It Is Well - Part 1

It's time to kick off this Christmas series, but I want to set some things up. Anybody ever been at the ocean, and while you were there, you personally witnessed and seen a rogue wave? And I wasn't talking about one that like took a city block out or anything. I mean, other tsunamis, there's videos that — I'm just talking about just, you know, the waves were this tall, and then all of a sudden one came in this tall. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Yeah, it's okay; it's not a pop quiz, and I'm going to sign you up for anything. Anybody ever seen one? Yeah. All right, I've been there before too, and I don't know — I always think it's pretty cool when that happens, um, mostly because I like watching people that are not paying attention get hit by it. I think that's pretty neat, but, uh, you know, life has a way of, of bringing rogue waves at you — things that just come out of nowhere. They didn't make any sense. There was nothing that really prepared you for that. Wasn't a, a, an alarm that went off; it was just something that caught you by surprise. Like maybe you lose a job, or you get bad news from the doctor, or someone you loved is going through a divorce, or your girlfriend says she doesn't love you anymore. Are you worried about money because you can't find any? Or all the things that happen there — there's little roadway, roadways that happen to us in life. And just because we happen to live in the world that we live in today, in modern society, even with all the conveniences and things that we have to help us out, it doesn't mean that rogue waves still don't happen, because we're not in charge of wave deployment. We like to be in charge of things — and I'm chief amongst all those who like to be in charge of things — I like to be in control, and as much as I can. But sometimes things just happen to us. And we like to have some peace in our life. Anybody just like peace? Yeah. Anybody that's like, sometimes when it's just quiet? Yeah, I do too. It's just nice. But it doesn't always happen. Life sometimes comes at us, but peace can come.

In fact, Jesus said in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I'm thankful for the peace of God, and I'm thankful that I have a relationship with God that when things are a little out of control, or when those rogue waves sometimes catch me by surprise, that I can ask God for help and his peace comes into my life. Anybody know that experience of asking in the middle of chaos, and even though your circumstances didn't change, there was a peace that comes over you, and that you thankful for that? I am too, that I have that. But peace sometimes doesn't come in the moment. It comes when we pray. But what we can and cannot control isn't always there.

You know, it would be great if we could script out life and plan it the way we want to. And, you know, if it was always 75 degrees and sunny — now, for some of you, like, that's freezing, but that's actually a perfect temperature, it just is. Some of us like to have that, you know, perfect car that never broke down, they got, you know, amazing fuel economy, or, you know, you plugged it in once and you have to charge it again for another year. We'd like that. We would like to have perfect kids who behaved perfectly, and we're perfect little Izod polos, your spouse look perfect, and for your dinner to be perfect. But then you realize that's really not your family, because they're not perfect. Your kids are colicky. Your spouse has issues at work. You have a narcissistic boss, and your car has a broken transmission, and your therapist is on vacation. How do you find peace then? Yes, for God, he'll give you the peace you need now, in the midst of our life and our struggles, when these little rogue waves come in.

And I'm talking about when stuff happens out of your control. Like, you're on time and everything's perfect, but then there's a car accident that's out of your control. Or you have to work with that co-worker — we all have one of those co-workers, right? What are y'all looking at? Or that you get that little snarky email. Or you have that stupid fight over the stupid dog and whose stupid turn it was to take it out, or something like that. You know, not at our house, but I mean, you know, you guys deal with that. What you need really is some serenity. But serenity is not based on pleasant circumstances. Serenity is a byproduct of finding a solid spiritual foundation to ground your life upon. You know, Jesus, when he was speaking on the Sermon on the Mount, he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added." To all the things was a, was a whole list of stuff that you just needed in life, and he's saying, "Look, that stuff will come, but you need to seek first the kingdom of God." In other words, you got to make sure your priorities are set right. There is a thing called the Serenity Prayer. I'm many of you probably have heard of. And there's, there's a few versions out there that you can see, but it's a simple little spiritual tool that can help you focus on having some peace in your life. It goes like this: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." That's, that's a pretty good prayer right there. I'm not saying that's a prayer of salvation; I'm just saying that's a prayer that sometimes you need to stop and just say, "God, I need to know what I can control, and what I can control, give me some wisdom in my life." Anybody ever needed that prayer? Yeah, we do.

