This week was another super busy one. Monday-Wednesday was packed
with meetings, visits, and classes. I didn’t get a chance to work on my sermon at all at the office, so I went home at night and did what I’m doing now: typing while lying in bed. My mom celebrated her 50th birthday on Wednesday. I felt sad all day long. What are the odds that I’d be so far away on her big day? The Daily Globe did an awesome write up on her for her birthday and all her years at the bread store. One of my favorite parts of the week came on Thursday morning. I took new staff photos for all the folks at Good Shepherd. The true personalities came beaming out—loved it!Unfortunately, I didn’t really get a day off this week. I did get out surfing on Friday morning and stood up on another wave. I spent all day Friday working on my sermon, resisting the urge to take my ritual Friday afternoon trip to Goodwill. I participated in a new member class on Saturday morning and then went into the sanctuary and ran my sermon by candlelight that night. I really need to figure out how to turn the lights on in there!
Believe it or not, I actually slept well on Saturday night. This is highly unusual for the night before a sermon. I participated in worship for all three services Sunday morning, sat in on the second new member class that afternoon, ran my sermon 100 more times, and went home to lay down for a while. The butterflies were sure to kick in. But, they didn’t. I rested for a few minutes, and then went back to church to gear up for my first sermon at Good Shepherd.A cute story I want to share: as I was running around getting ready to preach, I ran
into Lisa, a woman at the church who is highly gifted in the prophetic. She was keeping an eye on three children when I bumped into her. She stopped the kids and said, “You know guys, there must be a reason we bumped into Amber. Did you know Amber is training to be a pastor and is giving her first sermon tonight? Should we lay hands on her and pray for her right now?” The kids nodded in agreement. So, I knelt down on the floor and felt the warm little hands of a 7, 5, and 2 year old touching my shoulder and hand. The 2 year old said, “Thank you God for…” She had forgotten my name, so Lisa encouraged her and said, “Amber!” The 7 year old said, “Help her sermon to be good.” And the five year old ended by saying, “Let her have FUN!” It was such a cute little moment. I love to hear children talking to God as if they’re on the phone with a good friend.Five minutes before the service began, the whole team met in the
prayer chapel to gather and pray for one another. That was the moment I started to feel nervous. As we prayed, I gagged a few times. Classy, I know! But, after that, I was fine. The Holy Spirit had entered into my day and blocked out those feelings of doubt. I just pictured the Holy Spirit holding a baseball bat, and smacking the devil in the head every time it tried messing with me. After only a month in CA, I can really sense a renewal in my belief in the power of prayer. All day long, people kept saying, “We’re praying for you,
Amber.” The Holy Spirit was working through them too! My sermon went well. Of course, I had a few bobbles here and there, and left out the one thing in the sermon that I knew would get people to laugh. But, they laughed at other things I didn’t expect, so it worked out just fine. There were 3 video clips shown throughout my sermon, and as I sat down to watch each of them, I thought to myself, I’m almost there…the end is in sight…two more clips to go…one more video to go. And then it was over. I sat down, felt a much needed pat on the back from Pastor Bob, and thanked God for the gift of preaching.There was an eruption of hugs as people left the building. Members of the ITF came through the
door and congratulated me on getting through that first step! Before the service began, I had handed my camera off to Dana Barker and asked her to take a few pictures for my memory book. She took 118! My idea of a few was 2. I heard her clicking the whole time! It’s great to have equally picture happy folks running around here! At the end of the night, Dana took me to
Outback Steakhouse and treated me to a big fat juicy steak with mashed potatoes! YUMMY! We ran back to church to get my computer and saw a HUGE raccoon running along the ledge by the church. The wildlife around here astounds me! Earlier in the day, Jane said she saw a SKUNK walk through the house. MY HOUSE! Oh my, even more reason to keep my windows and doors bolted shut!I have lots to do today. Kevin will be here in two days! So, I want to get as much done as possible so we can spend Thursday and Friday together! I’m so excited to see him!
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