I remember very little from church growing up. Our church was liturgical and I didn’t understand it. The sermons were boring and I’d almost always fall asleep. It’s one of the reasons I tell our young pastors, “It is a sin to preach a boring sermon!” And that’s why we strive to be engaging, Biblical, applicable, and inspiring.

But one thing in the liturgy I do remember…at the end of every service, the pastor would give the Aaronic benediction…

We had a lot to do to get ready for last weekend. Launching Hoist The Sail involved so much…books designed and printed. Videos prepped and recorded. Sermon series prepared and written. Even music written and arranged. All with a hard deadline.

I felt relief on Sunday afternoon. I remember sitting back and feeling, “Phew.”

And then, I remembered having that feeling before.

The Italians call it: “il dolce far niente”— the sweetness of doing nothing. For most of us, the closest we get to that saying is “just killing time.”

And that’s sad. Because boredom is good for us in many ways. I know the Amish saying, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” And it’s true…without self-control, too much boredom can lead us into bad patterns of thinking and behavior.

One of the highlights for everyone who has travelled to Israel with us is swimming in the Dead Sea.

I love to swim and had heard others talk about the Dead Sea. I've wanted to swim in it since I was a boy when I first heard a teacher explaining what it was like. It’s beyond description.

Jesus called it. If you build your house on sand, it will eventually fall.

But Mark and Barbara Blasch thought they knew better. Somehow they were able to get the permits to build a multi-million dollar mansion on the eroding sand of Cape Cod Bay in 2010. But wind and sea erosion slowly took away the little bit of dunes between the house and the bay, until they had to remove their front deck and master bedroom. The rest of the house is now on the precipice of tumbling into the sea…

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” — Winston S. Churchill

Whatever trial you are going through, it might last awhile. Most troubles we face develop over time, and they take time to subside. Even those afflictions that take us by surprise do not disappear quickly, lasting for months or even years, and the aftermath can often be worse. Remember the “returning to normal” that we longed for in 2020? I’m not sure that ever happened.

So, when facing major difficulty, what are we going to do?