The Ice Man Cometh

Well the ice storm that wasn't came on Sunday Dec 9. Most every church in Belton and Peculiar canceled. I chose not to cancel. One of those little maxims that guides my life kicked in. If people can get to work and go shopping, we shouldn't cancel church. Sure enough, we got sleet instead of ice. A lot of people stayed home, but we had 21 people for a combined Sunday school class and 25 for worship. We even had two returning visitors as well as one new guest who brought his 6 week old daughter. He had not been to church in a year and is wanting to re-connect with fellow believers. Parenthood tends to bring that out in us. We had a great time of singing and worshiping the Lord. The fellowship was really great.

I left praising God for having been in His house.

If you are interested, here is the sermon on anxiety that I preached.

The ice man is still around however. He started hitting us last night (Tuesday). We had to cancel our ladies Christmas Tea and ornament exchange. The men had to cancel our broken tool exchange. I was really looking forward to getting rid of a couple broken pliers.

How to Deal With Anxiety

It's funny, here I have just uploaded my sermon and powerpoint for tomorrow, and the weatherman is forecasting a major 1/2" ice storm. Already the side streets are iced over. I guess I should be anxious and all worried. Funny, I'm preaching from Phil 4:4-9, about how to deal with ANXIETY! Ironic isn't it? My wife (she will deny this if you ask her) is telling me to call off church. I even had a call from a member about what the procedure is for bad weather. Being the macho manly Pastor I said there is no procedure.

I will be at church. I don't cancel church.

I will leave an hour early in order to get there if I have to.
Am I being stupid? Am I being senselessly brave? Am I trying to make people feel they are a lesser mortal? I don't know. I just don't think we should cancel morning worship. Sunday night or Wednesday may be OK from time to time, but never Sunday morning.
Am I all anxious about tomorrow? Surprisingly not. If I make it to church I make it. If I'm stuck in a ditch somewhere, it won't be that far to walk. I guess I'll wear socks just in case. If anyone shows up, we'll have a living sermon on dealing with anxiety. Aren't those the ones that really impact us?