This week I realized I lacked something most people would assume I had. 

We sometimes assume that a store will have a certain item we are looking for, only to find when we get there that they are out-of-stock or worse – they don’t even sell that product at all. 

Not long ago I needed to purchase a wooden end plug for a new hockey stick I had bought.  The store I usually get them from was out-of-stock at the time.  

I thought I would see if I could get one at another sports store. 

When I couldn’t find even a spot for these plugs on any of their shelving, I asked an employee. His initial reaction told me they didn’t have them. He had no clue what I was talking about, so he checked his little handheld computer to discover the store didn’t even carry them.

I wasn’t that surprised to find they didn’t have them at this time – after all it is summer – but I did assume they would carry the product since hockey is one of their specialties. 

Then this week I found myself not only lacking a stick plug, but something more important.

For the last ten months we have been dealing with a leaky roof at our church. The ability to stop the leak has eluded the roofers for the umpteenth times they have tried to fix it. 

In the mean time, our caretaker has made two elaborate troughs to catch the water and keep it from hitting the carpet. These troughs are each about six feet long and very noticeable. 

The other day our caretaker said to me, “Maybe we should put the troughs away for now.”  

We haven’t had any leaks for the past three weeks and the last time the roofers came they fixed a large section that they discovered might be the problem. 

Since then we haven’t had a leak, but we also have not had much rain to really test it. 

I hesitated and said, “I’d like to believe it’s fixed but I’m not holding my breath.” … We’ve had high hopes before, only for them to be dashed a short time later when the roof started leaking again. 

I finally replied, “Well, let’s just move one trough out of the way underneath the coat rack.” I wanted it close by so that if it started leaking we could put it back quickly.

My caretaker wanted to get both troughs out of sight, but I didn’t really want to go that far.

Then he wanted to sit the other trough inside the one we put under the coat rack, virtually removing any leakage protection we had. 

To that I said, “You have more faith than I do.”

I got to thinking … I’m the guy most people would think would have the faith to believe that our leaky roof has been fixed. Faith is the basis of my job as a pastor. But here I was low on faith for something my caretaker had no problem with. 

Here’s the thing: I don’t lack faith in God, but I did lack faith in what God would do for us in this particular situation. When you lack faith, your actions or non-actions will give you away. That’s when you need to think a little more about your lack of faith. Figure out why you lack faith for something and then take steps to apply your faith in God for that thing. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is something in your life you realize you have lacked faith for and really need to trust God with? Leave your comments below.