When the Going Gets Tough...: Turn Your Stumbling Blocks into Stepping Stones

By Rev. Curry Pikkaart

Was Joseph as a spoiled brat who loved to lord it over his brothers and pretty much got what he deserved? Was he a wise determined young man who did everything he could to end his familys sad history of deception and dysfunction? Was he simply as an innocent victim of the twists and turns of life?

Were the events in his life chance happenings, so all he could do was make the best of it? Or were they results of his choices - or Gods choices - or both?

Could it be that what happens to us is meant to affect what happens in us? Could it be that the events of our lives are invitations from God to enter into partnership with Him? Do our choices and Gods choices somehow work in partnership to move us through the tough times into the next chapter of our life story?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512750782

Rev. Curry Pikkaart

The Rev. Curry Pikkaart earned his BA degree from Central College in Pella, Iowa and his Master of Divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Since 1974 he has pastored congregations in Sioux Center, Iowa, and Holland, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and South Haven Michigan. He is a trained Bethel Bible Teacher, Stephen’s Minister, Ministry Coach, and Prepare Enrich Pre-marital Inventory Administrator. He retired from full-time pastoral ministry in September of 2015.

Book preview

When the Going Gets Tough…

Turn Your Stumbling Blocks Into Stepping Stones

REV. CURRY PIKKAART

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Copyright © 2016 Rev. Curry Pikkaart.

Photo courtesy of Appleyard Photography of South Haven Michigan

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Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations used in this book are from NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

(MSG) Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

(RSV) from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-5079-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5080-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5078-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016911908

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/29/2016

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: When the Going Gets Tough …Dreams Become Pathways

Chapter 2: When the Going Gets Tough …Pitfalls Become Launching Pads

Chapter 3: When the Going Gets Tough …Temptation Becomes Testimony

Chapter 4: When the Going Gets Tough …Rejections Become Opportunities

Chapter 5: When the Going Gets Tough …Prisons Become Promotions

Chapter 6: When the Going Gets Tough …Pity Parties Become Professions of Faith

Chapter 7: When the Going Gets Tough …Guilt Becomes Gift

Chapter 8: When the Going Gets Tough …The End Becomes the Beginning

Chapter 9: When the Going Gets Tough …Lives Become Legacies

Chapter 10: When the Going Gets Tough …Revenge Becomes Forgiveness

Chapter 11: When the Going Gets Tough …Discipline Becomes Production

Epilogue

Appendix

Group Study Questions

Notes

Dedication

With love and overwhelming gratitude, I dedicate this book to

John and Jewel Pikkaart

my dear departed parents, whose love, discipline, support and commitment to Jesus Christ led me to Jesus Christ and ultimately to accepting His call on me to be a minister of the gospel. My only regret is that this is a post-mortem dedication they are not here to read. However, I believe they will somehow see it.

Shirley Toering

My beloved sister, who, like my parents, has never wavered in her faith and has consistently demonstrated how to navigate rough waters of life’s journey. Still today, you inspire me. Thank you for your love, example, and faith.

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True followers of Jesus are absurdly happy, totally fearless, and almost always in trouble.

—Meister Eckhart

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Preface

I’m filled with gratitude for the abundant blessings poured into my life. God is good, but I believe my life is not that spectacular or unusual, probably not much different from yours. I’m just an average person who has tried to live in step with Jesus. My life is rich, but it hasn’t always been easy. Sometimes, I made good choices, but at other times, I didn’t. Sometimes, my road has been level, but at times, it’s been mountainous.

Through the years, I’ve observed that this is pretty much the norm for most people. I don’t know anyone who can claim he or she has lived without tough times, which are simply part of life. This is why I’m so drawn to Joseph and his story in Genesis. I’ve always been fascinated because throughout his life, he’d take one step forward and two steps back, and I can identify with that. Yet in his journey and his relationship with God, he always moved onward and upward. I want also to identify with that.

So throughout my forty-plus years of ministry, I’ve read and reread, studied, preached, and taught Joseph’s story. While doing so, it’s been my privilege to share in thousands of people’s life journeys as they too have entered tough times and seasons. Each of them had to decide how to approach them. Some were defeated by them, some embraced them, but none escaped them. One constant for me was the story of Joseph, which always had something to offer.

Many others have written about Joseph’s life, some very eloquently and powerfully. I’m not trying to better them because I cannot. I merely desire the help of the Holy Spirit in sharing how Joseph and his God have affected my heart and strengthened my unspectacular, average life. In doing so, I hope and pray that whether your tough times are in the past, present, or future, you can see yourself in Joseph’s story, in God’s story, and be impacted and strengthened as well.

I pray that you will be able to identify the tough times in your life and then come to see them as stumbling blocks that can be turned into stepping stones. I pray above all else that you will enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. To Him be all the glory!

Acknowledgments

A special thank you to my editor from WestBow Press, Martin McHugh. Focusing on the oral act of preaching for over 40 years, it’s difficult to write my thoughts in a smooth readable style and format. Without your assistance the readability of this book would be greatly diminished. I’ve learned a great deal from, and been blessed by you.

I could fill numerous pages with other acknowledgements since this book is the product of sixty-seven years of living. I have learned life lessons from so many people that to name them all would be a massive undertaking, and even then I’d miss some. I apologize to those I’ve missed and offer my thanks for the roles they played in my life. But here’s my best effort to acknowledge those most responsible for their impact on this book.

I begin with all who were members of Bethany Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, between 1949 and 1974 (birth to ordination). I thank them all for their nurture, love, and guidance during the critical formative years of my life. You witnessed and contributed to my baptism, my profession of faith, and my ordination. I realize now how powerfully you modeled not just living in but moving through tough times.

