Winter for many is their favorite time of the year, but not for me. I do not look forward to winter, but I do enjoy each day that God gives during winter. And, winter leads to my favorite time of the year – spring (and it is coming)! I do not mind winter, but it has its special challenges.
A few weeks ago, we had a circulating pump go out on our heating system. The pump circulates the hot water throughout the building and heats each section to the required set temperature. I came into the building on New Year’s Day and found that the temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit (F). The temperature outside was about 10 degrees F.
The deacon of our church and I decided to wait for the next day and trust God for the heat in the building to remain above 32 degrees F. The Lord was good as the temperature went down to zero and the building stayed above 40 degrees F. The man from the heating company came and fixed the problem that next day. The cost of the new pump was over $1400.
These are real problems that church organizations face. It is our desire to have a heated building every time we have a service, Bible study or other functions. Comfort is important! Many take it for granted, but comfort is often deemed critical to having a good worship service or Bible Study.
Many around the world will worship and listen to a sermon in the cold of winter in the woods. We live in a country where we have the freedom, the liberty, and the comfort of worship in warm buildings without any fear of persecution…YET.
May we take time to thank God for our warm places of worship and for those that care for the building. Some clean the building weekly and need to be thanked. Some maintain the building and all of the equipment and they need to be thanked. So, “always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” – (Eph. 5:20 NASB 1995)
May you make time this Sunday to thank those that are in charge of maintaining and cleaning your place of worship. Or, maybe make time to thank those that set up the chairs and equipment to worship in a rented building. God is pleased with grateful believers. May we strive to please God – even when a circulating pump needs to be replaced.
In His grace,
Pastor Les Takkinen