2nd times a charm

I wanted to share with you what we did this weekend. Its probably not that 'spiritually insightful' but it was fun. That's whats fun about this blog, since I'm the one that writes it, I can pretty much write whatever I want. Fun.

So Saturday night Crystal and I were invited to go to a company Christmas party. It was for the company that a couple of guys from our church work for, and is also the company the church rents its space from.

I initially wasn't that excited about going to the party, but as I was getting ready I began to realize what a privilege it was to be invited to go to a party for a company that I wasn't a part of. In addition, they had asked me to do the invocation and bless the food. What an honor.

When we got there, there must have been about 250 or so people in the ball room, there were hors'dourves and the like. It was real nice.

Now whats interesting is that I rarely get nervous about public speaking. Its what I do! come on! I preach 3 times a week! Well, when I got called up to do the prayer, all those eyes started to burn me as I was looking at them.

In most jobs, there are very clear parameters to see whether or not you are being successful at your job. If you're a firefighter, put out the fire. If you you're a mechanic, fix the car, and if you're a pastor, you better know how to pray. Its part of the job description.

To be honest, I thought it was a great prayer. I asked the Lord to bless the company, the president of the company, the time we had together for the night. It was an awesome prayer! People clapped when I was done. "good job matt" I thought to myself as I was walking back to the table. "you sure prayed that prayer". Then, I sat down.

God bless my wife. She leans over to me, and in my ear ever so softly says "honey, you forgot to bless the food". MAN! WHAT KIND OF PASTOR FORGETS TO BLESS THE FOOD?? So, clearly. I failed at my calling Saturday night. I was called upon to bless the food and I failed. Scores of people at risk for food poisoning and the crud because i did not invoke the blessings of our Lord upon the potatoes and prime rib! I should have turned in my credentials at the end of the night.

I redeemed myself last night. Another Christmas party, another prayer, and I delivered! Man. I got to tell you, I slept a whole lot better last night knowing the food was blessed.

So the lesson for the day is don't worry about your mess ups. the Lord will give you a chance to redeem yourself!

Happy praying
matt