Last night was another night for flock groups at our church.  Flock groups are what we call our small group gatherings.  We have a devotional and it is geared toward a more casual atmosphere and lots of discussion.  The last one I attended was the one I wrote about earlier that was so difficult and frustrating.  Last night, I knew going in that with no hearing aids (they are broken), I would not be able to hear much, if any, of what was being said.  The thought did occur to me that if I wasn’t going to be able to hear anything at all, should I even go?  Would it be worth driving an hour round trip into town for it (on crutches, no less, which takes even more effort to get out and about)?  I decided that it absolutely was worth going.  Even if I couldn’t hear, I would still be there and participate in what I could, and I would still be edified by being with other christians.  I want to continue my habit of being at everything I possibly can.  Maybe my presence would be an encouragement to someone else.  You never know.  We arrived a few minutes late and after we settled in there were some songs before the devotional and discussion.  I was able to hear some of the singing.  Chet shared a song book with me and pointed to the song that was announced so I would know which one it was.  I could hear him sing (he was sitting close to me and on my “good” side) and since I knew the songs and could hear him singing base, I could use that input plus watch the song leader’s mouth (across the room) and figure out where we were with the words in the song.  That meant I was able to sing along, too, and no one looked at me weirdly, so I think I sounded fairly normal!  Once the discussion started, I heard nothing.  Close to the end of the 45 minutes or so of devo/discussion Chet spoke up and I could understand him – that was when I figured out what the topic was.  As I was sitting there, I had some time to think (about 45 minutes – lol) and I realized that I was completely fine and content with sitting there and not knowing what was happening.  I remembered the previous one and how frustrating it was, and decided that the main difference was simply my expectations.  I knew before I arrived, that I probably would not be able to hear anything, and I was prepared for that to happen.  If I was wrong, and could hear more than expected, that would be a nice surprise and a bonus!  The first flock group, I didn’t know what to expect.  My next thought was about how that concept applies to just about everything in life!  As christians, we need to have realistic expectations.  The scriptures tell us what those should be.  Christians are not promised an easy life.  We’re told to expect trials and adversity.  We’re told to expect false teachers.  We’re told to expect many to fall away.  We’re told to expect persecution.  We’re also told that we can get through these things and that if we persevere and stay faithful, that we will be molded into what God wants us to be and that we will have salvation in the end.  Part of having realistic expectations is also being prepared for what you will face.  We don’t know exactly what our trials will be or what exactly we will encounter, but we do know that there will be trials, so we can prepare ourselves to the best of our ability to be ready for whatever comes our way.  Then, the situation doesn’t catch you off guard.  You know what to expect.  You’ve done what you can to prepare yourself. You don’t sit around thinking “Why me?”  You know these things are normal for christians.   It’s much easier to cope with things with that mindset.  We also learn from past experience.  My first flock group, I didn’t know what to expect.  After that bad experience, I spent some time evaluating what took place and trying to figure out if there was anything I could have done differently.  Then I used that information to help me have the right expectations the next time and to be more prepared.  I know that my flock group experience is a small thing in the big picture, but it made me think about this principle and I wanted to share.  After our devo, we had a meal and some fellowship and I enjoyed being with my christian family, as always.  I could converse with people one on one if they were close to me on the “good” side.  On the drive home, Chet filled me in on the topic of the devo and some of the discussion and asked my thoughts as well.  It was not the way I have participated in the past, but it was a way to participate.  I still got the benefit of some of the discussion.  Like so many other things in my life right now, I am just learning to adjust and adapt and go about things in a different way.