Can I just get a boat?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I've been in a season of my life where I feel like God is teaching me patience. But instead of teaching me to be patient, sometimes I really wish God would teach me to be a good boat owner. I feel like God teaching me to be a good boat owner would involve a lot more fun things than him teaching me to be patient. My name's Daniel, and for the longest time I thought I was just an ordinary dad, but I'm on a journey to see the extra in my ordinary life. Well, today is a good day. If you are a member of the middle school ministry at my church, you know that we have been waiting for a long time on our new gymnasium to be built for the middle school kids and us to enjoy on Wednesday nights. Tonight is the night, it's the first night of really seeing it all come together and us being able to be in the middle school gym. And then in the future, we'll start out in the gym, we'll be able to play basketball, nine square, a lot of different games, and then we'll come over to the sanctuary for worship. Tonight and next week are going to be special services where we're going to spend most of the time playing games, and then there's going to be about a 10 or 15 minute message. Tonight's Pastor Jim Bob. Next week we meet, and it's going to be an incredibly fun night. And then after these two weeks, we go off for a week to Centrifuge. Centrifuge is something that I love. It's camp, it's on the mountain. I've talked about it in our mountaintop episode before. But going as a chaperone is completely different than it was when I was going as a kid. I really enjoy being able to see this group of middle school students to know them better, and also you get to see what interests them. And you sometimes get a little glimpse of who they're going to be as they grow up and they grow closer to God. It's really entertaining. It's one of my favorite things about being in ministry is watching these people grow closer to God and grow as human beings from the front row. And I'm so thankful to have this front row seat that God's given me. But I've said it, I'm in this season where God has taught me to be patient and to trust him more. There have been times through stepping out where I was scared and I didn't know how God was going to provide. But God has, throughout the past two years of launching my own business, has really taught me to trust him differently than I did before. Before when I drove a truck, I did very well income-wise. So I didn't really have those moments where I was like, oh no, how are we going to do this? But stepping out, I knew it was going to take about two years to really get the hamster wheel rolling. But nobody told me that those two years were going to be incredibly scary until recently. Recently, my mindset shifted, and for some reason I started seeing things as an opportunity. When things come up against us, or anything happens in our lives, I would say, Amanda, this is an opportunity for us to be faithful, or this is an opportunity for us to witness God's faithfulness in our lives. For instance, this week, actually just yesterday, started Monday night, we started hearing a gurgling in the pipes whenever you would let the water out of the bathtub or the washing machine was running, and I said, Oh no. So I went outside to where our septic system is and saw water bubbling up in the yard. Come to find out our septic pump was out. And that was about a $750 expense. And I got a little bit of a discount because I went outside where the guy was working and I used a shovel. And that happened to hit us on the exact same day that Bear and Winnie had to go to the dentist. And the dentist was $425. And I don't know about you guys, but I used to have a little bit of an emergency fund, but I wasn't really planning on about a $1,200 expense just to pop out within a couple of days of each other. Really, the the money came out of my bank account on the exact same day. And I told Amanda, I was like, well, this is an opportunity for us to see God provide. And he did. He always does. The nature of what we do for work on my end with being in real estate and real estate photography is that oftentimes people will call me the day of to do a job, or they will have something come up, or even sometimes there'll be a random job at the church. For instance, like yesterday, I had to move or got to move some chairs and go through the sanctuary of our high school building to see which chairs were worn out, needing replacing, and be able to move chairs from the middle school building over to the high school, do some moving around and reorganizing the seats to make things look a little better and be a little more comfortable for those attending service for the high school ministry. Which I'm glad that they get because we get a gym, we're gonna be in here dunking it, playing basketball, and they get some new chairs. Fair trade. But God had that job come up to provide. And there was an enlisting appointment that went very well for me, just as a little nod to God's faithfulness. And it seems like every time in our lives when we have these moments of need, when I stop worrying and saying, God, how, God, how, God, how, God, how, and God, when are you gonna do this? God, how are you gonna do that? I don't know, I don't know what you're gonna do. And I stop pouting. And I change my mindset to say, I don't know how, I don't know when, but I do know who. I know that God provides. It's not up to me to determine when, how, or how much, because honestly, if it were up to me, I would say, God's gonna lay it on my heart to think of the numbers like 7, 15, 21, 5, 4, and go play the lottery. I