Trusty Pocket Pen to the Rescue

I pretty much never take notes during sermons. There are two likely reasons why this is the case. First, I was subjected to mandatory note taking when I was younger. Sometimes I can hardly think about those days without breaking down into a pitiful pile of tears and babbling. My pastor at the church I grew up in did the whole "fill in the blanks" style insert in the bulliten each week. I mostly used it as a game to see how many I could get right, I didn't really use it to pay attention. Second, I took tons of notes in college and seminary and I think I've looked back at them a grand total of two times since I left those classes. So all that writing didn't do me too much good other than to remember what to study for the test.

But this past Sunday our pastor said something so good that I actually pulled out a piece of paper and my trusty pocket pen and wrote down a whole sentence. It really is pretty simple, but it's the kind of thing I can use to test my life. He said, "I've come to believe more and more that the measure of who you trust is how much you're praying." He used the examples of Jesus and Peter during Jesus' arrest and trial. Jesus spent the night before his arrest praying, gaining strength from the Father. Peter, on the other hand, continually fell asleep after vowing that he would never forsake Jesus even if he had to die with him. You know how the rest of the story goes.

At this rate I will have a good 12 sentences of notes from sermons by the time I die!