Overwhelmed

There are days when nothing seems to go right.  You’re probably saying, “Days? How about weeks and years?”  I know the pressures of life begin to pile up.  Nothing you do seems to be working correctly.  Yet despite your most valiant efforts, you’re getting farther and farther behind.  There is only one word that comes to mine – OVERWHELMED!

It seems of late I have been no stranger to the dreaded word.  Being under stress and overwhelmed seem to be a very common problem.  The deadlines are past due at work, your cell phone is ringing, and the kids are making a mess.  I would love to think that this is just modern era problem.  We live in such a fast pace, technology rich society it seems common.  But I dare say that being overwhelmed is universal human problem, affecting everyone whether modern or not.

So what should we do when we are overwhelmed?

In Numbers 11, Moses was no stranger to being overwhelmed.  He had a pretty tough task in leading the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land.  “Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry; Moses was also provoked. So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have You brought such trouble on Your servant? Why are You angry with me, and why do You burden me with all these people?”  Numbers 11:10–11 (HCSB)

Needless to say he was in a stressful and overwhelming situation.  As he tried to deal with the situation I imagine he only got more frustrated.  Even to the point where he said, ^“I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me.”  Numbers 11:14 (HCSB)

Moses was doing one thing right, he was pouring out his problems and concerns of being overwhelmed to God.  I would love to give you 5 simple steps to less stress, but the spiritual fact is there are no quick fixes to dealing with being overwhelmed.  There is only one step = be in a close relationship with God.

When that feeling of being overwhelmed occurs, there is only one solution.  That solution is to drop on our knees in prayer to the God that controls the universe.  I know He is more than capable of handling the latest mess my girls made.  I don’t want to sound to simplistic in dealing with the situations of life, but we make life more complicated then we have, or at least I do.  Yes priorities have to change, workloads have to be evaluated, delegation has to occur, and assistance from those in our life will help with being overwhelmed. 

If you try to unclutter life without God, the results will be no peace with God.  Plus here is God’s response to Moses after appointing him some helpers.  “The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited?  You will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”  Numbers 11:23 (HCSB)

Give your stress over to God and allow His power to remove the feels of being overwhelmed. 

Airport Security = God Appointment

In days gone by, airport travel was fun and adventurous. One would enjoy the trip to the airport and find an easy place to park. You were then treated like a guest on your flight to wonderful destinations. Now, I am nowhere old enough to remember the good old days of air travel.

My generation can define air travel in one word - Security. Now when someone says they're flying, the only image you get is airport security lines. You can't just pack a bag and hop a flight to destinations unknown. You have to worry about every aspect of your bag, is my shampoo too much, and I better not loose my ID. Granted it is the age we live in and I do appreciate the security, but going through airport security can be a nightmare. There are so many rules to remembers and don't leave your belt on. (I've left my belt on with my infant daughter in my arms and gotten the 3rd degree before.)

I am not a seasoned traveler and it probably gets easier the more you fly. But for some reason I always get picked for extra security scrutiny. When I came back from Israel with all of the delays from Hurricane Sandy, my group was rolling with laughter as I got held up for more security checks. I must look shady with my bald head, goatee, and pleasant smile.

Today as I fly out of Duluth's new terminal to Florida for the Exponential conference for church planters, I hoped that Mrs. Airport Security wouldn't call my name but she smiled at me again. As my bag goes through the machine I hear the TSA officer say, "Sir is this your bag?" There it is again, forget Murphy's law, Lemaster law is in full force! Something will always go wrong. As I followed the screener to the station for scrutiny, the last thing I was thinking was that this is a God appointment.

As the screener did his check through my bag, I wondered what had flagged me. He looked and did the explosive test, I passed. I took my Israel photo book to share with my sister and I notice that the screener looked at it, but I didn't think anything about it. He finished and I was cleared to wait in the terminal.

The new Duluth terminal is nice and I had a good view of the new snow on the ground. (Yes, we have spring snow on the ground.) While enjoying the view, I was catching up on emails. All of sudden one of the TSA officers that screened me came over and startled me. My first though was what's wrong and followed by what did I do.

The TSA officer asked when I went to Israel and if he could look at my photo book. This request was definitely not what I expected. Of course I showed it to him and we started to talk. As we talked, we found out he knew some people at my church. As we talked more, I found out we was looking for more spiritual answers. He had to get back to work, so he asked for my contact info. It was a real blessing to have met this man through a God appointed moment. I do pray we can connect again when I get back.

I'm not exactly sure why God used airport security to be a divine appointment, but I'm over joyed that He did. This experience is not going in my nightmare category, but in the thank you category. God wants to use His believers to make an impact on this world. I was just preaching this morning about loving your neighbor and being available to be used by God to show His love to people. I didn't expect it to happen a few hours after the message. When our heart is tuned to be available, God will play a wonderful song that will touch people's lives. My encouragement to you today: be available and God will use you in His appointment book, even through airport security.

"Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message, to speak the mystery of the Messiah, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it as I am required to speak. Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person." Colossians 4:2-6 (HCSB)