I have been spoiled for the last many years,
I have never mowed the lawn or cared for grounds at the parsonage for 25 years.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life". A wonderful
man mows the lawn and cares for the grounds around the parsonage out of his love
for the Lord and the parsonage family. He came by this morning and cared for
killing the weeds and grass growing up through the sidewalk cracks. It looks
manicured. He offered to bring me hard wood (Cherry) for my outdoor chicken
BBQ. The church has a humongous BBQ pit, professional grade. At Maple Festival
time, the church people BBQ 800 halves of chicken. I can use part of the same
pit, once section, for my summer BBQ adventures. I am excited.
One of the members of the church dropped by
today and shared parts of her life story. She shared about the deep joy she has
serving Christ all these years. She is willing and available do any thing for
sake of the Kingdom. One of Alice's students stopped by and told the summer
stories of his friends and narrated about some of the dreams and hopes of the
students. It was refreshing to listen to him.
Later in the afternoon Alice and I drove
through some of the spectacular countryside. We stopped by to a see beautiful
saint of the Lord who still lives in her own home. Her son and his wife live
in Hawaii. She prayed and believed that the Lord would give her son, and to the
disbelief of friends and neighbors the Lord gave her only one child, a
son.
As my wife was visiting with her, she
suddenly said, "I am not ready to die". As my wife pondered what she was
getting at, she added, "I am too curious. I want to know what the next big
thing is going to be. I have lived through radio, television, and computers,
and I want to know what the next big thing will be." We were amused to hear her
view of life from her perspective as a 93 year old. She has great
expectations. Recently she raised hundreds of dollars for St. Jude's Children's
Hospital by walking around the school track using her walker. She had prayed
that the Lord would give her the strength to complete a lap, and He did. She
said that this was the first time she remembered getting an exact answer to her
prayers.
Praise the Lord that we can believe in
Jesus, and live our lives under His authority and grace, in all seasons. He is
the Lord in every season and the Lord of all seasons.
Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, an Old Testament
Theologian, has observed that the hardest verse in the Bible to believe is
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
“If you can believe that,” Dr. Johnson said, “you won’t have any
trouble with the rest of the Bible.” I had never really thought about Genesis
1:1 in its larger context, but it is hugely important that the Bible
begins with a declaration, not an argument. The Bible simply declares
that God is, and that he created all things.
Twenty years ago E. V. Hill preached a
powerful sermon at a Promise Keepers gathering. In his own unforgettable style,
he preached for 40 minutes on just two words: “God is.” He said it over and
over again. He whispered it and he shouted it. He illustrated it, declared it,
proclaimed it, and dared anyone to deny it. You wouldn’t think you could preach
that long on just two words but he did, and when you think about it, you could
preach a lot longer when your topic is as profound as “God is.” Once you get it
settled in your heart that “God is,” a lot of other problems will be solved as
well.
In Christ,
Pastor Brown
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