Over the past few weeks I’ve been engaging a process during these COVID times that I had honestly been avoiding like the plague (sorry for the pun). A task that frankly I would look at and shake my head and walk away from. That task was going through 16 years of office related files and memorabilia that entered my home over a year ago when we had to unfortunately close our church doors (there is a long story behind all that).
Honestly, I don’t know IF you have ever had to wade through something along these lines, but I imagine many of us have in one way or another. The memories, the recollections, the celebrations and the disappointments were piled high in a bunch of random boxes in the corner of our basement. The thought of going through all that for the past year has been daunting and at time downright debilitating. But with so much time on my hands due to the COVID self-isolation I finally decided to dive in despite all my personal objections, reasoning, and fears.
As I jumped in the first area I decided to tackle was the many files of sermons, teaching, and preaching that I had accumulated both on paper and on my computer hard drive. As you might imagine it was an enormous task. I roughly calculated that I preached on average 40 weeks of every year over my 16 years at Discovery Church and in addition to that was the three years of preaching and teaching while attending seminary and working at Fresno Pacific University. Not to mention the many lectures, guest speaking and teaching opportunities that came along the way. In total I roughly estimated that this meant I was going to have to sort through over 700 files and paper copies. Maybe it was that reality that led to my fears and not all the other things I mentioned earlier.
So, over the past few weeks I have sorted, separated, and organized over a countless number of hours. As expected, my emotions ran the full gamut from disappointment to discouragement and even to the point of depression from time-to-time. Some days I mopped around, some days I grumped at my wife (which is not always the best in these isolation days when we are together 24/7), and other days I just simply avoided.
Now, during this time I came to a major realization that caused me to write this today and that is the reality that I have NEVER been good with dealing with disappointment and discouragement. No matter how much I want to admit it or not, I am way better at avoiding then I am at dealing. However, the problem with avoiding and not dealing with things that come our way in life (like the days we are living in at this present time) is those issues don’t go away. They don’t magically leave and disappear over time. The truth is, avoiding, dodging, or sidestepping the challenges or issues that come our way will ultimately lead to long-term disappointment, discouragement, and even worse.
So, what’s the solution when things that really matter to us don’t go the way we think they should? What are the options available to us when we find ourselves disappointed, discouraged, or even depressed over past wounds, hurts, issues or challenges?
Well, over the course of the next series of blogs I am going to endeavour to dive into this by engaging a series of three vital questions that we all need to think through to move beyond being stuck in our disappointments. They are WHAT are the reasons we get discouraged? WHAT causes us to get discouraged? And ultimately, what can we do when we find ourselves discouraged along the journey of life and faith?
Now, as I dive into these questions my hope is that some of the musings that present themselves will be of benefit to you and those you love. Especially during times like this with all the uncertainty, ambiguity and anxiety that comes with living in these unprecedented times for many of us.
Looking forward to the journey ahead and the freedom that can come when we engage a new reality, a new way of dealing with the discouragements that can come each and every one of our ways in this thing called life!
With you in it all,
Rev Trev
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