And so what I want to do here is, is I want to talk about, as I set things up, as we head into the, this Christmas time, of how we can make the best of where we are. And we're going to have a graduate course in the serenity to accept what we cannot change. In order to do this, I want to look at the life of one of the central individuals in the Christmas story. I want to look at the life of Mary. And I want you to see with me how she was able to embrace a lot of stuff in her life that was just out of control. And for those of you that maybe need it, serenity simply means a state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.

So, Luke chapter one — I feel like it's a good place to start, is at the beginning of the story of Mary. I'm going to read chapter number one, verse number 26: "Now in the sixth month, Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city, a Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David. The virgin's name was Mary." Here we go. We get introduced to Mary. "And having come in, the angel said unto her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.' But when she saw him, she was troubled at his sane, and considered what manner of greeting this was. The angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth the son, and he shall call, and he shall call his name Jesus. And he will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. In his kingdom there will be no end.'"

Interesting story. And for many, we, we're familiar, and usually we get our refresher course around this time of year, of Mary and all that she has done in her life and the things that she went through. But I want you to notice right off the bat there, that as you read our introduction to Mary and this interaction that she's having with the angel, did anybody pick up on the fact that, that she was not really thrilled in the moment? It wasn't a fact that it says that she was greatly troubled at his words. Now, I, I think that's probably an understatement. In fact, did you ever notice that with most every encounter with an angel, usually the angel has to say what, right off the bat? "Don't be afraid." Do you know why I think that is? Because everybody was afraid when they seen them. I think their face gave it away. I think in the moment they're like — and the angel, for lack of anything to say, was like, "Hey, don't be afraid." She was troubled at the, the very onset of this interaction. Instead, we, we may think, "Well, why wouldn't you be excited, mayor? You're going to get to be the mother of Jesus, and, and all generations are going to call you blessed, and people are going to respect your name, and they're going to, you know, do all this. There's going to be a football pass named after you. Come on, Mary, you got a lot going for you." So they're slowly waking up. I think it's just this — y'all still hear everybody okay? All right.

We misunderstand Mary, as we often do with many of those that are in the Bible, by assuming that she knew from the beginning what we know looking backwards. One philosopher wrote and said this: "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward." See, we, we have read through the story. We, we want to say to Mary in the beginning, "Mary, it's going to be okay. Don't worry, don't stress. Don't be troubled by the angel. It's going to work out in the end. There's going to be some highs and lows, and some ups and downs, but it's all going to work together for good." How many times do you remind yourself of that? When we look backwards in our life, of where we have been and where we are, we can usually see where God's hand was directing us in guidance, and especially during our, our darkest moments, where he never left us. He was there. And when we finally turned to him, he was able to help us right the wrongs in our life. But that's looking backwards. We don't usually see that on the forward side of things. This is — this is the same with Mary and her situation. She's a young woman, and she's engaged, but she's pregnant, and the man she's engaged to is not the father. So she's going to be regarded as a sinner, one who's committed adultery. And in the Torah of the law of God, which governed her culture, her fiance Joseph had the right to have her drug out to the city gates and stoned to death. He would have been encouraged, at least if he wasn't going to do that, to not marry her, for her to be ashamed and a disgrace. So at best, their expectation would be that she was going to be left to be destitute and ostracized by her little village, to raise her little son, who would be taunted as illegitimate and excluded from any of the sacred assembly. That's what's running through her mind, even though she's young and, and maybe a little bit naive to some things, that she still understands the reality of the situation that she's in. It was a lot. She had to live in the space of not knowing, just like you and I don't always know. And what we're seeing here, if I can maybe put it back to the beginning of my message, is we're seeing the beginning of, of the first rogue wave in her life. But yet her response is amazing. Luke 1, verse 38, Mary said, "Behold the made servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word."

Then maybe you're thinking, "Well, she was just young, and she didn't even understand, so she's just saying what she thought was right." I don't know. I don't pick up on that after reading the story, after studying it out. I think there was something about her that was willing to say, "God, if this is what you have for me, then be it unto me." How different life could be for you and I, if we can learn to approach it the way Mary approaches it. That sometimes things don't go the way I have it planned out. Some things, it doesn't go to the script in my mind. But, "God, if this is what you have for me in this moment, be it unto me. Help me to play the part, God, you want me to play, even if it goes contrary to what I wanted."

