“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

I have been dealing with some nasty crud that has been going around here for a while. For me, it has settled in my chest thus causing me to nearly hack up a lung every other moment. Of course, as Sunday appraoched I was getting a little concerned. How am I going to make it through a sermon without coughing? People will eventually get tired of it or be so utterly distracted that they will not get anything out of it. So, I took every drug and remedy I could in an effort to suppress this cough for a while. But when I practiced the sermon on Sunday morning, I was coughing nearly every few phrases. This was going to be awful. Now what? So…

…I prayed…

…and this verse came to my heart…

…For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Wow! Indeed, I was weak. I was powerless to stop this cough. There were no more tricks I could use. I was at the end of my rope. But that is exactly where God wanted me, a place of complete trust and surrender. And that was all I had left. And so, I reflected some more on that verse and continued my morning preparations.

Worship started and I coughed a few times, but part of me still wondered how the sermon was going to go. Eventually, I entered the pulpit, muted my microphone, coughed, and sipped some water. I thought about the aforementioned verse and turned to the congregation to began. Throughout the entire sermon, about 22 minutes or so in length, I coughed…only once (according to my wife). And I needed her report because I honestly never paid attention. God’s power took over and protected my throat. God’s strength became my strength. God’s faithfulness became my peace, and there was nothing that I did. God did it all.

Silly me for thinking I could win this battle, or at least put up a good fight, especially when so much was on the line. And therefore, I write this post, boasting in my weakness so the power of Christ may can be made known and thus God be glorified.

That is my story – actually, HIS story.

To GOD be ALL glory, now and forever.

Amen!