Sometimes God Exposes Too Much

Sometimes God exposes me to so many things all at once that I feel like my head is going to explode. Ever happen to you?Yesterday  lunch -I sat at a 4Word luncheon and listened to Dianne Paddison share statistics like:71 % of women with children under 18 are working outside the home.27% of professional women are leaving church, feeling underutilized and isolated.It made me wonder how I've been doing in communicating Jesus' teachings to these women.Last night's dinner -I sat with a straight woman and two openly gay men. I think the guys felt like they had caught the mother load. An evangelical preacher woman sitting across from them sharing a bottle of wine and eating Greek food. They asked me questions like:What do you think about hell?How do you know for sure Jesus is the way?And they shared some experiences they had with evangelical Christians. It wasn't pretty. I left grateful for their gracious reception. I appreciated their sincere questions. I went home with my own. Once again my head was racing over what the Scripture says or doesn't say - the implications ... My heart aches and my mind hurts.This morning -I spoke with a woman in D.C. who is addressing the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case on contraception. Politics is beyond me but as I listened I realized evangelical women need to have a voice in issues such as this. Tomorrow's lunch -I speak at the Genesis Women's Shelter. The title of my talk - "Eradicating the Holy Hush." It's about equipping women to have conversations in their own churches about the issue of domestic violence.Did you know: 1 in 4 women in the US will be impacted by domestic violence in her lifetime?When I hear statistics like that I try to close my eyes to see the ones I've preached to over the years. I imagine the 3000 attendees sitting in the pews on a typical Sunday morning. Then I see 1 out of 4 women slowly stand up. I scan the crowd again - there's too many standing.An effective preacher knows two things - the Word and the world, specifically the world of those who sit in the pews of their church on Sunday morning. And I'm wondering how I did. How did I bring Jesus' teachings to this specific audience standing? The 1 in 4.I'm not sure I did very well. My heart aches and my mind hurts. Sometimes God exposes too much. It makes my head explode.Jesus do something!