What to Do When Having a Really Bad Day
I woke up this morning 10 minutes before my alarm went
off. I left behind a bad dream. I was with three family members at the home I
grew up in Duncanville, sitting out front along the road watching something,
but I don’t remember what. Suddenly
there was a plane flying really low that stopped and pointed something at a
house nearby. Out spewed a liquid that
caught the house on fire. I tried to get
my family to come inside, but they were watching the fire. Terrified I woke up. I wasn’t in the best of moods when I got out
of bed.
I couldn’t seem to get ready in time this morning and I was
expecting to not be ready when my taxi arrived, but I was downstairs before he
was. That was because he never
arrived. I called the taxi company and
they said he would arrive soon, they were sure.
I waited 10 minutes and he didn’t arrive.
So I walked to the plaza around the corner to look for a
taxi. I found one quickly. When I said where I needed to go and asked
the price, he said 10 Bs. more than I usually pay. I said if he couldn’t do it for my usual
price, I’d have to leave. He
agreed. About halfway to school he said
he needed to get gas. I explained that
there was a gas station by my school. He
said the gas would only take 5 or 10 minutes.
But I was already late and said if he couldn’t take me to school, I’d
have to find another taxi. Grumbling he
took me to school.
I had some papers I needed to copy for two classes. Of course, you figured it, the copy machine
didn’t act right. Still I was in class before my students. This day of the week the faculty gather to
pray. I missed that and I needed that.
In my first class I had half of my students who were not
finished with their work. That meant I
had to modify what I wanted to do on the spot.
During my second class, I was helping a boy find an answer to a grammar
problem. Another boy, standing next to
me, waiting to ask a question, whispered, “D.”
When I corrected him, he was disrespectful. Another boy lost his workbook, but swears he
gave it to me. In my third class, I had
a boy who pushes the limits a bit, disappear in the bathroom for 10
minutes. So school today was not the
easiest. I left with a ton of papers to
grade.
My required day at the school is short. Most days I am heading home by 11:00 am. So I can’t complain about a long dreary
day. But today I already had a headache.
The day before I spent all afternoon working on lesson
plans, when my printer ink ran out. I
can’t just run to Wal-Mart and replace it.
I have to go to a special place to get what I need. So that meant another hour just to get an ink
cartridge across town, and two taxi rides.
The purpose of this blog is not to complain about my
day. The purpose is to introduce you to
Bolivia, its people, the church, the school, and things like that. Coming up the elevator to my apartment (God
has given me the most beautiful place you can imagine to live in), I was asking
how I can turn this around. I got online
and looked for some answers.
There are days we feel overwhelmed, insufficient. Sometimes we just wish it were all over. Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, “For we
were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life
itself. Indeed, we felt that we had
received the sentence of death. But that
was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”
We have to get back to the essentials. What is it that God has done for us? He has provided a home for us after we
die. We all know that, and most of us
believe that. But what has He really done?
In Romans 5 it says, “When we were yet without strength, in due time God died
for the ungodly.” That is not just for
some time in the distant future, but for now.
He wants us now.
I was without strength today. It would be so easy to call it quits. But Christ died for me, the most ungodly
sinner of all time, so that He could work through me. I have been wondering if I really was called
to return to Bolivia. I was thinking of
how many mistakes I have made, and of the sins I commit far too often to call
myself a “good” Christian.
In Ephesians 3, there is the promise that God is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or imagine. So I go back to that verse and realize God
has a purpose. As my friend, Tim, said a
few weeks ago. If we are at a particular
place, even if we haven’t heard a voice from Heaven, God has a purpose for us
to be where we are. Where we are now, is
where God wants us to rely on Him. That
is our purpose, to learn to rely on Him.
Once we surrender that to Him, we will see wonders in our lives.
Pray for me that I will learn to rely on God rather than my
own strength.
And just as I write this, I spill my dinner down the front
of me.
Thanks to Pastor Paul Edwards article “Hearing God at the
End of a Bad Day,” on crosswalk.com.
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