At my church, our air conditioner has broke down. It needs to be replaced. While I don’t like being hot, my wondering mind was thinking about how spoiled we are in America. Some people were grumbling and complaining about how hot it was at church. I do NOT like the heat. I hate it. One of the main reasons I hate it is because it wrecks havoc on my body. I have the chronic form of Guillian Barre Syndrome and I have Myasthenia Gravis. Both of these are auto-immune diseases and from what my Drs say, I should not be here right now. Heat has a way of putting me into a crisis and anything can happen and I would not survive. OK, now I am getting off track.
Christians in America are spoiled rotten. I think about our missionaries in foreign countries. One of the families our church sponsors has 3 children and they live among the Gumuz people in Ethiopia. They started up a medical clinic and now they have planted a number of churches. It’s nothing for them to walk miles to get to church. They worship God in huts that have none of the amenities we enjoy. The Fowlers and those who want to attend church must walk miles to get there. They don’t have power-points or many of the modern conveniences we enjoy. Many times they hold church in what I would say is a leinto. It may not have walls. They have seats, but they are boards. They aren’t cushy. They may spend all day at church and we grumble over having to drive 15 minutes out of the way. We grumble because the clock says 12:15 and we should be out of church. People in other countries would love to be able to go to church and are grateful for every minute they are given to worship Christ.
There was a lady that is in Pakistan that believes that Christians are spoiled here in America. Some would say we are blessed while those from other countries say we are spoiled. This lady was saying how people in America think they need huge mega churches with soft comfy chairs with air conditioners that keep them cool. They also have pastors that tickle their ears instead of a multi-million dollar church building with air conditioners to freeze them and nice padded seats and a preacher to tickle their ears. They believe that Americans are not preaching the uncompromising word of God anymore. Many are more concerned with worldly pleasures and solicitations for money, then with following Christ and doing his will. I can’t totally disagree with her statements.
I was watching a video not so long ago about how this group of Chinese people received brand new Bibles. By the looks in the video, these people never had their own Bible. When they opened up the box and seen that they had them, they wept. They were so overjoyed to have a Bible. As I was watching the video, I realized that I too for granite that I can order one on Amazon or go to my local store to get one. I have several Bibles that vary in translations. In my house I have about 15 Bibles and I carry them in my car so I can hand them out to others that may need one. This is a luxury that many don’t have. To see how overjoyed these people were over getting a Bible of their own humbled me. One day I would like to show that video in church. We are a blessed people and we can’t get past the things that are petty. How many people get excited when they receive a Bible of their own?
Since our air conditioner went down, a few of the people are upset and they need it fixed right now according to some. Well, I am a grumbler also, but this last Sunday I was thinking about how nice it was to have the doors open and people singing worship songs to the Lord. In my mind I was thinking about how awesome it would be if someone that may have never heard the Gospel was walking by the church and they were listening to the music or message. Churches use to have it where the doors were opened and all who wanted to come in could.
I get rather frustrating when it comes to people getting butt hurt because the air conditioner is down. How awesome it would be if a stranger was walking by and he paused for a moment to listen to the service. There have been times I have grumbled over getting hot. But then, I need to remember that I’m not at church to have my ego stroked. I am at church to worship with other Christians, even if the air conditioner is broke. I won’t go into naming names, but if someone is grumbling about the AC and not thinking about the message the pastor is preaching, then why are they there?
A long time ago, I came to the realization that I’m not at church because it is a great way to socialize I’m not there to eat all the yummy stuff Barbara makes, even though they are pretty awesome. I’m not there because of the music. If that was so, I would be out of there. I like hymns, but I don’t like the songs we sing. If I judged my church on the music alone, I would be out of there.If I was going there because of the settings on a thermostat, I would not be there. All of these things are nice, but that’s not what is important.
I’m so very thankful that I live in a place where I am free to worship Christ the way I want to. I worship the very same God that is in the Bible. I’m thankful that Pastor Ray goes by the Bible alone. Last Sunday the sermon was awesome and one that I plan on sharing with others. For those who grumbled about the AC and couldn’t or wouldn’t open their minds to what was being said missed out big time.
Senseless Ramblings of the Mindless 