According to GOD’S Plan

Not to pick on Pastor Tom, but I couldn’t help noticing the gracious comments Pastor Tom extended to the A/V team for positioning Shady Brook for a time like this. Although I do not want to take anything away from Will, Erin, Eric, Tom and Janet’s efforts to bring us into a virtual church; I smile because I know how each aspect of this began and I know no one had this Pandemic in mind when they contributed their portion.

To better understand my line of thought, I must first explain what transpired to get us, Shady Brook, to our virtual service and on-line Bible study.

Almost two years ago, our Sunday School class had a discussion about giving our tithes and how the generations have changed in how they are giving. As you know, many of you (basically all but me) do not carry or use paper checks. As the discussions continued, it was clear Shady Brook needed an online solution to tithing and that’s when I found the Tithe.ly app. This program would be available to anyone with a smart phone and enabled every generation a 21st century solution to giving back to the Lord. From the beginning, the Tithe.ly folks were extremely helpful and responded to any questions within the same day. Within days we had Tithe.ly running and several of you were quick to respond. Over time we rolled it out to the church and several more joined the app.

One Saturday afternoon, Bill Ward commented on how he missed being part of the Church body on Sunday mornings and how he wished we could broadcast to his home. That struck a chord.  Shady Brook had conventionally videoed our services and provided DVDs to our shut-ins upon request. But this was different, in that Bill wanted to be in the moment with the “Family” and Will took up the challenge. Will knew through research, that our video camera needed to be upgraded and he got approval through the church. Then Will researched and tried several venues before he and Erin decided on Facebook-live. Bill Ward was there from the beginning, always minutes before the broadcast and would comment his joy throughout the broadcast. We even started noticing familiar names that had dropped away over the years were starting to join the broadcast as the Sundays went by. I am very appreciative of Will’s finding a solution that works for those outside Shady Brook’s walls.

One month ago, before the Pandemic was causing people to buy up all the toilet paper, Janet had received an email from Tithe.ly offering a website setup for free (normally $150.00) if we signed up by the end of February. She felt led to present it to the Council. Although Shady Brook has gone through several websites in the past, we suffer with maintaining such sites, as they can be very technical and cumbersome. However upon the Council’s approval, Janet and I found the site to be very church-oriented and very friendly to use and we got the website set up quickly. Although these three events seem independent, look how GOD is using all three of these avenues to grow the church family in this time of separation. My smile was the realization that GOD had this in the works all along, that GOD put into place the electronic giving, the live-stream video, and a church website.

In reviewing GOD’s WORD, I am reminded of Joseph in Genesis chapters 37 - 50. How in Genesis 37:18-20, Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him and then in Genesis 37:28 the brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels. Then in Genesis 39:1-6, Joseph is sold to an Egyptian Officer who observes how GOD Favored Joseph and the Officer put Joseph in charge of his house affairs. And as we keep reading GOD’S WORD into chapters 39 – 41, we see Joseph wrongly accused.  Then GOD reveals the coming years to Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph interprets the dream for Pharaoh who then places him over all the land, and Joseph gathers food in the times of plenty according to the vision given by GOD. Then the time of plenty ended and the time of famine was across “all the face of the earth” (Genesis 41:56). In Genesis 42, Jacob (Joseph’s Father) sends his sons to Egypt, for Egypt had food for its people, thanks to Joseph, to obtain grain to make bread. In Genesis 45, after the brothers have come before Joseph a second time, Joseph reveals himself and tells his brothers starting in verse 3 that he was not sold into slavery by them, but instead GOD had sent him to Egypt to preserve their lives. I specifically love when Joseph tells his brother in Genesis 45:8 “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God..”

Joseph didn’t hold any anger for his past, didn’t blame his brothers for being sold into slavery and he didn’t feel sorry for himself; for Joseph recognized it was all part of GOD’S PLAN. What joy we must have in recognizing GOD had a plan for the circumstances we now face. How three random acts would transform into our virtual church today is GOD’S PROVIDENCE and our HOPE is renewed when we can see GOD has not forsaken, nor abandoned us. What an AWESOME GOD we have!

I miss our Sunday School class time, I miss each of you, and I struggle with what part GOD has for me during this unprecedented time. But I know in my heart, I know GOD wants us to continue to grow in Christ and grow together. Please continue to grow in HIS WORD, in prayer, and in deed. It is our time to be Joseph in Our “famine across all the face of the earth”. We need to recognize that we are Christians and we must be “about Our FATHER’S Business”.

Be Safe and May GOD Bless you all in these times!