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Did you ever have “one of those days?”
You know it’s going to be “one of those days” when…
…Everyone looks at you as if you are wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe.
…You look down and realize that you actually are wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe!
My first pastoral call was to a church in Eagle River, Alaska. A perennially perky pastor friend in Anchorage used to wake up his kids every morning by throwing their bedroom doors wide open, pulling up the shades, and rousting each kid into the day with the shout: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” I am pretty sure those kids weren’t particularly fond of that Bible passage by the time they hit their teen years.
In Alaska, when we had a Pastors’ Conference, everybody stayed overnight because most pastors had to come from a pretty good distance. Pastor Zietlow owned a fishing cabin south of Anchorage on the Kenai River, where they grow the salmon large. So we often held our Conferences in his fishing cabin. Even though he kept us up till the wee hours of the morning, swapping fish stories, he felt compelled to wake us at the crack of dawn with his famous wake-up call: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Then he would say something about burning daylight, so we all dragged ourselves down to his boat for some early morning fishing in spite of the fact that we knew it was bound to be “one of those days.”
Whenever I feel like I am going to have “one of those days,” Dave Zietlow and that verse always come to mind. Dave used to say that there are no bad days in Alaska, only different kinds of good days; that it was just a grand privilege to live in Alaska -- God’s Country. Dave was a simple pastor. He didn’t know a lick of Greek, but he loved Jesus with all of his heart, and he loved Alaska more than life itself. That was about as deep as his sermons ever got, but he founded ten missions in Alaska because of his energy and drive. They’re now all thriving churches. He was a great man of God.
Shortly before I left Alaska after serving my tour of duty up there for seven years (and loving every minute of it), Pastor Zietlow went home to heaven. I am sure he woke up on his last day on this planet and said to someone, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” I am also pretty sure that verse was the text of his celebration of life sermon.
What better way to greet each day than to remind yourself and those around you that the new day belongs to the Lord! He gave us another day of grace! He made it. And He’ll bless it. With that beginning, it is hard to have “one of those days” very often.
The truth is that sin infects every day with the devilish potential to be “one of those days.” Satan and sin are engaged in a constant battle to pry us away from Jesus. The good thing is that when we get into a “one of those days” funk, Jesus picks us up, dusts us off, and sends us back on our way, reminding us that “this is the day the Lord has made.”
He doesn’t want us to waste a single day that He has made in a self-imposed pity party. Notice that the psalmist doesn’t say, “This is the day that the Lord has made; it will be bright and sunny.” But as we turn to Jesus on even the worst days, we are reassured that our enemies cannot defeat us. How could they? The Lord has made each day! I guess that’s what Dave meant when he said that there are no bad days in Alaska! Friends, there are no bad days in California either – God made each one. And God will bless each one.
We, too, can rejoice on the worst days – when everything is mixed up, upside down, inside out, and backward. For sure, rejoicing won’t happen if we focus on ourselves—our pressures, our pains; our trials, our tears; our fears, or our failures. Despite all that, we can rejoice when we turn to the cross. The cross helps us see things differently. The cross puts everything into perspective. With joy, we can face this day, this week, this month, this life. So, Saints, again today, God has given us another “one of those days” that He has made: “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Amen.
Dear Lord, thank You for this day. Thank You for each day that You have given us. Help us to use each day to serve You. When we are having “one of those days,” remind us that You made that day and You want to bless that day. Remind us to look to You instead of at our circumstances. You have promised to help us through each day. We trust You, and we love You, Lord. Amen.
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