Pressure reveals the person.

It’s always when things are tough and the stress piles on that what’s underneath emerges.

When all our kids were young and I was running a church office out of my home, the phone often rang right in the middle of some kind of family pandemonium. Our daughter Anna used to yell “Quiet!” at the top of her lungs, then in the ensuing moment of silence would pick the phone up with an ultra-competent voice saying, “Campbell’s. How can I help you?” No one ever knew what had been going on a split second before.

I have always felt Christians should be as accurate as they can be in everything they say. This applies whether you have three university degrees or whether you barely got out of high school. It’s not a matter of education, it’s a matter of truth.

Are you in trouble? The most important thing to know is that God has a plan. Our trials are not random events outside of his control. Where the enemy has attacked us and caused us harm and pain, we need to know how to work with God in it. What is he teaching us?

Not even the disciples understood what Jesus was saying when he talked about dying and rising on the third day. That’s why Calvary was such a bitter end to all their hopes.

Please tell me I’m not the only person this has happened to!

I was due to take a zoom call and the guy I was talking to had even reminded me a couple hours before. Then distraction hit. I was trying to finish my income tax return, got lost in the detail and missed the call. Thankfully he’s a merciful man and we’ll be able make up the call later.