hijacked

It must be something about Thursdays.

They rarely go to plan. And they seem, somehow, to rapidly disappear, with little of what I'd planned to do being done.

'Conspiracy' theories begin to form in my mind.

It starts to feel like there's 'someone' out there really keen to keep me from discerning what it is the Lord is purposing to say come the services this Sunday. 'You know who' as they say.

Like the devil himself has somehow got a whiff of what it is the Lord's intent on doing in our midst - and uses every trick he's got to try and stop it happening.

That's what it feels like.

I've a growing sense the Lord is set on doing something really very special at our worship here this Sunday, as we celebrate again his being the resurrecting God.

A sense that won't go away, but grows by the moment. And seems to be focussed on Sunday night particularly.

There are things, I suspect, he'll be saying that the devil would rather just didn't get said at all. Which is maybe why I'm kept from having time to do the needed preparation.

Like today. I'd thought that (at last) today would afford me the time to get alone with the Lord and hear just what it is that he is eager to be speaking to our hearts.

I'd planned my day like that (tomorrow, I know is already getting pretty much spoken for, with people to see, and a funeral service to lead), and blanked out one large section of the day for just that vital exercise.

It felt like the day got hi-jacked. Which sometimes happens.

Nothing sinister or anything. Just things that crop up.

A lot of the morning was spent with installing the new copier which we've leased.

Getting the old one out of the room, bringing the new one in. Setting it up. Doing all the 'network' stuff, to be able to print things off from another room.

Which meant getting hold of a range of different passwords, codes and 'keys' we have to use for all the different systems that there are.

And then trying to get some copies of the magazine run off.

I mean, it's all good stuff. And the machine itself is amazing! It colour prints our magazine, then folds it all up and staples the thing without us lifting a finger.

But, yes, it felt like the day just got hi-jacked. In fact, it's starting to feel like the whole work of God is in danger of getting hi-jacked.

And late afternoon a crowd of us gathered together and simply spent some time in prayer. There are problems we face that only the Lord can resolve. There are things going on which it's hard to know how to stop.

We were kind of driven to prayer. Reaching the point where only the Lord's intervention will actually do. The point where all we can do is cling on to him for dear life.

Like Jacob had to do a long, long time ago. Clinging on for dear life.

Since, apart from the blessing of God, the guy was a goner.

We're not any different.