Dear Partner,
On February 29th in a packed gym my son, Maxston, a senior on the Southgate Anderson basketball team, collapsed from a seizure in the middle of the game. On March 12th I received a call from Jerry Collins letting me know that while driving to his cabin he noticed something that didn’t look quite right about his usual route down South Shore. He could see the lake where generally he should see the Miracle Building. Upon further inspection he found that the Miracle Building had collapsed. On March 15th Michigan was put on “stay at home” orders and the world as we knew it collapsed. Before I continue I have to let you know, that back in January I started listening to Rev. Allan, a former Mr. Hiawatha and staff alumni, who is the pastor at Grace Church in Ashland, OH. He did a series on contentment. Not only did I listen to it but I took notes on it. Not only did I take notes on it but I transferred my notes to my dry erase board in my office. Not only did I take notes, transfer them to my dry erase board but I also had Tamra call and get the notes from Pastor Allan himself for the series. To take it one step further Pastor Allan quoted another pastor, who had written a book “Satisfied”, so I bought the book and read it in three days. I had no idea then how important all those steps would be in preparing me for what was to come. Eventually I had to erase the dry erase board sermon notes. But here are five takeaways I’ve kept on there that I try to read daily.
1. You’ll stop complaining about what you don’t have when your heart is gripped by what you do have.
2. Even if the affliction is great the toxic effects of murmuring against God are far more damaging to your soul.
3. The average person complains 15-30 times per day. In order to be above average just don’t complain.
4. Complaining is saying “God, you are not enough”.
5. When the Israelites complained in the dessert it did not go well for them. God hates complaining.
Back to all the “collapsing”. Maxston is currently doing fine. His on court seizure was caused by a number of things all happening at the same time making a seizure highly probable. The Miracle Building was a building. No one was hurt and the reason for its collapse are intelligent guesses at this stage but its certain that no acts of terrorism or vandalism caused it and some would consider it an “act of God”. The current life style collapse that we’ve all had to endure will sooner or later get back to somewhat normal (Hopefully sooner rather than later). As I look back on those notes I took back in January, I’m leaning heavily on a few things. First, how lucky I was to be a part of so many blessings that took place in that Miracle Building from 1973 to 2019. As a kid, as a camper, as a staff member and as a director I got to see first hand God do so many unbelievably cool things. Second, God has a plan but my attitude can greatly affect how and when that plan is fulfilled. If you’re looking for evidence of this look at the Israelites who complained in the wilderness so God said, “okay, forty more years.” And while my son collapsing, the Miracle Building collapsing, and the economy collapsing are all afflictions, my complaining against God can be way more costly to me than any of those difficulties.
The following was taken from an email recently sent out to the Piatt Lake Board regarding the collapse of the Miracle Building. I will not give away his identity but I will say his name rhymes with Rusty Mopper and he may or may not be the current caretaker at PLBC. Several people have mentioned to me how impactful his words were and it certainly helped me put it all in proper perspective.
While this whole thing is extremely inconvenient and will require extreme sacrifices of time and resources (I’m a little weary just thinking about it), with all my heart I believe that this is a blessing from God. It is disheartening for me to see a place with so much history, history for me personally as well as others, reduced to a pile of wood and shingles, but I’m filled with joy and hope for the things God will do going forward. God had a plan before we had a problem. Make no mistake, this is not tragedy, this is opportunity. Let us proceed with love, faith, and patience to where God will lead us. Let’s enjoy watching him work, and letting him work through us, because we may never experience so great an opportunity again.
Thank you Dusty, I mean Rusty, for reminding us of the great opportunity before us in the days, weeks and months ahead. Know that we covet your prayers for wisdom in the schedule for this coming summer, for making it all happen without a Miracle building in 2020 and finally as plans are made for the “new and improved” Miracle Building.
Sincerely,
Craig