Beware of the Meds

I dedicate this post to a friend of mine named Darlene, Yesterday was the first day back at the church since I went to Hospital. Darlene came up and told me that I better go back and recheck the spelling in my last blog, she was able to realize that my meds were probably messing with me. I got a good laugh this morning looking at it as I did a spell check.

As a Pastor I walk a thin line with medications not wanting to get hooked or being so medicated that I don't make sense at what I say. Last night I took my meds so that I would have a clear mind so I could speak, but the pain made it hard to keep my thoughts together. Dang if I do, Dang if I don't.

In the midst of being home and healing I have seen a lot of people stand up in the gap for my wife and I and I am thankful for their personal ministries to us.

We have so many people to thank, so today I will start off with Darlene, Darlene thank you for being the woman of God that you are, sometimes I can't express how important you are to us but remember we LOVE YOU, you make this worth it for us being here. You were here from the beginning which you will always have my respect for. Thank you for making me laugh at myself, and thank you for watching after my words, even when I am a little impaired.
We love you Darlene,
stan

His power is made perfect in my weekness.

This last week has been a hard and trying time for me because of something that happened to me. This last weekend I had a family that lost a loved one and I knew that my place was to be around to help support them in their time of mourning. I was to speak at a memorial service for their loved one. It was special because they had a chance to lead his Father to the Lord, and his whole family was in a position where they may be willing to receive Jesus as well.

Friday night they day before I am to speak at the memorial service I went with my brother in law and a friend to look at a horse that was for sell. I knew that I should not have gone but I went anyhow just for the fellowship time, and to get my mind of of the memorial service.

Mistake number 1 when you are about to try and do something big for God don't do anything to ruin your chances. I got up on the horse and rode him for a about 20-30 minutes. We started to figure out that he was spur shy and he WAS NOT A FINISHED HORSE! I should have known when he bucked off my brother in law that he was going to give me trouble as well, but you know sometimes we have more faith in our abilities than we have abilities. Romans 12:3 says we should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.

Well to make the a long story short I got bucked off and got hurt bad. I did not want to got to the E.R. because I knew I had to speak at the memorial service on Saturday morning so I tried to get patched up and self medicated to get me through the morning. When it came time God gave me the strength to speak with strength even though I was having a hard time physically. After the memorial service I went to the E.R. where they promptly told me I had one broken rib, gave me some med's and sent me home. I went to the church and preached, God gave me the strength when I did not have any of my own. We had three people come to Christ and about five or six stand up to say they wanted to get right again with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (The Message)
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

The point that I want to make, is even in my case even with the bad breaks, God was so much stronger than I and was able to get me through it to bring Glory to himself. Remember God is able and we are not.