We are getting
ready for Sunday. We will gather for Sunday School at 10 AM and for worship at
11:00. Plan to be in the in the house of the Lord wherever you might
be.
I have lately
been having a lot of difficulty with my AOL server, so yesterday I called
customer service and was connected to tech support in Manila, Philippines.
After the initial conversation he transferred me to tech support in Rumania. He
worked for some time at diagnosing the problem, then transferred me back to tech
support in the States. So I say, "What a world and what a country!" Our nephew
Bernard had worked on the problem a few weeks ago from his home by himself
getting online.
I heard a story,
once told by Dr. Claude Edmond, at a conference I attended in 1982. Dr. Edmund
was the District Superintendent in the United Methodist
Church
in the Philadelphia
Area. He was also the pastor for some time of the Tindley Temple United
Methodist Church In Philadelphia. It is a Historic church named after Dr.
Albert Tindley. Dr. Tindley was the Pastor of the church for many years. He
was a great preacher and also a great hymn writer, who wrote hymns like, " We
Will Understand It Better By and By" and "Beams of Heaven As I Go". There are
also several other hymns that are found in our Methodist
Hymnal.
Dr. Edmond's
story goes like this: There was a woman who lived at the foot of a tall
mountain. Her church was located on the other side of the mountain. On Sunday
mornings, she would have to drive her old car over the mountain. She was
sometimes afraid her old car wouldn't make it. Then she'd have to drive it back
over the mountain to get home. On Wednesday nights she had to drive her old car
over the mountain again for prayer meeting and then drive back. Every Sunday
and every Wednesday she was afraid her old car would not make it every week.
One Sunday her pastor preached a sermon on a saying of Jesus found in the Gospel
of Matthew. Jesus said that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, and
you tell a mountain to be moved, it will move. After the sermon, she said to
her pastor, "I have faith the size of a mustard seed and I'm telling this
mountain to be moved." It became her theme. Every Sunday and every Wednesday
evening she said, "Pastor, I have faith the size of a mustard seed, and I'm
telling this mountain to be moved." Her pastor eventually became distressed
about this fixation she had on moving the mountain. He became concerned that,
when the mountain didn't move, she might lose her faith. He tried to explain to
her that when Jesus only speaking metaphorically. He didn't mean that an actual
mountain would physically move. But the woman said, "No, pastor, I have faith
the size of a mustard seed and I believe this mountain will move." One day the
pastor went to visit the elderly woman. When he got to her side of the
mountain, he saw some men with surveying equipment at the foot of the mountain.
He stopped and asked the men what they were doing. "We're from the state
department of transportation," a man said. "A new highway is scheduled to be
built across this way. We're here to move this mountain." I say, "Ain't our
God Cool". Nothing is impossible for Him.
I hear from
lovers of Jesus how He is the answer in their lives, how He specializes in
removing mountains. Indeed, it is the Lord who makes all rough places plain.
He exalts every valley, and He brings every mountain low. The world is
turmoil. In essence, a Tsunami has hit the world, but Jesus is the Christ of
every crisis. He makes the way where there in no way. The Lord is upon the
throne. Let us keep on praying for the refugee crisis in the middle East and
Europe. I read one of the reports that many of the refugees who are fleeing the
inferno in their countries are accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior.
There are Christians who are welcoming them with loving hearts.
May Jesus
Christ be praised.
In
Christ,
Brown
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