I am deeply indebted to all the congregations with whom it was a privilege to share in ministry: First Reformed Church of Sioux Center, Iowa; First Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan; Trinity Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan; Bethany Reformed and Orchard Hill Churches in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Hope Reformed Church in South Haven, Michigan. You have patiently listened to my teaching and preaching on the themes of this book, have opened up your lives to me, and loved, encouraged, and supported my family through the years. While we experienced so much joy, we also shared tough times together. I never failed to learn from you.

I’ve been blessed to have worked with wonderful staff in all those congregations, and to you, I give heartfelt thanks. You were always my inner circle and my special family as we shared so much of life and ministry together—sorrows and joys, tough and good times. Your partnership in the gospel means more to me than I can express.

It was an honor and joy to serve with Tom Bos for many years. Tom, you were more than a cohort and peer; you were and still are a dear friend who served as a pastor to me even as I attempted to pastor others. I wouldn’t trade our time together for anything. I have so much for which to be thankful, but there were many moments I wasn’t sure I’d make it through. You were always there to comfort, counsel, guide, and strengthen me. Never once did you walk away. You’ve been a priceless gift. Thank you, and may our Lord bless you.

Larry DeBruyne, has anyone ever had such a loyal, wise, perceptive, caring friend as I have had in you? You were always there at just the right time in just the right way with just the right words and presence. You were often there not because you knew something was up but because the Spirit led you there when something was up. With you, I could be me with total transparency, a rare gift. So many tough times walked through, so many lessons learned from you, so much love received from you. Because of you, I look back on my life and see very few stumbling blocks but a lot of stepping stones, many of which have a tribute to you on them. May you too be blessed by Jesus.

I thank and praise God for my precious wife. Barb, without your undying love for and support of me, this book would never have been written. Your constant encouragement kept me at the task. You’ve sacrificed much through our years of ministry and now through my time of writing, but you never wavered. Your love and prayers fueled my passion especially at times when it would otherwise have waned. We have shared so much joy and so many blessings even in the many tough times because you have helped me remain focused on and faithful to Jesus. I look forward to these years of retirement when we can share even more time together. I join our boys in rising up and calling you blessed.

Speaking of our boys, I’m reminded of the psalmist who wrote, Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a real blessing (Psalm 127:3 GNT). Brad, Brian, and Kevin, you have no idea how much you’ve blessed and enriched my life. Far too often, especially in the early years of my ministry, I gave more attention to the church than I did to you. The tough times of life and ministry affected you as well; we shared many of them. Yet you loved me. You didn’t turn into haters of the church or me or rebel against the church or me. Instead, you and your mother always loved me with the love of Christ. Were it not for that, I wouldn’t have written this book. Thank you. I’m so grateful to God for His faithfulness through you.

Most of all, I give thanks to Jesus Christ. Without Him, my life would be a different story; I’d have little if anything worth writing about. Without Him, my tough times would have been stumbling blocks; with Him, they were stepping stones to a deeper relationship with Him. Thank You, Jesus. May all the glory go to You.

Introduction

Some people see Joseph as a spoiled brat who loved to lord it over his brothers and pretty much got what he deserved. Some see him as a wise, determined young man who decided to do everything he could to end his family’s sad history of deception and dysfunction. Some see him simply as an innocent victim of the twists and turns of life.

While it can be fun to debate which was the case, there’s a greater issue. How did Joseph see the events in his life? Did his circumstances happen by chance or by choice? Did they happen merely by chance so all Joseph could do was make the best of them? Or did they happen by his choice, or God’s choice, or both?

Do our choices and God’s choices somehow work in partnership to move us through the tough times into the next chapter of our life story? Is what happens to us meant to affect what happens in us? Are our life events invitations from God to enter a partnership with Him? Could everything that is said to us and happens to and around us be invitations from God to let His glory and presence shine where we are? Could God long to be known in and through us in everything?

You choose how to answer. May Joseph’s life speak to you.

CHAPTER 1

When the Going Gets Tough …

Dreams Become Pathways

Genesis 37:1–36

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Joseph’s brothers putting Joseph into the pit

Dream: an involuntary occurring to one awake; an aspiration, goal, aim.

It was a great time for the dream. It was happening in other places, and it could happen in our community as well. So our group developed an exciting vision for establishing a Christian nightclub, a restaurant/cafe where Christian artists would sing as people dined and relaxed. We had some influential people on the committee, had some good contacts, had prayed diligently, had gained great support, and had a place to purchase. It was all systems go. But nothing ever developed. Things never got beyond our meetings. The dream never got off the ground. The trouble with dreams is that sometimes they don’t work out as planned.

I remember beginning a ministry in a church as the pastor of education and youth. At the time the youth program was all but nonexistent. Parents seemed excited about my coming; they promised their kids would be faithful in attendance. The kids said they were enthused. So my wife and I set a date for a get-acquainted party, bought the goodies, planned the games and schedule, sent out the personal invitations, and prayed while waiting for the night to arrive. The night arrived. Two youths showed up. The trouble with dreams is that sometimes they don’t work out as planned.

Annette and her husband were glad to be missionaries in Western Europe, but she developed severe back pain, and X-rays revealed a grapefruit-sized tumor on her spinal cord. Since it was relatively routine and not particularly high risk, she underwent surgery. But when she woke up, she was paralyzed from the neck down and in even worse excruciating and constant pain. Shortly thereafter, Annette and her husband and five children moved back to the United States, where she could be cared for in more-appropriate surroundings.¹ The trouble with dreams is that sometimes they don’t work out as planned.

I have a