The week after Easter was one of the worst weeks I’ve endured in recent history.

It actually started Easter Saturday morning. I could tell I was getting sick. Actually led to my being in bed Monday through Wednesday. I preached two services on Saturday evening. The services were great but I felt horrible. After the services, our Worship Director, my wife, had the good fortune of having to inform me that we didn’t get a good audio feed to go out to our campuses for Sunday morning. I had to stay (with our amazing tech team) and preach again–to an empty auditorium–to get the message right for our multi-sites.

Ten minutes into preaching for the third time Saturday night (not in a good mood at all), God spoke into my heart. “Greg, I was willing to send my only Son that I love deeply, to give the world the Good News of Easter. My Son was willing to die on the cross . . .” Okay, I get the point! I’m willing to stay an extra hour.

To make matters worse, none of the three people that I’ve been praying for and had invited to our Easter services actually showed up.

After the weekend and being sick for three days, we found out that baby Elijah was not coming to our house. Emotional train wreck.

We had initially scheduled to go to Memphis for a week of vacation after Easter but canceled our plans due to the arrival of the baby. By Thursday is was too late to drive 11 hours for two days away. Sooo, we were stuck in Ohio, rainy weather, for the next four days.

How do you deal with a week like that? We all have them.

To start with, staying home forced us to embrace the pain. To talk through all that was going on. To wrestle with God. To shut up and try and understand what God is teaching us.

I also have great friends around me. Our Thrive home group called from Florida and California (where they were enjoying spring break) to make sure we were doing okay and to let us know, that even from a distance, they were walking through this with us. The Stinklings (my Pastor buddies), e-mailed and prayed with and for us. I have a great staff team, that I get to do life with, that poured out their hearts to us.

In the end, the journey with God and with others is what it’s all about. We’re coming out the other end of the tunnel . . . healthier and more committed than ever to follow Jesus no matter the cost.

How do you deal with a crappy (and there are other words I’ll refrain from using) week?