Adapting

We had some issues with the live-stream yesterday. It’s certainly frustrating when technology doesn’t work the way we expect it to or want it to. A week ago yesterday we woke up to 3 ½ inches or more of snow when we were expecting less than 1 inch. The past year has been teaching us a lesson about the importance of adaptability. We have to be ready and willing to make changes to the plan when necessary. I want to say a big thank you to those who understand this and appreciate the extra effort it takes to adapt when things go awry. Patience is a necessary part of the attitude of adaptability.

I was told yesterday that the question shouldn’t be “do you have any limbs down?” The proper question is “how many limbs do you have down?” We’ve all spent some time cleaning up in the past week, I’m sure. We’ve had ice that came and has stuck around and stuck around. I know that there are some who were without power for most of a week! All of us experience some level of outage, I would guess. I’ve heard some of you say it reminds us of the things we take for granted. That’s certainly the case, but it’s also another lesson in our need to be ready to adapt.

You’ll notice the announcement from the leaders of the Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale about the change in plans again for this year. Many of the organizations that we support and participate with are having to make changes. I’d encourage us to continue to be creative in finding ways to support these organizations—both financially and through our prayers.

Let’s continue to pray for our congregation in the year ahead. Pray for God’s mercy and grace to us. Pray that he leads us with wisdom.

God bless, Brian

Scriptures for this week:

John 3:1-21—What do we learn from Nicodemus coming to Jesus?

1 Samuel 12:19-25—How does Samuel encourage the people to respond to their sin?

Romans 12—Which of these “transformations” that Paul describes in this chapter do you need to focus on in the year to come?

1 Peter 1:13-25—What do you think Peter means by the phrase “born again” here?