Major and Minor Irritants

We are having our first Sunday morning service in our new church building tomorrow morning!

You need to know that this building was the former home of a large church that had a devastating split, in disgrace, that made Big News locally. Months later, the pastor died, and it was All To Be Hashed Over Again. Our church received dozens of grieving families in the months following, who, incidentally, will be returning to their former church "home," home now to our part of the Body.

We have an Enemy who is not happy about all this. The Lord has told our leadership that this is the beginning of a great move of ministry, and that forgiveness and healing will be one of the results.

Blackeyed Susan is part of the program for Dedication Sunday, October 21st. The enemy has been hard at work in ways big and small, trying to hamper God's work. Of the two dance leaders/choreographers, one's husband has had a heart attack, and the other has had physical injury. Rehearsals have been plagued by "mysterious" fire alarms (no fire, no one pulled the box, etc.)

Blackeyed Susan was the target the other day. Charming took us, Joe Hardy, Forget-me-not, Blueberry, and nephew Derek to Pizza Hut the other day. We came home to a severed bicycle lock:

This happened about one p.m. Susan and Alvin Fernald's bicycles were locked together on the front porch. Someone cut the cable, moved Alvin's bike out of the way, took Susan's, and left Alvin's (whose bike was on the "outside," if someone wanted to be in a hurry). This was done in full view of a crew of three housepainters directly across the street, and with Charming's car in the driveway. All of those things which would tell you that nobody would be Stupid Enough to try such a stunt. And yet they did.

Susan and I talked about Job, and how Satan had to come before God and request to mess with him. First the Lord said, yes, but don't touch his body: later, He allowed that, but not to the point of death. We talked about how the enemy can't hurt us without our Father's knowledge; that everything must come through His hand.

This was a Minor Irritation in the big scheme of things. There were others (my dryer "stopped working" for three days, but is back again); there may be others still. Tuesday night at worship practice, another "fire alarm blip" caused a tiny interruption in power, and wiped out the entire sound board pre-sets (twenty-plus man-hours of work). Things were righted after a few minutes (and prayer, of course!)--Charming mentioned how if this had happened in a worldly setting, the profanity would have been flying...

How grateful I am that we are in the Father's hand, and that the Word promises us that nothing can remove us. We walk in His protection, so that if and when we fall prey to the enemy's works, we can call on our Father's name, and He will be there, to walk through them with us.

In other news, Sweet Pea had to go to the doctor this week to get her head super-glued after catching the corner of the coffee table:

What a wonderful thing--super-skin-glue!

Well, I am off to the Open House Tour at church--I got lost three times Wednesday, getting back up front from the back of the building. I am pathetic with navigation...