Lord? Isn't it important that we celebrate the birth of your son? Why would you schedule a snowstorm at this time of year? How about January?
As soon as he thought those things, he apologized to the Lord right away.
You know best, God. I'm sorry. I don't know anything. But your master plan is perfect, whatever it is.He paused, and then he added,But, God? Snow? At Christmas? Three feet?
Maybe he wasn't qualified to be a pastor. Maybe his faith wasn't strong enough. Maybe he should get a job where not so much of him was required.
It wasn't the first time he didn't feel qualified to do the job that he knew God had called him to do. In fact, most of the time he didn't feel qualified.
People had gathered back around, sitting back down, and a few more people walked in the door.
Mark could see Ben texting on his phone, asking people to show up quickly.
"You probably ought to stop in at Olivia's and let her know that she has the order for the church. I know in past years, it's taken her a really long time to fulfill it, since it's such a large order. Especially this time of year. Pastor Johnson always tried to get the order done early in the fall."
"I know. I wish we could've been on this sooner, but I wasn't voted in until earlier this month."
"I know. And Pastor Johnson said he didn't want to lock you into anything that you didn't want to do. Plus, I think Pastor Johnson's mind was more on his son and visiting him than it was on leaving the church in order." Mrs. Tucker shook her head, her lips pressed together.
"I think the man was right. His duty is to his family first, right after God. As important as it is for a pastor to shepherd the flock, he has to shepherd his family and put them in the correct position in his life."
He had been told that over and over again as he had prepared for the ministry. That ministry could be all-consuming, because there were always people with needs. But God gave him a family, and he didn't want to lose his family while he was busy taking care of his flock.
Of course, God hadn't seen fit to bless him with a family yet.
Maybe it was because God didn't think he could handle both a church and a wife and children.
"Okay, I think everyone's here. If we could all settle down and get started, this shouldn't take very long." Ben glanced around the room, and his eyes landed on Mark. "Pastor, if you want to stay, you're welcome."
"I don't mind listening in. But now that I have the floor, I did want to offer the church as a sanctuary or potential emergency shelter."
"That's great. That was actually one of the things I needed to talk to everyone about. Are you sure?"
"There's plenty of room, and I can check the storage shed out back. I'm pretty sure there were some extra sleeping bags in there that Pastor Johnson said they used one time to send kids to camp."
"I think you might be right about that."
"There were twenty of them, and as far as I know they're still there," Mrs. Tucker volunteered.
"All right then. We'll keep that in mind."
Mark listened as Ben ran the meeting, talking about the potential for large amounts of snow and how anything over two and a half feet was going to shut roads down for several days at the very least, and probably more like a week, until the plow trucks were able to get everyone plowed out.
He still couldn't believe that the Lord would be doing that this close to Christmas. But he knew any doubt wondering whether or not this was the best thing for the church showed his lack of faith. Rather than questioning God at the timing of the storm, he needed to learn to say,Lord, show me what you want me to learn out of this. It seems like a crazy thing to have happen, but I know you're in charge. You can calm the storm anytime you want to, or you can whip one up as well. It's all in your hands. And I'm going to assume it's for my good and your glory. So if there's something I need to do, something I need to learn, someone I need to talk to even, just show me, Lord. Help me to surrender to whatever you have for me.
He felt better after he said that. More confident. After all, he believed all of those words. God was totally in control, and there was no reason for him to be anything but absolutely sure that God would have his best interest at heart.
The meeting was short and quick, with everyone having a job or two to do to make sure that everyone in town would be okay, even if the electricity went out and the roads were not cleared.
Someone was bringing in a supply of milk and bread from a grocery store down at the bottom of the mountain. After all, whether or not they needed it, they couldn't survive a storm without it. At least, that was the joke going around. Still, milk would stay fresh if they had three feet of snow, even if the electricity went out, since they could just stick it in the snow to stay cold.
As the meeting adjourned, Mark walked out, talking to Mrs. Tucker and Bob Knapp, who had volunteered to go down the mountain and get the load of groceries.
"I better get out of here before the snow starts. I'm pretty sure the first snowflakes should start falling late tonight."
"You can be back in plenty of time if you leave now. And the grocery stores are open until nine o'clock down there." Mrs. Tucker seemed to be shooing him out. And then, to Mark's surprise, she turned to him. "You probably oughta take a walk up and down Main Street and just make sure that people are prepared. Especially widows and anyone who might need your help."
When she said widows, Mark automatically thought of older women who might need their walk shoveled and to be reminded that they had a place to go in the church if they lost electricity and couldn't heat their house.
