Scripture
Do not put your trust in politicians {princes}, or in any child of Adam, who has no power to save.
~Psalm 146:3, NJB
Quote
life is filled with disappointments!
~Naola Bailey
Which hurts most: to be disappointed in someone or to have them be disappointed with you. I doubt seriously that you will get through life without experiencing both. One of the keys to good mental and emotional health is not to put too much confidence in a child of Adam. Our enemies seldom break our hearts because we know from the get go that they despise us. Nothing they do is a shock or disappointment but when you build trust in someone and then you feel that trust has been betrayed; you can be heart broken. Experiencing deep disappointment or heartbreak is not something we wish on anyone but it is a necessary part of the process. It teaches us to rely solely on Christ. It is never healthy to idolize a human. All humans are flawed and there are no exceptions other than Jesus.
June has a dog that she named Dixie. Dixie likes to rub her dirty fur on me every time I walk out the door. I don’t mind when I am wearing my work clothes but when I am dressed for church or something, I don’t want her filthy fur getting me dirty. How am I to relate to June’s dog? I simple remember that she is a dog and she doesn’t understand that I want to keep my distance when I am clean. To relate to Dixie properly, I have to remember that she is a dog, not a human. She doesn’t have a diabolical plan to get my clothes messed up; she is just a dog and she loves affection. So how do you treat a dog? You treat them like a dog; not like a human. I don’t get angry with Dixie when she doesn’t bring me breakfast; she is not capable of fixing my breakfast. We always set ourselves up for disappointment when we put unrealistic expectations on others. People cannot perform above their capability and no human is capable of pleasing you all the time.
I entered the ministry with high expectations for myself and others. My cheer leaders back at Sardis Springs where older ladies the age of my grand parents. They lauded me with praise for doing simply things like standing behind the pulpit for 30 minutes without falling flat on my face. Somehow, I envisioned it would be like this everywhere I went but I found out differently. While pastoring a small church in New Orleans, I was attacked by a vicious and unhappy woman during a business meeting. This woman was so mean and ruthless that she had June crying. She called me things that I had to go home and look up in the dictionary. Then we tried serving a small church in Mississippi and I had a group of older ladies there, just like at Sardis Springs but with one difference: they were hyper critical of everything I did. One of them made the statement, “He is a good mixer, but he aint no preacher.” Another said, “If he is a preacher, the woods are full of them.” Those remarks hurt me deeply because I wanted to be a good preacher. Trust me folks, this was not music to my ears; it was stinking criticism that hurt to the bone and it was humiliating. Although it was not a pleasant experience, it was a valuable one. It’s God’s way of growing a preacher’s skin, making him tougher. I don’t have time to tell you what happened next but it made the little old ladies look like Girl Scouts.
The blog, which I wrote a few days ago, fits me like a glove today. I left Nashville elated, thinking we had accomplished our mission but before I could get home, I got disappointing news, the social liberals won. We defeated the Mohlerites soundly but they had a plan B and it was a puppet named Ed Litton and don’t let their rhetoric fool you. The SBC is corrupt at the top and that was evident yesterday. James Merritt is a disgrace. I have absolutely no respect for him and Ronnie Floyd is as phony as a three dollar bill. Meritt sounded like a democrat–you vote for our bill or else you are a racist who does not love Jesus or the world. We were scolded by Merritt from the platform for being more concerned about CRT than souls for Christ. He was angry, condescending and arrogant. He was anything but Christ like and Floyd is just noise; he is a clanging cymbal. Personally, I am done with them. I do not intend to go back. We had the numbers but they had a plan. I can no longer support the SBC in good conscience and that includes all their entities. I will continue to support the Morgan Baptist Association. I will be recommending that they get all our CP gifts. They need the money and they are accountable. The SBC is run by power mongers from mega churches…there is no place for the small churches among them. They want our money but not our input. I feel like we have been fair; we gave them every opportunity to repent but they have gone WOKE.