The Unknown

What's gonna happen...how's this gonna work...how am I going to pay this bill...how will I make the numbers crunch...how am I going to get the medicine I need...how am I going to tell my parents...am I going to lose my job...will my wife sign the papers...is my husband going to leave me...am I going to die...what is my boss thinking...what are my peers thinking...how will I hold it all together...will I be able to sleep tonight...will my child live through the night...will I ever walk again...how am I going to make this work and....what if I don't...The unknown.

Because of my job, I am in different hospitals throughout the day. I try to frequent the chapels...I know where they all are...I even have my favorites...they help anchor me as I work through the week. After taking one of my medical sets to St Francis today, I went to the chapel to spend a few moments in prayer.  It was one of THOSE times...I walked in not expecting anything different, and no sooner did I walk through the doors of the chapel did that sweet wonderful cloud of his presence seem to descend, fill the room, and surround me.  I hurried to the very front pew and under the cross, before the altar, I couldn't wait to fall to my knees. Words of prayer and intercession came easy this time.

I was troubled by a few things this morning as I usually am...just ask my wife! And as I knelt there before an almighty God filled with his presence, fixed on his fire, I thought...ya know it's funny...whenever we are troubled, worried, or in fear of the unknown, we are called to seek something that is a gzillion times more.....unknown.

"Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecclesiastes 9:10

My Father-in-law, Earl, spends much of his time in his workshop. He's been a carpenter for most of his life. He's a simple man and understands simple things...things he can get his hands on...measure...draw....cut...nail...glue...construct...create...he tells me all the time, "Sean, Jesus was a carpenter". As though I'd never heard that. Earl would always use his craft (and still would like to) to help others in need.

Carol loves to teach her home school kids as they gather each Friday. She plans for it all week. There's no monetary benefit. She’s gifted to do this, and there are few things in her life, now, that she finds more fulfilling. She poors her knowledge, her faith, and her life into these kids. She is always describing to me how she is finding God in her studies...and her work.

We have these friends.  There into some weird stuff. They know about weird things.  A yellow butterfly passes by and they recognize that it’s a ”cloudless sulfur". They craft wigs out of newspaper. They study and build anything electronic, raise animals in their backyard, eat chicken & waffles for dinner, and they were the ones who introduced us to the amazing adventures of geocaching! They live life and we marvel at the way they live it to the fullest. They are an amazing family, and they are continually fascinated with God's designs.

It started as an idea. My walk with God was missing something. I had trained my mind to remember and look back at what words God had given me when I was going through difficult times.  But it wasn't enough. I needed something more tangible to remind me. I had always told others to journal, but hadn't tried it myself. After a couple of entries into my iPhone note pad, my hands…I mean thumbs…took off. Now it's a blog and I love it! Many have told me how much they are blessed by it, and I hope someday someone will tell me they follow Christ because of it.  My day can be full of worries, but somehow this blog takes me deeper into Him and causes the worries to fade...at least a bit.

I think God has given us a wonderful gift in that we can find Him, learn from him, and walk with him through tangible means...our re-creation...in our carpentry projects, our teaching projects, our blogging, our gardening, our newspaper wig-making….our creating.

We are faced with the unknown. Every minute of the day. We wake up with it and go to sleep with it. Many live in fear, stress and sickness because of it. Many are addicted to drugs because of it.

When we were going through the daily battle of Joy's Alzheimer’s, Earl would be out in the shop and say, "Sean it just helps my mind so much". Sometimes he's almost giddy out there. "Jesus was a carpenter."

"sometimes you're in the cloud, sometimes you're in the creed, sometimes you're in the stars, sometimes you're next to me" Jason Upton

When we’re faced with so many unknowns in our lives, I think it’s helpful to grasp hold of some "knowns"...maybe even lose ourselves in them a bit...we might find an amazing God right there with us, hanging out, creating with us, enjoying it with us.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 

1 Corinthians 10:31