Interesting week

God has shown me some interesting things about myself over the past week. The first happened at a conference that I attended last weekend. I must admit that initially the only reason I was going to the conference was to get an extra hour of credit for school but as of the start of the conference last Friday I had purposed to have a heart that sought to see what He would challenge me with and seek tools that will be of use in whatever context He places us in the future. I was definitely challenged and it happened on the initial night, Derwin Gray a former NFL All-Pro and now pastor/evangelist in Charlotte made the statement that your postion/ministry can become an idol. This fully smacked me upside the head. Since we've been married (9 1/2 years) we've been at churches where I've been on staff and now that we are here in Wake Forest we are "normal" people as Jill calls us. I realized when that statement was made that being "Pastor Dale" had been an idol. It was a subtle thing but subtle or not it was in a since what my identity had partially become. This floored me and to tell you the truth I remember little of the rest of that night except that I was repentant of this. What a huge challenge He posed! When you go from being on staff to not being on staff there is a detox process that you go through and this was a huge step in this, I praise Him for this painful challenge. The second thing that He challenged me with happened on Monday morning. I was to preach in my sermon delivery class. Starting on Saturday evening I started feeling sick but didn't say anything and on Sunday night I was feeling terrible. What was happening throughout Sunday night wasn't pretty but I had to preach and the sermon was worth a big hunk of my grade so I had to go. Fortunately I was to preach first. I got to class and told my professor what was going on and we prayed then went right up to preach (this was also the first time I preached without notes). During the sermon I had cold sweats and then started feeling nauseous. I finished and bolted to the bathroom let's just say that I'm glad the bathroom was not far from the class and that I had my hand over my mouth (Jill is so cold - she thought it was hillarious!). I learned that God is bigger than me and any sickness I may be experiencing. I say this because I was praying throughout that nasty night that I could make it through preaching without puking and more importantly that He would be glorified as His Word was put forth and He was faithful in allowing me to get through and share His Word (which is the most amazing privilege and humbling responsbility that I know beyond being a husband and father). Well, these are some interesting and humbling things that have happened over the past week or so. We will have more pics for everybody soon.