The second step in dealing with ministry "rain" is to keep your perspective. When it comes to real weather, we are wimps here in San Diego! A little bit of rain really throws us off. Traffic slows to a crawl often times. It becomes a major topic of conversation. We bundle up and grab our umbrellas at the slightest sign of wetness. It's ridiculous, really, but it's often what we do when we see challenges in our ministry - we over react!
Dealing with challenges, though, needs to be done with the right perspective. Here in San Diego, we always know that sunshine isn't too far away. If you don't like rain (like me!) just wait a few days (at most) and things will clear up. Now, in dealing with ministry challenges, things might not clear up that quickly, but as you deal with them properly, they will clear up. Keeping our perspective about the rain is critical. Sometimes we get so focused on the rain here that other important things stop - attendance is down at church because people don't want to go out in the rain, sports are canceled because of a little drizzle, etc. We can't allow challenges in our ministry to "shut us down" from pursuing the task, the mission, that God has called us to do. We must keep our perspective in the midst of ministry rain.
Check back for more ideas on how to deal with ministry rain. Meanwhile, I'm going to go outside and enjoy a little San Diego sunshine!
