We are doing some renovation work at the church. The past few months we have run out of space in our Fellowship hall. We have some class rooms and a table in the lib rary folks can use to sit and eat at. But, we like the idea of everyone being together in one room. We set out looking for solutions and came up with one that seemed to work best and be most economical. We simply utilized the space we have.

The building is a pole barn construction, therefore has no load bearing inner walls. With that in mind, we are removing one wall that opens up space for an additional 30+ people. In order to do this we have to do some swapping of rooms.

The room to be opened is the pantry. What do we do with the pantry? Well, let’s move it next door to the library. Then what do we do with the library? Let’s move it to the empty room in the education building. Again, problem solved. Not!!! We need to have this done by Thursday and its Monday!!!

Work crews show up and books are being culled and packed. Shelves are then moved. Maybe we should downsize the library. It is used very little with the technology of digital books. So now the books are culled, packed and moved.

Moved to the library and….what do we do with the ones we are culling out? Why, we will give them to the church members. We set up a couple tables in the foyer for the members to look through and take what they would like to read. Then whatever is left, donate to Mexico missions or missions wherever. Hence…. problem solved.

Now for the pantry. Let’s see, we have movable storage racks and some shelves on the wall that we should be able to remove and just hang on opposite wall in old library. (Sounds easy but…) Once the library is empty we begin working on shelves. Moving the racks is a piece of cake, but moving the shelves is not as easy as it seemed. Two by four studs do not line up like we thought. The wood built-ins do not come off the wall as easy as we thought either. We end up dismantling, rebuilding some and using metal brackets. And… problem solved.

Have you seen the trend/pattern here? Challenge is presented, problem arises and solution discovered! Sounds like life. What seems like an easy project or job can suddenly turn into a huge and time consuming situation. You have challenge in front of you and WHAM! Here comes the problem. Sometimes the solution is easy, most times it is anything but easy. And the more we try to fix or make it work, the worse it becomes!

Jesus’ last week on earth was spent in the Jerusalem area. Sunday He makes grand entry and people applaud, religious leaders whine. Jesus’ solution: “Even the rocks will cry out.” Monday He clears the temple of money changer and those selling their wares. Jesus clears out and declares “My Father’s house is to be a house of prayer and you have made it a den of thieves.” Then on Tuesday the leaders want to know by whose authority did you do this (problem… temple clearing was challenge)? Jesus’ solution, “Let me ask you a question, John’s baptism, was it by heaven or men?” From then on Jesus is plagued with questions, “Do we pay tribute to Caesar, whose wife will this lady be in the resurrection, which commandment is the greatest?” And the day ending with His disciples asking what the sign of His coming and end of age be?

That was only Tuesday. Wednesday, Judas makes a deal to betray Jesus to leaders, Thursday the disciples take the Passover and the Lord’s betrayer is identified and instituted, Peter takes sword to defend Jesus against the guard and leaders, the disciples disperse and Jesus is left alone. Friday, Peter denies Christ and Jesus is crucified and buried.

For Jesus, all through the day, challenges arose followed by a problem and Jesus answered, usually with a parable providing a solution. Some liked the solution while others did not find with much favor. His challenges came not from the religious leaders only but also His disciples as well.

My point is simply this, life is going to give us challenges that will hinder, frustrate, and make us think or go to God in prayer. The more we try to solve or resolve the issue the more challenging it seems to get. Sometimes we just need to step back and take a deep breath. Look at Jesus and see how He handled His difficult problems/situations. Go to God and ask for help by prayer or reading His word. And, sometimes the solution may be viewed as favorable or maybe not so favorable.

Don’t give up. Keep on going. That is what Jesus did. Be like Jesus.

Problem Solving Preacher Bro. Tim