don't even know if that was the right amount of numbers. And I'm gonna win a few million dollars. And that's how God wants to provide for me, and I'll be okay. But that's not how He does it. God provides through opportunities, he provides through blessings, he provides through open doors that we didn't expect coming. It is an amazing time and opportunity in my life where I've come to appreciate the Lord and not to rely on my own understanding or my own efforts, but to really and truly focus on God and what he's doing in my life and just step back and say, I trust you. Hear my cell phone going off because I'm also working, I'm waiting on my phone call to come in so I can handle a file that I'm working on for a client. But it's not up to me to say, God, I want you to do this this way. Do I still tell that to God? Sometimes. There are things that I really want to see happen in ministry that I remind God often, like, hey, this is something that you put on my heart. And I didn't ask for this. I wanted to take the trash out, and I was completely content being the guy who shows up to church and after service on Wednesday night takes the trash out and goes home. But God laid something else on my heart, and he's placed a vision and a call on my heart that I know I will see in the future. I don't see how, I don't see when, but I trust him and I trust his word. Sometimes I feel a little like Joseph in the Old Testament because you have this vision and you have this sight of what's going to happen in the future, but you know that one, you're not really qualified, and two, you'll never feel good enough. You'll never feel like you have the right amount of experience in yourself. At least that's how I feel when I look at it. But I'm also reminded of Joseph because I remember his brothers had opinions that are similar to what I have of myself. But Joseph just served God. He did the very best he could where he was at, every day, living for God, serving God. He didn't worry about what was going to happen the next day. He took the tasks that were in front of him, he managed them with excellence, and God promoted him. God promoted him to a place where he was able to save his people, and his visions came true. So whatever God has placed on my heart is not for me to determine how. Because there is no way I would be where I am right this second without God and without his favor and without his love and without his mercy on me. And when God chose his love and favor and mercy, it's undeniable. I can't deny it. I can't run away from it. I can't claim the victory for myself. I can't claim the credit for myself. Everything that God is doing, God is doing. Daniel's not doing. I'm doing my best. I'm trying to be faithful with what he puts in my hands. I'm trying to be faithful with my family and my church and to be the best husband and father and servant that I can be. I'm trying to be faithful in my career and to be the best realtor and mortgage loan originator and real estate media photographer that I can be for people. But I just trust him. I really hope that you guys are hearing this and that what you hear somehow inspires you to trust God more. Trust God more than you do. I know that he's blown my mind. He's already done so much and fascinated me with everything that he's given and everything that he's done that I can't imagine what he's gonna do in the future. But I'm excited to see it. But I'm gonna pray because I've got a phone call coming in in just a couple minutes that I need to be ready for. And we got a service tonight that I'm stoked about because I'm going to just demolish some middle school kids at basketball tonight. Actually, they're gonna beat me, but we're gonna have a fun time. And I might even find myself over to the bingo table and play some bingo. But let's pray and just know, guys, that God loves you and I love you, and you shouldn't love yourself too. God has a plan for you that's bigger and more wonderful than anything you could ever imagine. God, thank you for everything you've given us. I praise you, and I thank you for setting us apart for your calling. Your name is matchless, and there is nothing in the earth above the earth or in existence that compares to you. I thank you for your provision in my life, and I thank you for your glory being shown through my life. And I pray that when people see me or that they see these listeners, that they see you shining through us. If anybody's listening today and they don't know you or their faith is wavering and they don't know what is going on or how they're gonna hold on, I hope that something that was said inspires them either to get to know you or to just trust you even more with their lives. God, I love you and I thank you for every second that you've given me on this earth, every breath that I have, God, is from you and every future moment is for you, God. Help me to realize that this life is not my own, that it doesn't belong to me, that I don't choose what you do. I just trust you and I get to enjoy every gift you give me. Help me to see the beauty in my life and to really explore the extra that you've placed in my ordinary life so that I can really love this extraordinary life that you've given me. I praise you, God, and I thank you. Bless everyone and be with their needs. In your precious name we pray. Amen. Hey guys, I will see you next week. If you're in middle school and you happen to be in Northeast Florida, find your way to McQueen. Look me up on Facebook, let me know you're in the area, and I'll tell you where to meet us on Wednesday night. We'll get some food at six, we'll play some basketball, and we'll worship God and learn about him together. Love you guys.