Last weekend several of us as church leaders took a group of wonderful teens to camp in a remote part of Washington, a ranching/logging/mining part of the state called Wauconda. As part of our “Camp Wauconda” long weekend experience we joined in worship at the Wauconda Community Church. It was delightful. We met some wonderful Christ followers, and even a couple of the families joined us in the afternoon for a picnic at the nearby lake. You might wonder what the differences between a rural American ‘ranching’ area church are, and the ‘big city’ church life that we are a part of. Well, there’s plenty of differences in some of the mechanics of the church for sure — much more casual and free flowing! But noticeable to me are the significant differences in the prayer time in a church like this. In a country church where everyone lives on a farm or ranch, the crops and the cattle are of significant concern, because it affects the complete income and food on the table for them. They regularly pray for their crops to be rained on regularly, their cattle to be protected from wild animals and diseases, and they pray for protection from forest fires that could destroy the lumber industry for them. In the city we might be aware of these, but they rarely if ever affect our dinner table.
This Sunday I am the preacher who is bringing a message in our Summer Series that we are calling “The Promises of God.” My message will be anchored the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, and we will focus on the words found in Habakkuk 3:16-19. I encourage you to specifically read and contemplate these verses before you come for worship this Sunday. But even consider reading the whole book of Habakkuk as it is only 3 chapters long. But contemplate this question as it is filtered through 3:16-19… “where are the promises of God” when life falls apart? This past spring when we spent a lot of time in Romans 8 and the ‘victory’ passages of God’s promises… “Where are those promises when I face failures and disappointments and heartache and even gloom? Does God really care? Is God still in the business of fulfilling His promise? Habakkuk answers this as well as any passage in Scripture. I am excited to bring this promise of God to you this coming Sunday.
Happy Summer to you! See you Sunday morning.
