It’s a fact of life. 

Crap: A necessary byproduct of this earthy life.  Let’s not forget we don’t get beautiful roses without dunged dirt.

If there is “a day” where things will unravel, pressure will be percolating, trouble will be teeming, or chaos will be cavorting; for a pastor and family- Sunday is a magnet for crappy things to happen.  30 plus years of ministry have verified this. Let’s just say we’ve had plenty of practice learning to “deal” with stinky messes.

I guarantee this: if there’s a devil and his minions- that’s the day he wants to distract, befuddle, stress out, stir up, confound, confuse, attack or dump crap in your path.

I could entertain you with countless “life breaking dump stories” right before church was to commence. But today is the kingpin of all stories. 

Today- the crap was not a metaphor- it was literal.

5 minutes before church was to begin, Jeff went down the back stairs to check on something. He stepped in and slipped on literal doodoo- caca- number 2.  And I mean a lot of it!!!

What in the world????!!!!! (where are my emojis when I need them??)

As Jeff fell down the stairs, that globby, stinky stuff smeared all over his suit pants.

Kip was at the bottom of the stairs, assessed the farcical situation and said, “Pastor, go clean up –  get regrouped, I’ll take care of this mess.”  (Bless you Kip! You’re our hero!  )

30 plus years of Pastor Training kicked into gear: “Church must go on”and “God must be glorified” was the inaudible refrain in Jeff’s brain as he rushed to the bathroom and began cleaning up the best he could.  His finishing touch was sprinkling his pants with apple cinnamon liquid freshener.

I had no idea any of this had happened until afterwards: After he had come in and worshipped with us, after he had greeted and talked to everyone, after he had preached (a really good sermon I might add 😉 )

My man! He has a heart for God and a great perspective.

I’m thinking, maybe those years of training our hearts and minds to be focused on the most important thing- the most important One—–

Maybe all the years where “crap” happened and we just learned to deal with it and put it in perspective——-

Maybe all those years of getting to learn the lesson that the Indescribable Majestic One is far and beyond anything life can throw at us! (or anything we can step in)

FULL CREDIT for this picture goes to SAVETHECOWBOY.COM 

We can see it as compost that cultivates perspective, fertilizing our character so we produce the Fruit of the Spirit

 OR

If we perceive it only as “excrement that stinks to high heaven”, we’ll miss the high heaven part and be left with moaning, groaning, and complaining.

Maybe it takes loads of crap to grow our garden of life most beautiful-

So be it.  Bring it.

I’m trusting the Master Gardner to fertilize my life- along with sunshine and rain. He alone knows the best combination to grow my life beautiful.

[Tweet “When #life throws you crap- let God grow you roses. “]

Surprising Treasure:  James 1:3    Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.…