Good Amidst Chaos

It never ceases to amaze me how God takes seemingly chaotic situations and always ends up using them for something good.  And yet it's so difficult to remember this when we're caught up in the middle of the chaos.

It happened again this Sunday.  Technology bit the dust.  The internet was completely down at Victory Church's Theater Campus.  There wasn't any way we'd be able to pipe in our live feed of the sermon.  Our video back up message wasn't available due to a prior week's technology glitch.  Pastor Eric's back up sermon notes were at the main campus, which meant he had to drive over there and hopefully be back in time.  Oh, and to top it all off, our senior pastor was there to visit that morning.  The tension level was high, to say the least. 

Thankfully, Pastor Eric made it back in time with his sermon in hand. Of course, that also meant that our video tech had to pull together some kind of last minute background graphic to fit the substitute sermon topic...which, despite the time crunch, ended up being beautiful, as is all his work. I'm completely astounded by the talents that God has given these people and by the grace He's given to them to be able to operate through the mayhem with a smile (well, most of the time, at least...heh). Aside from the fact that we had a live sermon instead of our normal video feed from the main campus, I don't think that most people even knew that there was an issue. But this is where I get floored every time...

After the service I talked to someone who had come to visit our campus for the first time. She was so thankful that she had made it that morning and said that she had been in tears several times throughout the sermon. It had struck home for her. It was exactly what she needed to hear. The even crazier part was that I had just met her for the first time earlier in the week, and I had encouraged her to come check us out sometime. She never thought it would pan out for several reasons, but I guess God had a different plan. Funny how that happens, huh?  :-)

I LOVE HOW GOD BRINGS GOOD THINGS OUT OF CHAOS!!!  I love how He shows up right in the middle of our mess and transforms it into something beautiful.  I love how He can use us even when things aren't going like we planned.  I just wish that I could remember all of that when I'm right in the middle of it.  I wish I could step back, take a breath, remember that God is still in complete control, and totally trust that He will work it all out for good.  Sure, we still need to do our part, but it's so incredible when you can realize in the middle of the craziness that God can and will use it for His glory!

Maybe I'm revealing too much of what really goes on behind the scenes.  Maybe I'm sharing too much of how chaotic Sunday mornings can actually be some weeks.  But I actually think that it's important for us to be real about our shortcomings, our imperfections, our struggles, and our humanity.  Really, it's all God anyway, right?  So maybe we need these kind of Sundays to remind us of that very thing!!