Never gives up

Part of what I do as Lay Leader is to organize worship on Laity Sunday, which was today. Over a year ago, I knew that there was a particular gentlemen -- a newer member of our church -- who I wanted to ask to preach for the day. I prayed about it in the weeks approaching the time to ask him, and it was always his name that kept coming up in my mind.

When I asked him, I told him that he didn't need to answer right away; that he could take some time to think about it. He did think about it, for a little less than a week. During that week, he kept asking me questions about what would be involved, lectionary readings, etc. "If I were to do this, and I'm not saying yes, but..." I kept answering his questions, praying for his discernment, and waiting to see what would happen. I even had my Disciple class praying that God would lead him -- either to yes or no, but to the right answer.

He said yes, and today he preached. It was great, and I'm so glad he did it.

After the service, he told me that 2 weeks before I asked him to preach, he had had a dream. In this dream, he was preaching at the pulpit in our church. He knew when I asked, he would have to say yes. "Why did you wait a week then?"

"I was still trying to get out of it," he told me.

The story tells so much about us, and about God. God is persistent, he works with us to move us where he wants us to be. We fight it, even when we know what our answer should be. Thank God he never gives up.

Image: Rose near our hotel in Memphis