Thursday, February 18, 2021

It’s a God Thing

Read: Psalm 32
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
    Psalm 32:8 NRSV

I became the Chair of our church council in January of 2020. When Bob Rossbach asked me to take over the role he had held for so long I was hesitant. I didn’t feel I had the leadership skills to lead our church through what I expected to be a challenging time for Methodists. I prayed about it for a while and felt God calling me to take a leap of faith, so I said yes.

I know many Christians believe that every day of our life is known to God, that He is directly responsible for every detail of our lives. This is not me. I do believe that God is with me and I turn to Him often in prayer to help me in my daily life as well as long term decision making. I believe that He hears my prayers and has guided me through many challenges. Some that seemed so impossible at the time that I consider the resolutions miracles. But I don’t see life like a chess game where God is moving every piece.

However, that said, as I reflect back on 2020 I see God’s hand in the leadership team put in place at our church. My organizational skills and access to real time business and tax information turned out to be just the gifts my position needed for 2020. More importantly, this leadership change freed up Bob to use his talents in service to our church in other ways. His video production skills were invaluable as we transitioned to virtual worship. A service he may not have had the time to provide were he still council chair.

Reorganizing our communications committee and putting Joan Richardson at the helm is another place I see God at work in our midst. Her talents, developed over a lifetime in the publishing world, have been critical as we have had to transition from in person communication to written and video communication. Additionally, her transition to this position freed up Charlie van Becelaere to devote more time to worship and music which has been ever changing and challenging this past year.

When things seem to work out just right my daughter likes to say, “That’s a God thing.” Well I have to admit our leadership at GPUMC throughout all of this sure seems like a God thing to me. Every single committee chair and so many others have stepped up and offered their skills and gifts as we adapted and improvised. We are so very blessed to be at GPUMC, and I long for the time in the not too distant future, I hope, when we can all be together again and I can hug each and every one of you and say thanks.

Until then: God, may we continue to turn to you in prayer, and trust that you will instruct us and teach us in the way we should go, and counsel us along the journey.

Cathy Lorenz