Laughing in the Tent

Thoughts of Sarah and Sunday morning's sermon have come to me often lately. I can't get over the thought of Abraham and Sarah's immediate disbelief and then their ultimate strong faith. I praise the Lord for His patience in that process of rebuke and change in our lives. We need to take our faithlessness to the woodshed.

I can almost see the preincarnate Lord Jesus arguing with Sarah and concluding "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?" This question is a powerful statement coming from One who knew. Somehow, the devil has convinced us that we are not Sarah. We cannot see the hand of the Lord. He does not work through the natural and supernatural to control our lives.

I do not advocate that you search for the miraculous. There is nothing more spiritual about the miraculous than the natural work of God in your life. Like Sarah, we must surrender our wills to what God wants, and He will do in us His will regardless of probabilities, impossibilities, or any obstacles.

I cannot help but apply this to our new building. God has raised up this church, and through many obstacles, improbabilities, and struggles we stand where we are today. We are blessed beyond measure as a young church. And God has naturally by His will brought people and overflowed our facilities. He has put it in my heart, and the heart of the Leaders of our church and much of the Congregation to build this new auditorium. It has been a process of faith. God has rewarded with hundreds of thousands of dollars raised, the Sears property purchased, a great team of Engineer and Builder, a great Building Team, a beautiful design, etc. etc.

Now we are in view of getting the Permits from County by the Fall of this year. All that will stop us from building then will be having enough money. Last night we met with our Builder (Nowland) and were told that since our last estimate in 2007 building costs have gone up around 11%. Though the sagging economy has lowered costs some, this is still a valid increase. The preparation, excavation, landscaping of the site have risen to over a million dollars themselves. The building itself is about 1.6 million. With all other amounts, estimates for a turn-key project are hovering at 3 million dollars.

The Lord gently rebukes the thought of us raising enough money for a healthy downpayment to get the mortgage payment of this 3 million affordable. I hear Him say "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

We must do the natural of sacrificial giving and allow God to decide when to do the miraculous. He knows our need, He has heard our prayers, we follow Him in faith, and wait on His timing. We must do our part and follow by giving and prayer. We wait on Him to do the "too hard" part.

PW