Heres a riddle for you, from me: Ive done it on tables, Ive done it on floors, and Ive even done it on the hood of a car. What is it? Now before you start calling the church office, thinking I have lost my marbles and start posting R-rated (or worse) statuses on the church Facebook page, let me assure you that the IT is very G-rated. So, take a deep breath and guess...what is the IT that I am referring to? Give up? The answer is...puzzles. Thats right, puzzles. I used to LOVE doing puzzles. One time, when I was still a young man living at my parents house, we had a car in the garage that wasnt running. I laid a square piece of plywood on the hood of the car, and I assembled a puzzle on it. It was summer, so I didnt have to worry about freezing in the unheated garage, thankfully! Over the New Years Day holiday, I took an extra two days of vacation so I could have 5 days off from work. Guess what I did? With the help of my son, we assembled three 1,000 piece puzzles. He helped me with the first two, and then boredom must have set in because I was on my own with that last puzzle. In fact, there were times that I would just stare at a puzzle piece, trying to think of where it would fit in, when my son would walk by, grab the piece from my hand, and put it in the puzzle. Argh! Talk about frustrating...I had been staring at the piece for a while, and Mr. Young Set of Eyes himself comes and puts the piece in place right away! But you know something? I started thinking...puzzles are kinda like our faith lives. We try and put the pieces together of our faith life puzzles. Some of the pieces are easy for us to put together, and others dont seem to fit no matter where we try to connect them. And then, someone else comes along, takes that piece, and seamlessly assembles it to the puzzle. For us as Christians, sometimes those someone else can be friends or family members or people from church. Other times they can be your pastor. And there are times that the someone else I refer to is God himself. Its happened to me. When I announced that I wanted to pursue being a certified lay minister, there were family members and church members who said Its about time! Thats the perfect role for you! They knew where my puzzle piece fit, even though I didnt. And, if it wasnt for God leading me and connecting the puzzle pieces of my faith life, I would still be staring at that one piece in my hand, not knowing where it fit. Friends, we need to listen when God speaks to us. We cant see the whole puzzle, but He can...He knows how all of the pieces of our lives should fit together. And trust me, the creator of the universe has no trouble at all assembling a 1,000 piece puzzle or someones life! There is a song by Casting Crowns that ties in perfectly with this message. Its called Already There: From where Im standing Lord its so hard for me to see where this is going and where Youre leading me I wish I knew how all my fears and all my questions are gonna play out in a world I cant control Oh, Oh When Im lost in the mystery to You my future is a memory Cause youre already there, youre already there Standing at the end of my life, waiting on the other side And youre already there, Youre already there Oh, oh, oh, oh From where youre standing Lord, you see a grand design That you imagined when you breathed my into life And all the chaos comes together in your hard Like a masterpiece of your picture perfect plan When Im lost in the mystery to you my future is a memory Cause Youre already there, Youre already there Standing at the end of my life waiting on the other side And Youre already there, Youre already there One day Ill stand before you and look back on the life Ive lived I cant wait to enjoy the view and see how all the pieces fit One day Ill stand before you and look back on the life Ive lived Cause Youre already there, youre already there When Im lost in the mystery to You my future is a memory Cause Youre already there, Youre already there Standing at the end of my life waiting on the other side And Youre already there, Youre already there. Brothers and sisters, if youre having trouble trying to assemble the pieces of your faith life puzzle, ask the Lord for help. Pray to Him with an open heart, letting Him come and take control of you, leading you to where He wants you to be. God does not disappoint; He will put everything into place. And one day, when you are standing before him in Heaven, He will show you the puzzle masterpiece of your life, and how exactly each piece fit together. Amen. ~John Lloyd~
Posted on: Wed, 15 Jan 2014 15:10:27 +0000
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