Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

I will not share with you everything that happened while I attended that charismatic church. Their focus was on the spiritual gifts and there was no focus there on the gracious gifts or the service gifts. While my gift came into clear focus, there was no place for me to serve in that church with my gift.

A newcomer that was a high school teacher was given a place to teach Sunday School. One day he asked me what grace meant. My answer was “God pouring out His love into my life.”

“Wrong!”

He was looking for the book answer “unmerited favor.” I will never give a book answer when speaking from my heart where His Word abides. I do not have the gift of teaching. So there was no position in that church for me to serve using my gift.

I remained in the church even though I felt the sting of being left out. Then one Sunday a visiting evangelist from Scotland spoke and I could hear the message loud and clear. “It is time to leave.” So I begged my leave and returned home to further my gift in the solitude of my own home.

Then my wife at the time became ill and I became her primary care giver for five years until she died. It felt good to be needed. I discovered how rewarding it was to serve. It was the best five years of our 37 years of marriage. I will not speak to the other 32 years. It serves no spiritual purpose for these posts.

The next six months were spent seeking God’s will for my next season of life.