Mary began to suffer for Jesus before Jesus ever suffered for Mary. When he was born, Mary and Joseph took him to the temple. There was an old man there named Simeon, who had been waited and promised by God that he was not going to depart this life until he had seen for himself, and laid eyes on, the Messiah. We see it in Luke chapter 2, verse number 34. There's a blessing that's going to come here, and it says this: "Then, then Simon blessed him and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is destined for the fallen rising of men in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against. 35: Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also.'" Did you notice they wrote down here that he didn't speak to Joseph? This is counter-cultural. I've pointed this out many times. He wasn't addressing the father, who he should have been, to the normal decorum of culture. He would have addressed the father. But no, he looks at Mary, and he begins to say this, and it's a blessing. But what an interesting blessing, because I think it's pretty weird to say, "And a sword is going to pierce your soul also." Maybe you must have wondered, "What was that sore sword going to be? How will I know?" Nevertheless, she'll have to accept that some things are just not going to go according to the way she wants them to go. Life doesn't always work out the way I think it should work out. She'll have to accept some things, like financial hardship.

In her day, when a child was born, and after the time of purification passed according to the law, she was to go and present her baby. There was to be a dedication, and they were to carry a lamb — the best one they could find, without any blemish, without any spot — they were to present it there. But here's the deal: they couldn't afford one. They couldn't afford in a lamb. But there was a provision in the law that stated that if you cannot afford a lamp, then you could take two pigeons or two turtle doves you could present there. I wonder how many times there's been a parent, a mom or a dad, that you couldn't afford to have the things you wanted for your child. Somebody else were able to do that. Somebody else was able to, to give all the things that, that you wanted to. But instead, you're stuck with hand-me-downs, because your situation isn't going according to your plan. It's not working out the way you want it to, and somebody else seems to always have the benefit. Somebody else has it always worked out for you. I want you to know that Mary was in a very similar situation. I'm sure that she would have loved to have walked in there, instead of being embarrassed to only be able to present two turtle doves or two pigeons, that she would have had a lamb to walk in the door with. Because everybody knows that those of the Lamb gets preferential treatment. But she doesn't. They don't. Maybe, just maybe, that she thought this was it. Maybe this was the sword. Because every mom eggs to have the best for their baby, but this is all she has. I can almost see her saying, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change." Because sometimes that's around money. Sometimes that's around circumstances that you wish were different. But it's not — financially, you deal with what you have to deal with. "God, grant me the ability to accept the things I can control in my life. Help me to accept the things I can control and I cannot control."

When Jesus turns 12, we know the story: he goes back to Jerusalem with his family. They're going to celebrate Passover. On the way, after it was all over with, the story says that they, they get about three days into the journey back home when they realize that Jesus is not with them. Now, I don't know about you — is anybody ever that ever lost your kid for just a minute? Yeah, I mean, have you been there? Like, you know, it's Walmart, it's Target, it's, you know, wherever, Disneyland, and you turn around — and anybody know that panicky feeling for just a minute? Because immediately, immediately, what goes through your mind: somebody's tucking them now. The reality is, a little snot nose is just hiding the clothes rack. That's what the reality is. But in the moment, we don't process that, do we now? That's how we feel. I still get a little sweaty palms just thinking about it. But can you imagine losing Jesus? Can you imagine that conversation with the angel? Like, "Mary, where's Jesus?" "Why, I bend me out of time. Now Joseph was in charge." I wonder how many times that took place. Yeah, losing him. But she did.

When they go to find him, they get to the temple, and Jesus is there, and he's astounding people. And, and it's interesting here, in Luke 2, verse 48, I want you to notice the wording here: "So when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said to him" — it wasn't Joseph, right; it was his mother — "'Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously.'" I mean, how many of us moms and dads have looked at our kids and said to them, "Why are you doing this to me?" Anybody besides me? Yeah. You look at him like, "What, what, why are you doing this to me?" This is what Marion's looking at him, going, "Why are you doing this? Your father and I have been so anxious to find you." Now, you would love if he just said, "Oh Mom, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry about this." But he says in verse 49, "Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?" It's in that moment, right there, that, that in my household that I grew up in, there would have been a slap noted. We'll get to more of that in a minute. But here we see again, Mary: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot control." Because there's some things in life that just are beyond my control. And what are you going to do with Jesus, right? I mean, you can't give him a timeout; he created time. How do you handle that? How do you discipline him in this moment? And, and again, it, it talks about all that cease having to process in her mind. I can't help but think Mary's trying to get her head around what she can and she cannot do, what is and is not in her control.

