When Nicole and I first married I took a job at a lumber sales company just so I’d have a steady income. It was a lousy job and my wages were low, but I knew I needed to show up and do my best for my new bride, so I persisted. My favorite part of that job was driving the delivery truck. It afforded me the opportunity to have some time on the road where I could listen to my favorite Christian Radio show. Most days I could never find time to sit and listen to the radio but in the truck it was different. Most of my routes were more than the tailored 30 minute sermons and often I’d digest five or six different sermons in one day. My favorite was Pastor Chuck Swindoll. He always had a way of preaching where it sounded like your grandfather was just sitting with you explaining life and giving advice. As a young man, I appreciated his words very much.
Dr. Swindoll is 91 years old now. He and his wife are both still alive and still serving God. In a recent interview he was asked, “What shaped you into the man we admire today?” His answer was, “trials and suffering.” He said that when we suffer God has our attention and we cry out to Him and He cares for us. It is those moments that most impacted his life. After 91 years Chuck was thankful for the bad times because the built the best parts of him. This is the same lesson we find in the Book of James. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter trials of various kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you might be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Are you going through a trial right now? Are you suffering? This is God’s way of shaping you into the person He created you to be and when you are 91 years old maybe you’ll be able to tell someone younger how important the struggles are.
“Trinity International Church is a safe, welcoming, community of Christ-followers who uphold a high view of Scripture, celebrate unity in diversity and participate fully in the abiding Christian life as described in the Bible. We are united by the principle that in the essentials there should be unity, in all else there should be charity.”
Pastor Dan
