By Pastor Bill Gaube

Ever heard the old saying “Patience is a virtue desired by many but possessed by few”? Well, I’ve been discovering its truth as I attempt to help my wife during her hip surgery recovery. Patience is tried by:

• schedule changes, (well, change in general)
• by waiting helplessly
• by challenging red tape
• by the lack of communication within organizations
• personalities, even of the ones you love

Love is an all encompassing word and sometimes kind of fuzzy. Paul gives a description in I Corinthians 13:4-6 of what love looks like. Guess what; the first thing he says is that “love is patient!” Nothing fuzzy about that. I can hear some of you repeating the scripture “tribulation worketh patience.” True, but it also says in Galations 5:20 that patience is one of the fruits of the spirit.

I’ve been learning to put these together. Dealing with problems is like cultivating a fruit tree. Yet in the end fruit comes from a tree’s inner process in a most natural and beautiful way. As I’m buried in endless little disturbances, I need to:

• confess to God that I can’t handle them
• acknowledge that any fruit of patience comes from His supernatural work
• relax and accept from Him as he gives.

A paraphrase of Theologian Helmut Thelicke puts it well: To not become a miserable creature in old age, learn the quiet, confident joy in Him who carries out His purposes, in Him who makes the trees grow…

God is faithful! Certainly that is the testimony of Elise and me. We still don’t know how God is going to “work all this together for His good,” but we are discovering that His spirit works in us in mysterious ways to produce His patience in our lives.

PEP CLUB ACTIVITIES FOR AUGUST

BREAKFAST CLUB, every Thursday at 10:00 AM

The every Thursday format gives opportunity for more to be involved. We meet at the Waffle Shop, corner Zinfandel and Folsom Blvd. Order what you like and enjoy the fellowship. We’d love to have all those 55+ join us.

SUNDAY, August 1, 2:OO PM, we’re going to see “CRAZY FOR YOU” by Geore & Ira Gershwin at the Jill Solberg Performing Arts Theater at Folsom High School. Call Reva at 635-4748 to see if any tickets are available.

SUNDAY, August 22 we will be going to eat together after the second service. We are going to Cattlemens Restaurant, 12409 Folsom Blvd., Rancho Cordova, CA. Rusty Bloomquist is our host.