The Meddling Minister

Our pastor seems to read mine or somebody else's in our house's mail each week lately. It's always so nice to be able to gratefully and loudly say, "Amen" when he steps on the other person's toes. But the "Ouch" this morning was not even whispered aloud. We go to FBC Rockwall and our pastor is Steve Swofford. Two things endeared us to this church: His forthright preaching of God's Word and the music worship service. This morning the Meddling Minister (M&M) told us how to reduce stress in our lives. Here are the steps:

1. Don't worry about anything. WOW. Now that was a barn-burner of new news. He equated it to sitting in a rocking chair but never going anywhere. His insight: Live one day at a time.

2. Pray about everything. Now, he connected this back to #1, that instead of worrying about something, we should just pray about it and let it go. Dump it all on God. Pray specific prayers about all the stuff of your needs. If it's big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about. His insight: There is no problem too big for God's power or too small for God's concern. So I guess if you're sitting in that rocking chair, it's OK to pray. . . .

3. Thank God in all things. Develop an attitude of gratitude. I tend to notice the trash in one yard rather than the rose bush in the next yard. When I was going through chemo and felt like yuck and had 14 doctor visits a week, it was always humbling to go to Medical City Dallas and ride the elevator with a child whose legs have always been a wheelchair whose little body had gone through much worse than mine had with 2 perfectly good legs. His insight: There is always something to be thankful for.

4. Think about the right things. True, honorable, pure, lovely, commendable---think about these things. His insight: Whatever I think about, is what I am becoming.

M&M closed his 4 points of torture with this: "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." It's a good thing my heart was being guarded cause my mind was tired of his meddling. AMEN!