It’s called “the mic creep.” It occurs when, in the midst of a program or service, the emcee begins to move toward a guest speaker to indicate “it’s time to wrap it up…you’re going long.” I’ve used the move many times myself, but recently I had “mic creep” occur to me! I saw it happening out of the corner of my eye, as the emcee of the Sunday School class began to creep closer, indicating, “You’re done here, Husted. Land the plane!”
I laughed internally, even as it was occurring, as I was given 2-3 minutes to promote an upcoming EA event, and yet I always like to incorporate Scripture into any speaking opportunity.
Recently, I’ve been studying the life of Elijah, including reading A.W. Pink’s commentary, so I found inspiration in the content below.
1 Kings 17 – Elijah Predicts a Drought to evil King Ahab
2And the word of the LORD came to him: 3“Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan
A.W. Pink notes, “Instead of a river, God often gives us a brook, which may be running today and dried up tomorrow. Why? To teach us not to rest in our blessings, but in the blesser Himself.”
Over the past 5 years of Empowering Action, God, in His wisdom, has not seen fit to provide EA a raging river of financial support, overflowing its banks, but he has provided a constant brook.
4You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
Pink again notes, “The prophet might have preferred another hiding-place, but to Cherith he must go if he was to receive the Divine supplies: as long as he tarried there, God was pledged to provide for him. How important, then, is the question, Am I in the place which God has (by His Word or providence) assigned me?”
As individuals and institutions, it is imperative to regularly ask, “Am I in the place which God assigned me? Am I performing the good works that He prepared beforehand that I should walk in?” (Ephesians 2:10)
For me I find clarity of my current calling in personalizing Paul’s words to the church of Rome, in Romans 1:1, which states,
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”
“Kent, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to empower Christ’s church to combat poverty, set apart for the gospel of God.”
And I find motivation to “keep my hands to the plow” as long as the Lord commands in this endeavor in the following passage from Psalms and quote from Richard Baxter.
“It will be an unspeakable comfort to look back on a life well spent. And to be able to say, ‘My time was not cast away…It was spent on doing good to men’s souls and bodies.’”– Richard Baxter
Psalm 90:16-17
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