And after Jesus was born, there's this other story here, because we keep, we keep coming back to this point. There in verse number 50, it says, "But they did not understand the statement which he spoke when he said, 'I must be my father's name.' It's verse 21: 'Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart.'" And you, you see this statement a lot about Mary, as she's processing the moments that are happening to her. She's keeping them in her heart. In fact, we see it again, as the shepherds appeared and they went out — and their, their, their — they were told by the angels what was taking place. They go, when they find Joseph and Mary there in the stable and in the manger, they find Jesus, and they talk about what they've seen. And then they leave, and we see this in verse number 19, and chapter two: "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." There it is again: she's thinking about what is and is not in her control. "God, what can I do for the things that are beyond my control? Help me accept them and have peace with what's beyond my control."

Because accepting what I cannot change, among, among other things, requires making space in my heart for them. It involves the ability, the ability, that, that I must be fully present in the moment. Now, what I mean by that is something that is, is, is tall, is called technically continuous partial attention. The, the alternative to this is to live in a mental state of continuous partial attention, which is a failure to be fully present — which is where some of you are right now. I read about this, when a lady, she was writing a story describing this continuous partial attention, where her husband had emailed her about their, their, their child's, uh, parent-teacher meeting that was coming up, to which she responded back and said, "Thursday at 10 would be great. Love you forever, and thanks for last night." But she was only paying partial attention, because she replied directly to the teacher. Makes for awkward moments when you're only partially paying attention.

You see, this accepting means — and please listen to this, this is, this is a really powerful statement I'm gonna say, maybe the most powerful thing I'm going to say all day today. Listen to these words: Accepting means, instead of regretting a past I cannot fix, or worrying about a future I cannot control, I'm fully present in the moment I'm in. Because in the moment I'm in is the only place where God can meet me. He can only meet me where I'm at. And I'm not in my past, and I'm not in my future. He can only meet me where I'm at now. Somebody needs to hang on to that for a minute. Because there's, there's a certain number of you in the room who are living with a whole lot of stuff in the past. And here's the deal: he, he's not going to go back there, because you're not back there. And there's a whole lot of people in the room, a great number of you, who are worried about tomorrow, or the next week, or the next month, or next year. But here's the deal, okay? Now, we know he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. But you're not. You're here, in this moment, right now. So where you need God is not, not back then. And you're not guaranteed tomorrow. But you're here, you're in this moment. And you need to have the ability to accept, "God, there's a lot of stuff that's beyond my control. Give me the peace of mind to know that's beyond my control. But what is in control is this moment I'm in right now. So I can't acknowledge that, that what I've done in the past, I don't like it, I regret it. In the future, I'm not sure where it's going to be. But right now, I have the choice. And my choices, I choose You. Give me the serenity and accept the things I cannot change."

Mary ponder, she treasures. But now Mary will have to accept more than that, because there's going to be rejection. Not only because of the beginnings that are there, but when Jesus starts his ministry — you know, she's waited some 30 years for this — so it was at 30, as he begins his ministry, it seems like things are going good. But all of a sudden, strange things take place. And what I mean by that is, is all of a sudden he starts hanging out with sinners. He breaks the Sabbath. He touches lepers. He's eaten with tax collectors. And, and the very ones who are there to protect the law, the, the Pharisees — instead of protecting the law, they, they seem to be turning on her son. And she's struggling with this, and she's trying to get her head around, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm going back to my conversation with the angel, and, and the, the Messiah, that's my son, and he's going to do all this stuff. But why is it not going according to how I think it should go? Because instead of everything working out, and him restoring us back to the glory that we're supposed to have, it seems as though everything he's doing is going in direct opposition. God, help me to understand the things I can't control."

