Like the Desert Missed the Rain

After attending Midway Baptist Church for almost a year, we made our membership official yesterday. It's a small church (for me) of fewer than 500 people, and your typical Ready-To-Sing church for all you current/former Brentwood Benson-ites. The pastor is a big Teddy bear of a guy who's a authentic Cajun from the Louisiana bayou. If you've never heard a Cajun accent before (and I hadn't before hearing Bro. Dennis preach) it sounds like a cross between a deep southerner, and an Australian! Plus he's always throwing french Cajun words in his speech too, so it makes for some entertaining sermons, as he is the consummate story teller!

Right now we are going through Psalm 23 verse by verse, and I LOVE this style of preaching, dissecting each verse. I know there's a name for this style of preaching, and I forget what it's called but I love it. It's pretty much the opposite of what Mike Glenn usually does, though I love his preaching as well! A few Sunday's ago, we watched this "Deep Thoughts From a Shallow Christian" video about Greed to open up the message, and I thought it was so funny I had to share it with you!



Yesterday Brother Dennis focused on verse 4 of Psalm 23,


Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.



He talked a lot about the valleys in our life, how they are inevitable, but temporary, why they happen, and how to get through them. Brother Dennis said, "You can't have sunshine all the time, and no rain or you'll have a desert." Such a simple statement, but it was so profound to me! I joked to Brian on our way home from church that we must be living in a tropical rain forest because we seem to be getting hit constantly with hard times, but in all honesty we are blessed. Listening to that sermon yesterday I realized I am so guilty of wanting to live in a desert, wanting warm sunny days (both literally, and figuratively) every day of my life. And I am subject to pout and complain when it rains (yes, again literally & figuratively).


Sure, I prefer the sun, but it's the rain that makes us grow. So to celebrate my new found respect for the rain in my life, I bought 2 hanging plants for $10 yesterday at Lowe's! What a great deal, huh? And I am striving to keep my positive outlook on life, no matter what the circumstance.