When I was younger I thought preaching was a strong suit of mine. Please do not read this as anything close to bragging. It just seemed that my personal gifts grew out of a natural, God given ability for public speaking. Getting up in front of crowds never did bother me at any age. I even had an almost leading role in our senior play in high school. Fortunately my character was cleared of the murder. On one occasion I found myself serving as host of our school band during a spring concert. The shift to the preaching role is one that came easy for me. People used to talk about my ability even in the early years of speaking to churches. One church even called me to be their pastor following my sermon during a community service. God does indeed deserve any credit for any of this. I am just laying a foundation for the rest of this post.

Looking back at old sermon notes is very humbling. It took years of learning good study habits to get to a point where the material is worth keeping. Even today the most important stuff in my files are not the sermon outlines but the bible study that precedes the message. And yet there was really something about those early sermons that went beyond what is written down on paper. There were and still are some awful sermons in my records. The vast majority of the time if God didn't come through on Sunday we were in deep trouble. Something happened along the way during the years. My messages were probably technically better but something was lacking. I can admit that even if not sure the cause but knowing something changed.

Last week I spent some time reviewing old files and such in the office. A trash can ended up overflowing with things no longer needed. My attention also turned to some of the sermon notes from my almost ten years here. There was nothing really wrong with much of what I read. Topics that were covered were timely and needed. The interpretation was sound as that is one thing that I am a stickler about. Still, there was something about those sermons just out of whack as we say. My finger is still not landing on what may be the cause. I might tell you if or when I get a clear answer. I also may not. More than a few people could say that there was nothing technically wrong with my sermons. Maybe that is where my finger needs to land.

All of this is said to tell you just how amazing the last few Sunday went. When the fog of the diagnosis shock lifted there was something new going on with the sermons. July is proving to be a fantastic month here. My sermons once again had that missing "it" we wrote about earlier. Again, this is not cause I believe in my own talent that much. Any and all credit honestly belongs to God. We spent the last three Sundays diving deep into the truth of God's amazing grace. The worship as well as the messages went better than I could imagine. Each worship service seems to be even better than the one before. The preparation is really about the same each week. My outlines are not really technically better than prior ones. Maybe the difference is me. Could it be that coming into this medical crisis is a springboard for God to work in my heart? I am going to have to think on that awhile. For now I will simply give thanks to God for whatever He is doing. My hope and prayer is that I don't get in His way so even more will come our way.

Bro. Trey