We're told in the gospel of Mark that when his family heard about his ministry, they want to take charge. You can read about it in Mark. You actually get to see some of his brothers that are there. You know, you see their names: James and Simon. There's four brothers that are listed there. You get to meet his sisters, Bethany and Heather. I just made that up. Necessarily at their names — it just says the sisters are there. Just seeing if you're paying attention, people. Let Jesus know that his mother had come and says, "Your mother, your brothers are outside looking for." And Jesus says, "Oh, I got to go out there and see my mom and honor her." No, his response is this, in Mark chapter 3, verse 33: "Who is my mother and my brothers?" Now, I'm going to tell you what — all right, if I'm, if I'm here speaking, or I'm out somewhere speaking, and somebody says, "My mom is out there, wants to talk to me," and I say, "Well, who is my mother?" I'm going to tell you right now, the response that would come out of that five foot two lady — thank you — it'll be, "Let me, let me, let me get something straight, young man. I'll be asking a question about who your mom is. I'm your mama. I brought you in this world." That's how my mom would respond. But we see here, in this moment, Jesus saying words that she cannot understand, when he turns around to the people that are there, that he's ministering to, and he says, "Here is my mother, and here are my brothers." Again, you think about how that had to sting Mary in that moment, how she has to come back and say, "God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change." Because life brings rogue waves. Stuff doesn't always go the way I want it to. go. That's the last time we see Mary into the very end, when Jesus is being crucified. John 19:25: "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, and Mary the wife of Clovis, and Mary Magdalene." A lot of Mary's there. I wonder if Jesus tried to keep his mom away. I wonder if he had the disciples maybe to try to get her to go someplace. I want to — well, I don't know. We're not privy to those conversations. I don't know. But here she is. She's having to watch. She's having to listen. She's having to witness the suffering. Now we see that the body that was promised to her by an angel, that was going to be the one that she carried in her womb — that body was there, that she laid in a manger, that she fed, that she changed, that she rocked, that she bathed, as she clothed, that she loved — it's now been beat and nailed to a cross, is hung there to die. I wonder how Mary processed the cross. We all have our way that we look at it, and the things that we think about. But we didn't give birth to him. I wonder how she processes this moment. How does she get her head around this? There is no way — there's no way in her mind that this was how it was supposed to go. There's no, absolutely no way that she thinks that this is in the plan. She thinks, "I missed it somehow. I misunderstood. There's, there's no way." She's processing this. How does she get there? And if ever she needed serenity, it was in that moment. "God, give me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot control." As a parent, I can't get my head around watching that take place.

John 19:26: "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loves standing by, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' He said to his disciple, 'Behold your mother.' And from that hour, the disciple took her." So we know that to be John. He entrusts John to look after his mom in that moment. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change."

They take him down from the cross. They pierce his body. I wonder, from that moment, she realized this was what was prophesied: a sword to pierce your soul. To, if you live long enough, you'll have swords that will pierce your heart. You will love, and it will hurt. You're a person you give anything in the world to help, but you can't. You'll say a word, to make a choice, that one day you give anything to take it back, but you, you can't. It's, it's something that pierces you. It robs you. Those of us who follow after Jesus, we, we, we, we do not say, "I will choose an attitude of serenity because it's a more pleasant way to live," but we pray, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. God, give me what I, I can't manufacture myself." Because there are some circumstances that happen to us that there's no way, with human willpower, you can get through it by yourself. But, "God, help me accept the things I cannot change."

