Faithfulness in the Crazy

Life has been crazy busy lately. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been running Daggerheart one-shots at a local brewery, but shortly after I posted that update, my grandpa passed away. David Giles, the man I wrote about in January. So April saw me visiting Georgia, and then Colorado Springs for the Nerd Culture Ministry Summit, in addition to my day job (which has the entire department working over-time to catch up on projects that got delayed due to issues outside of the company’s control).

It’s been insane. But one thing that’s been constant has been God’s reassurance (often through other people when my thick head fails to remember that God is taking care of me). When life gets busy, especially when the future looks uncertain, I get anxious, even though I wrote a sermon series around Matthew 6:33-341. In those verses Jesus promised his followers that, if they seek him above all else, he’ll be sure to provide everything they need (emphasis on need), so we shouldn’t be anxious. But I often feel pressure to succeed in a way that mirrors success that I saw growing up. Both in the business world and in ministry. The hardest thing for me to remember is that faithfulness to God is how He measures success (2 Timothy 4:6-81), not any “results” that can be quantified in this life. Sure, there can and should be quantifiable results with ministry, but the only thing I can control is how faithful I am. I can’t control the economy, the hearts of the people I minister to, the traffic, weather, or anything else. Just what I do each moment that I have a choice.

This is something I struggle with. When life gets crazy, working a full time job, trying to fulfill my ministry calling, teaching for church, etc., it’s easy to forget what’s most important. Thankfully, my amazing wife has been with me every step of the way, reminding me how to maintain balance. But it takes daily effort and surrender (to God) to maintain that balance faithfully. To do what God has called me to do when all I want to do sometimes is crash in front of the TV and either watch something brainless or play video games. (Please remember I LOVE video games and think they have a lot of value for many reasons I may tackle in another article. My struggle is wanting to play video games while I ignore all of my responsibilities.)

The fact is, some of my responsibilities will slip through the cracks, and while my wife is picking up a lot of the slack (because she’s incredible!), she’s also busy. And helping me in some of my ministry efforts. But the things that we’re letting go of are fairly minor.

Throughout all of the last few months of insanity, though, I have been faithfully seeking God. It’s not as consistent as I want, and I know I could be better. But unlike many seasons in my youth, the good days far outnumber the bad (good being the days where I seek God and the bad being the days I just veg out and let everything slide). Faithfulness in the crazy is definitely a challenge, but God is getting me through.

Sources and Notes

1 At Disciple Gaming Ministry, we encourage people to read the Bible using an accurate translation that is also easy to understand. With that being said, the translation we use is the ESV® Bible. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.