2:45AM

This evening I was recovering from the flu, I was eating my saltines and drinking gatorade and hot tea to try and settle my messed up stomach.  I tried watching Monday Night Football which has always been a real sleep aid especially when it's the forty niners vs. the cardinals.  Well, I watched the whole game. Missy came in to see how I was doing and then went to go sleep in the guest bedroom.  She's so good to me letting me have the bed!  I watched the late late news and that only made me more awake.  My Facebook was calling so I answered a few messages and tried to communicate with my daughter downstairs but she was busy with homework.

Finally everyone trudged upstairs and drifted off to sleep.  The house was dead.  I walked back downstairs to get some more hot tea.  No sound in the house.  I turned on the stove and you could hear the electricity pulsating when the range top came on it was so quiet.  I waited, waited, for the tea pot to boil.  It seemed like it took forever.  I waited some more but still it hadn't come to a boil.  I almost grabbed some water from the tap and put in my mug and set the microwave then all of a sudden the tea pot came to boil.  It roared to life and I ran across the room so it wouldn't whistle and wake up the house.

Someone tonight emailed me and reminded me that I still had something in my possession. (thanks Karen)  It's called Hope.  And it dawned on me.  That kettle is like hope.  I wait and wait and wait and it looks like nothing is happening, yet inside there are little bubbles forming on the bottom of it's surface, yet I can't see them.  I can't hear them, I am still waiting.  But, just when I think that all Hope is lost, that tea kettle roars to life. Hope has always been there it just needs the right ingredients to show itself strong.  God is my hope and my strength and He can be yours today as well.  Just ask, and he will come.  Relinquish the reigns of your life that you hold on so dearly and let him gently lead you.  Call Him Father, call Him Master.  He will not let you down, He will never stop loving you.   He is our Hope.

Ups and Downs

What does it look like for someone looking for employment?  It comes in waves.  One month ago there was a flurry of activity.  I was on an emotional high.  I attended a motivational speaking conference at the Verizon Center in D.C. with a good friend and his church staff.  We listened to Zig Zigler and he gave one of his famous quotes, "Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street."  I walked out of there pumped.  On the metro ride home I got an email from a church saying that I was one of the top three candidates for job search for them that started out with 95.  I was one of the top three.  I was excited, full of expectancy hoping that this finally will be the one. I walking on air!

So what's next?  I recently watched a skit done by Conan O'brien and in the skit his wife is yelling at him to find a job and he replies, "I don't know how!"  The rest of the skit is Conan trying to work at a fast food place and working as a birthday clown and not being very successful as either.  It was pretty funny.   Conan was meant to be a talk show host.  I was meant to speak life to the next generation.  Maybe I should stop looking for a job in network TV and look for a basic cable company to hire me. I could relate. I needed a good laugh!  

Fast forward one month later.  The interview went well.  But last week I got the email I was dreading.  They picked one of the other two candidates.  The church leaders will meet with him next month for an on site interview.  If for some reason he doesn't work out I'd be back in the running.

I was telling someone yesterday that this time of my life has been the lowest of lows.  But even in this low place, I know that God is with me.  Even when I feel forsaken, I know that I am not, because God's word promises that I'm not.  Today you may be in a tough spot as a leader.  Maybe you feel all alone and no one understands your situation, but God does.  He loves you and will never forsake you.  Reach out to Him in your time of need and He will comfort you with the Holy Spirit.   Stand on His promises today.  Redemption and restoration is right around the corner.  And keep that sense of humor, it's critical!