When Jesus was a boy, on the third day they found him in a temple. When Jesus was a man, on the third day they couldn't find him in the tomb, because there was a resurrection. I think in the moment, maybe, maybe Mary begins to start to understand. Because we see her one more time. It's in the first chapter of the book of Acts, after the resurrection, waiting for the outpouring that he promised in the upper room. Verse number 13: "And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying: Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all continue with one according prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." You see, the family that was out after him, because they thought he lost his mind; the mom who didn't understand all that was going on, who couldn't possibly have processed these things that were beyond her control — we see her here for the very last time. Things are coming together. "God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot control in my life." Not because accepting them is going to make them more pleasant. Not because I can't control them anyway. And not because acceptance is a good tool for emotional management. And not because I'm trying to muddle through until I get to the end of my life. But because the God of the Cross is also the God of the Resurrection. Because sometimes in life, dreams have to die. Sometimes things don't work out the way that you think they were. But what I've realized in life is that he has a better dream for me. He has a better ending for me. And though things may not be going the way I want to, maybe there's been rogue wave after rogue wave that is toppled me over, it doesn't mean that he's given up on me. So, "God, give me the ability to have some serenity with the things that I cannot control, that I wish were different. And if you don't change them, it's okay. I'm going to trust that you know what's best for me. And in the end, it will come together, and I'll be exactly where I'm supposed to be. Because that's what happened to Mary: when things were out of control, and it didn't go according to plan, and there's no ways you could have ever anticipated a cross, we see her in the end exactly where she needed to be. May you and I have the ability to accept the things we can't control, and know that God is still in control. May you and I have the ability to accept the things that are beyond our control, because we know our God is in control. I wish things were differently. I wish we could have these perfect little lives, that everything went according to the plan in our mind. But it doesn't happen that way. It just doesn't. If that's what's going on in your life, then don't raise your hand, because we don't want to hate you. But for the rest of us, we deal with rogue waves. And sometimes they knock us down. Sometimes they overwhelm us. Sometimes it feels like we're going to drowned. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can't control."

I said, get ready to bring this to a close. When that rogue wave comes — and it will, if it hasn't; and I would be surprised if it hasn't, but if it hasn't, then just know it will — something will happen to cause a loss. You may lose your finances, or your dream, or you may feel like you lost your heart. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change." Because all the weeping lasts for a night, comes in the morning. I wonder how Mary processed that. You know, when she's seen him die on the cross, when she heard the words, "It is finished," I just, I just know that I know that her heart was just crushed. And three days later, there's an empty tomb. And before you know it, he's made his appearance back. And then, then the stuff starts clicking in her mind. Then, in my mind — and he — we play it out however you want to. But, but every time I read this, I think, "Man, her, emotionally, she had to go all the way back to Gabriel standing there, telling her all those things. And all of a sudden, it's like, it's like a movie on fast forward. Every little scene plays back in front of her mind, from, from a little bitty baby, to a little son, to being in the temple, to hang it on the cross, and to standing there resurrected. It all made sense. And in her mind, she had to say, 'God, thank you that I had the serenity to accept the things I couldn't control. Because if I would have went off script, and went out of narrative, I wouldn't be here in the moment right now to Witnesses see that God, all through my life, you have been with me.'"

The series — I titled it is well — starting today, and we're going to carry on through the month of December. It comes from that old song, with the famous story from Horatio Spafford, who lived back in the 1800s, who lost everything he had in the Great Chicago Fire, who worked very hard to regain it. He and his family were going to Europe. For part of it was a ministry trip with Dwight Moody. He had to remain in Chicago for a couple of days to wrap up a little bit of business. So he sent his family on the head. And the ship that his family was on struck another ship, and in the process of the two ships colliding, they began to sink. And he ended up losing his four daughters. Only his wife remained alive. She sent a cable back that simply said, "I alone saved." He got on the next ship. And when it reached the same point in the ocean where the first, the ship had sunk, where his daughters lost their life, he wrote these words: "When peace, like a river, tendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, 'It is well with my soul.'" I, I can't imagine that kind of grief. And I'm sure struggling to have that kind of a response. But to me, when I read that story, I see a man who said, "God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot control." From that, he penned with the most beautiful songs that I believe has ever been written.

And I want to ask everybody in this moment, as I bring this service to a close, if, if you're okay in this moment, would you mind just bowing your head and closing your eyes? Foreign. If you were here today, and you, you need some serenity from God, I want to invite you right now, as the music begins to play, to just stand up wherever you are. Nobody looking around, everybody's eyes closed, to just stand up. Maybe you're burdened about somebody you love. Or maybe you have health problems, or financial problems, and you, you can't make a change. Or maybe you got a job situation, or you need a job. Or maybe things are not going well at school. Or maybe you'd love to have a kid and a child, but you can't. Maybe there's an addiction it's been so hard for you to get over on your own. Or maybe it's fear. Or maybe you're lost. Or maybe you feel alone. I don't know. I don't know all these stories. But you just need the ability, today, to have help with the things you cannot control. So as they start to sing, I invite you to come down to this altar. I invite you to find an opportunity to allow the God who's in control to help you in your life.