Church Bulletin

Quit or Not to Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,

And the road you're trudging seems all up hill,

When funds are low and debts are high,

And you have to smile, but you want to cry,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don't give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow,

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far,

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,

It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

To quit or not to quit? That is sometimes an extremely difficult decision to come to. There are times when we may need to change our direction, our job, or our location, or quit a destructive or "just- plain-not-going-anywhere" situation. The important thing is not to quit too soon. However, it's equally important not to hang in too long and to keep "whipping a dead horse!" But how do we know when to hang in and when to quit? After we've done everything we can to redeem a bad situation without success, sometimes we still don't know. It's then that we need to commit our situation to God, seek his direction, and just plainly trust him that the decision we make will be in harmony with His will for us. In times like these, I ask God to give me the insight to see the reality

of the situation in question. Once I see the truth, I usually know what I need to do. Then I pray for the courage to do it! God hasn't promised to make our decisions for us or tell us what to do. What he has promised, providing we want and ask for it is wisdom, guidance, direction, and understanding and to be with us as long as we are genuinely seeking to walk in His ways. But when it comes to growing in "faith, love and every grace," that we never quit!

Friend of Sinners

Of the two kinds of sinners in Jesus’s day, whom did he prefer to mix with? The honest ones-those who admitted their sins, weaknesses, and failures. As long as I deny my own reality (sins, weakness, failures, and my dark side) I cannot truly relate to other people. As Richard C. Halverson, former chaplain of the U.S. Senate wrote in one of his weekly letters: "Only sinners can relate. Sinners enjoy authentic fellowship. Saints don't! People who pose as saints aren't free to remove their masks. Under pressure to project conventional piety, they are unable to open up and share themselves."

Upholding the traditional religious image, they remain invulnerable in human relationships because they dare not expose their real selves. They major in propositions rather than persons ... share their victories but never their failures. Meeting head to head instead of heart to heart, protecting themselves against discovery, they ricochet against each other like marbles.

“The authentic saint is oblivious to his sainthood, deeply aware of his unworthiness, sensitive to his failure, confesses he is a sinner, which makes possible true fellowship. Sinners acknowledge their inadequacy, lean heavily on God's grace, and identify quickly with need in others. “Recognizing all men are sinners, unwilling to hide from the truth, they share their weaknesses, confess their sin to one another, and do not fear vulnerability. They come together like grapes, crushed and fragrant, dependent upon each other, and God.”