I Can't But God Can
April 25 2020
By Shayna Kusumoto, Graphics and Communications
It was a normal Tuesday, March 10th, when I got a call from Chris Pan (First Prez Executive Director). “We MIGHT have to cancel church services on March 22 (two Sundays away),” he said, “and move all church services online because of this whole coronavirus thing.” Whoa. We can’t pull that off in two weeks, I thought. Then two days later he called again saying, “Umm, scratch that—we have to cancel worship services starting THIS Sunday, March 15.”
“Three days from now? Oh, okay….”
I did not think it was possible to take our worship services completely online in such a short timeframe. But the staff all got to work right away. The Sunday video got produced and published. The word was sent out to the congregation, and to my astonishment, there were a record breaking 1,017 views of the first Sunday video we ever produced!
I can’t, but God can.
God is teaching me that truth week after week after week. Just when I think, “Yea, I got it. Look at how awesome our online services are! We did it,” something happens that humbles me big time. God’s reminding me that He alone is the Giver of every good and perfect gift. It’s not me, it’s not even us—it’s all because of Him.
I’ve been reading the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, in the Old Testament. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. He worked hard but ended up in prison after a false accusation. One day the Egyptian Pharaoh was bothered by dreams that no one could interpret, but he learned about Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams so he summoned for him. What an opportune time for Joseph to show off his dream interpretation skills! Show what you can do, man!
It’s Joseph’s response to Pharaoh’s request that stands out for me: “I can’t do it by myself, but God will tell you what it means!” (Gen 41:16 TLB)
Joseph knew he wasn’t able to interpret dreams on his own. It was all God.
And that is EXACTLY what I’m learning week by week with these online church services. I can’t do it—but God can. That is EXACTLY the attitude of the heart that I want to have. Joseph gets it. It’s a constant, dynamic, active balance between humility and confidence. The humility to know that on my own, I can’t. But the confidence to know without a doubt that God CAN.
Fast-forward to present day. Every person you see in our online service has had to go through a steep learning curve of how to film themselves–how to get the composition, lighting, and audio right. This is all new territory for every one of them. They may have doubted their own ability to do it. They may have said to themselves “No, I can’t do that.”
But you and I can attest to the fact that despite what they thought, GOD CAN! God is doing so much through them! Whether that’s Roz or Jason on keyboard, Pastor Dan’s son Quinn filming him in their living room, Steve’s son Caleb on his camera, Tim, Jenny, Chris, Karen, and Candi filming their Sunday school lesson, Nora on Facebook and Instagram, Matt and Christian shepherding the youth group on Zoom, Jeff holding virtual meetups with the young adults, Rosella, David, and every staff and volunteer host you see in the public chat pane of the online service has had to go through quick and rigorous training and testing. They prep and pray over the services and Zoom meetings before, during, and after you show up. And the admin team are all following up during the week on prayer requests and decisions to follow Jesus.
We can’t do it, God CAN.
God is doing something huge with His Church through this pandemic. He is empowering His people to minister in brand new ways, reaching people who may not have been interested in going to church for a worship service. Now the service is coming to them right where they’re at—at HOME. And isn’t that so like Jesus? Jesus went to Matthew’s tax collector booth, to Peter, James, and John’s fishing dock so He could tell them to follow Him. So why wouldn’t He also come to us as we shelter in place? Not just to us, but to the world THROUGH us!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, come be with us. Whatever we’re facing today, we confess we can’t do it on our own. But Jesus, You CAN. With You all things are possible! Help us to put our confidence where it belongs—in Your strength, Your ability, Your provision, Your loving kindness. Thank you for faithfully enabling us through every challenge as we look to You. Increase our confidence in You. Accomplish Your will for this world through US, Lord. You can, Lord. You can. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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