One Sunday morning at a small southern church, the new pastor called on one of his older deacons to lead in the opening prayer. The deacon stood up, bowed his head and said, “Lord, I hate buttermilk.” The pastor opened one eye and wondered where this was going, the deacon continued, “Lord I hate lard.” Now the pastor was totally perplexed. The deacon continued, “Lord I ain’t too crazy about plain flour. But after you mix’em all together in a hot oven, I just love biscuits.”

“Lord help us to realize when life gets hard, when things come up at us we don’t like, whenever we don’t understand what you are doing, that we need to wait and see what you are making. After you get through mixing and baking, it’ll probably be something even better than biscuits. Amen.” Romans 8:28 (And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His PURPOSE.)

That is one of the hardest things that we, as Christians. Have to do in our work as sheep is to follow. To work together for good with God who are called for His purpose. When decisions get hard and they always do, God is with us. When life is rocky, God is with us. That is when we lean on Him the most. That is when we ask for things in prayer. If the answers are yes; we are thrilled and we move on. But if the answer is no; that is where a problem can begin. We find out how strong our faith is. Not all our prayers are going to be answered the way we want. Some of our prayers will not be answered at all. It doesn’t mean God did not hear our words. Things do not happen in our time, They happen in God’s time and in God’s way. That is where most of us have the problem with HIS PURPOSE. God knows what we need. We know what we want.

So our job is to work according to God’s purpose. Pray especially when times are tough. Be thankful always. Know that we are to be faithful in waiting for an answer, even though it may not be what we hoped for. But know that our God loves us, protects us and through the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ gives us forgiveness. God our everlasting Lord will give us what we need. It will be wonderful beyond words. I bet it will even involve a few biscuits.

                                Yours in Christ,

                                        Rev. Walter Coy