Blessing upon blessing

Sorry for no blog entry yesterday. The wi-fi at our hotel in Nakuru isn’t working. In order to have internet, we have to share this USB cellular internet thingie. By the time I had unfettered access to it—last night after a long day of worship and teaching—I was wiped out. I went back to my room at 10:00 last night, turned the TV on, and fell asleep quickly to an episode of Saturday Night Live from last year. (Maya Rudolph was guest host, and the opening sketch related to Jeremy Lin and “Linsanity.” The parental caution before the broadcast warned that the show contained adult language and “prejudice.”)

This trip so far has been blessing upon blessing. Before I left, you couldn’t have convinced me it would be this good. Prior to my coming here, there have been sacred and precious moments during my pastoral ministry when I know—I feel in the deepest recesses of my heart—that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be, that I have been put into a certain place for such a time as this, that my gifts are being used to their fullest extent. I have felt that way every time I’ve stood before this group of fellow pastors and taught! And I’m sure that my colleague, the Rev. Dr. Susan Taylor, would say the same.

I overheard one of my students say to another, “I like the way he preaches when he talks!” I consider that a compliment.

In my next post, I hope to include a short video featuring yesterday’s worship service. At over two hours long, the service felt short, if you can believe it. When the district superintendent welcomed me, Susan, and the rest of the mission team from Peachtree Road UMC, I told the group of pastors and family, “If I can bless you with a small fraction of the blessing with which you’ve blessed me, my work here will be successful.”

I said that knowing already that my work here was successful. Thank God!