our home, Living Word of Windom, Minnesota.
Then in 2012 we felt called again to return to full-time ministry in Missouri.
I’ve seen a lot of things over these decades.
Where are we at today in the church at large? Well God is still in control. I’ve recently learned a lot about the modern pastor. Some statistics, are that the average age of pastors today is around 55. And that about 95% of pastors world-wide have no advanced educational training. One more thing, the pastoral office is a divine calling. God is in control—and we’re not.
So whether it’s your life, or mine, you guessed it—God is saying, “My airplane.”
That’s a great thing when the whirlwinds of life spin up.
That’s my view
Pastor Tom ###
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