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Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2006

Grace Church of Burlington January 1, 2006 “Where’s the remote?”             You know that your life has really hit the skids, when the most important question of your day is: “Where’s the remote?” Most of you know that the plague recently hit the Carson home. I started with what I thought was a cold and Aaron took it up another level with full force eruptions. Fevers were topping over 102 so Advil was forced upon us. Coughing, hacking and all sorts of other unsavory sounds came forth. We seemingly tried every medication known to man (and woman). About the only thing that I thought did any good was Nyquil but it quickly leads to some kind of medication coma. And don’t try the daytime version. Those pills are so huge that when we talked about swallowing those puppies, it wasn’t a complete exaggeration. New vaporizers and humidifiers were purchased. Kleenexes bought in bulk. We even broke down and...(are you ready for this?), called the doctor. Doctors do not want to see you a few days before Christmas. And their receptionists have other wonderful options – like the Emergency Room or the walk-in clinic. So we toughed it out!             And there are some positives. I’ve been trying to lose some weight and boy did I. Soup has never tasted so good (though I wasn’t sick enough for Campbells). The typical Christmas goodies weren’t even tempting. It renewed my belief that there isn’t much worth watching on TV. In fact, I was so sick and so desperate that I even watched football (I told you that I was sick)!             There is something, though, about being ill that gives you perspective. Too often we take the little blessings in life for granted. We take feeling well for granted and forget that it is an act of God’s grace. When we’re sick, we moan and groan. But we forget that God doesn’t owe us good health and there are a lot of folk, some even in our church family, who struggle with physical pain every day.             It also made more thankful for my family. Usually, when I’m sick, I like to just be left alone. Most of us will periodically go through the 24 hour bug but I really needed some help. It made me very thankful for a patient wife who didn’t mind taking care of me. Charity even stepped in and rescued the perishing. At the same time my heart went out to singles in our church family who don’t always have someone to help them out. It reminded me again that for many, we are their family.             And it also made me so thankful for our church family. The holidays are a busy time and I just couldn’t take care of many of the normal details. But so many others stepped in and took care of it. What a blessing!             I’m still getting over the cough. So if you hear me hacking, I really am not a smoker – I just sound like it! But I’m thankful for being down. It gave me a fresh perspective and reminded me again to count my blessings. Hopefully, you are not as thick as I am and the Lord will not have to knock you down like He did me to wake you up!