“A RUT IS NOTHING MORE THAN A GRAVE with the ends knocked out,” a wise old wag once told me. Ever since,I have desired never to get myself into a rut, but sadly I have found myself there more times than I care to acknowledge.
Why do we often find ourselves in those ruts? One reason, I suppose, is because there is safety in a rut. Dig one deep enough and you can stand up and nobody can even see you. Lay down and they’ll take you for dead. There’s a certain comfort in that. If they can’t see me, or if they think I’m “gone,” then they will not bother me. I can keep to myself, do my own thing, be my own boss, live within the box that I have created. (A box? In a rut? Not a pretty picture given the description above!)
Forty-five years of “doing church” in the San Lorenzo Valley, not a bad track record. What will it be for the next forty-five? A rut? A grave? Business as usual? I pray not! Ten years of ministry for my family and me here at Felton Bible Church, what will the future hold? A rut? A box? Business as usual? I pray not!
This morning we hold one of our regular Annual Congregational Meetings, a time to look forward as we approve our 2008 budget and elect new Ministry Team members. It’s a time to take seriously the business of the church. It is a time to remember: Whose we are, why we are, where we are, and to pray about where we are going. Will it be a rut? A box? Business as usual?
I pray not!