Weary of the good - Jesus Army Life, Day 188

I woke up yesterday morning thinking I'd had enough. Last week had been amazingly busy with the evangelistic work in London, I'd developed a cold probably as a result, one of the young teenagers who I am very close to had just been arrested for some amazingly stupid incident, I'd gone to bed late again, alone again (empty community bedroom), romantic interests were down the drain, I was casting off doubts about my capacity as a church leader and now I'd woken up early. I was weary.

I tossed and turned in bed then got up thinking at least I could gear myself into prayer. I washed and dressed, made myself a coffee, but one thing led to another and the prayer never happened.

You'd think I was heading for a bad day. But I was rescued by the kind ears of a friend who, after many car journeys, has learnt to listen to my moans and whines, my gripes about life and my fears over the challenges that come in this church, week by week.

I completed a hard day's graft, picked up the community's shopping, and drove carload of friends home. There were phone calls to make, I had to see how my young disciple was and organise events for that evening. But the day was already on the up. A young lad had asked to come to dinner so I wasn't alone among the sisters that evening (the elders were eating together and the other brother was out). We all chatted and laughed for a long time. The teenager taught me some basic guitar skills, I showed him some stuff from the bible. My friend had made the flapjacks and we shared those. Everyone was involved in some activity or other. A friend phoned to tell me she was getting baptised and, later that evening, another friend used her engineering knowhow to help me fix an old lamp.

It had been in fact very good to look at the bible with that young friend. We talked about his future and what the bible had to say about it. I was able to show him how the bible stated God had a purpose for his life and was calling him specifically. It was good to remember the bible's life-giving words. I went to bed that night much happier and these words of scripture were with me specifically:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9