The pastor had begun preaching his message on evangelism when all of a sudden there was a loud thud and all eyes went to the opposite side of the worship center on a man who had hit the wall and then went down.
Immediately people with medical experience rushed to him, including JW. It was a chance for him to use what he had been learning in EMT training! He had practiced on the entire family at home, but now he had a real live person to ask all those questions! JW got up and ran across the front of the worship center to help out with this man who went down. After a few minutes the paramedics showed up and took care of this man who was apparently a diabetic.
The pastor resumed his sermon on our responsibility to share Jesus with those around us. As I sat and listened to all the excuses we give for not telling our friends and co-workers about Jesus I began to think about it. Telling others about salvation is the most important thing we can do as Christians. We have such great news, news that is the difference between spending an eternity in heaven or hell and yet we hold it in our clutches and some of us never share it. There are no educational requirements for sharing it. We don't have to be deacons or Sunday school teachers or pastors to tell others about Jesus. We don't have to know a formula or memorize a speech or even be good a talking to share Jesus, but we do have to open our mouths and share!
Sitting in my seat I thought about the man who collapsed in church and his need for medical attention. People didn't wait for him to ask for help. No one was worried if he would reject their help, they just saw that he needed help and helped him. JW didn't hesitate to run to this man in need, he just ran. Shouldn't this be our reaction as Christians? Do we really need to wait until people are calling out on their deathbed before we offer our good news? Shouldn't we just run to share Jesus with people anytime?
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
It's Called a Ripple!
Recently, our pastor, Dr. James Walling, has been emphasizing the ripple effect. Simply meaning that what we do as Christians should make a ripple like a rock thrown into a pond of water, it ripples. Our intentional actions for the glory of God should not only effect those directly involved but they should be felt or observed beyond our physical reach...they should ripple!
I have felt the ripple and I want to make it go just a little further across the pond....
A week ago something in my back went haywire and I've been pretty immobile since. I spend a lot of time on my bed with ice on my back and a laptop in my lap. I'm getting better day by day, thanks to a great chiropractor and God answering the prayers of a few prayer warriors.
While my kids have been great at taking up the slack with the house work and the farm, my washing machine decided to quit thus creating a mountain of laundry that would make the most fearless mountain climber tremble.
Never fear my small group is here!
Like the wonderful women they are, the ladies in my small group have diagnosed my washing machine's ailment, suggested who I call to repair it at a reasonable price and one woman has taken on my laundry challenge and at this moment my laundry room has one pair of dirty slacks. This week I've given this woman eight baskets of dirty laundry and we're not talking just stuff the kids wore to school or even sweaty practice clothes. I've sent over manure stained barn clothes that will sure enough make her house smell and put her front load washer to the test. Each time she's done with my laundry she has had the courage to ask for more! This morning she practically badgered me into bringing more laundry to her until I finally said, "Okay, Okay,you can have it all!"
Not only is this wonderful woman making my life easier but she is making sure my husband has clean jeans, my son has a clean baseball uniform, we have fresh linens on our beds, clean towels in my bathroom and that none of us run out of clean underwear!
This one act of doing the laundry for a farm family of six is what is known as the ripple effect.
Do you ripple?
I have felt the ripple and I want to make it go just a little further across the pond....
A week ago something in my back went haywire and I've been pretty immobile since. I spend a lot of time on my bed with ice on my back and a laptop in my lap. I'm getting better day by day, thanks to a great chiropractor and God answering the prayers of a few prayer warriors.
While my kids have been great at taking up the slack with the house work and the farm, my washing machine decided to quit thus creating a mountain of laundry that would make the most fearless mountain climber tremble.
Never fear my small group is here!
Like the wonderful women they are, the ladies in my small group have diagnosed my washing machine's ailment, suggested who I call to repair it at a reasonable price and one woman has taken on my laundry challenge and at this moment my laundry room has one pair of dirty slacks. This week I've given this woman eight baskets of dirty laundry and we're not talking just stuff the kids wore to school or even sweaty practice clothes. I've sent over manure stained barn clothes that will sure enough make her house smell and put her front load washer to the test. Each time she's done with my laundry she has had the courage to ask for more! This morning she practically badgered me into bringing more laundry to her until I finally said, "Okay, Okay,you can have it all!"
Not only is this wonderful woman making my life easier but she is making sure my husband has clean jeans, my son has a clean baseball uniform, we have fresh linens on our beds, clean towels in my bathroom and that none of us run out of clean underwear!
This one act of doing the laundry for a farm family of six is what is known as the ripple effect.
Do you ripple?
Saturday, April 7, 2012
They are there....every Sunday....
They sit in a row, beautiful all in their own way. They are there faithfully every week. Never missing. Their hair is perfect, make up just right and they have learned to dress in colors that flatter their aging complexion and graying hair. Their warm smiles welcome you in, their hugs and handshakes reassure you the sun still comes up, the world still goes around and God still loves you.
They ask about your family, tell you how beautiful your children are and ask, genuinely wanting to know, how you are this week. If you shared your troubles they would listen intently and pray specifically. Then they would send you on your way with a hug, a smile and that calmness that only those life warriors know and can pass on to you.
You can't help but be encouraged by these pillars of strength, these women who have been through all of life's trials, the ups, the downs and those day to day afflictions. They've learned through the fire that when we are tested we shall come forth as gold. They are golden.
Every church has them.
They are those ladies, some widowed, some single, some married who sit in the same spot week after week in church. They are that fixture that you remembered as a child who are still there today as an adult. Every week, we are greeted by these aging beauties as we come in and sit down. They are incredibly reassuring to me. In times of trouble, in times of doubt, I can look to these women who have each been through so much and know that I will make it through my trials, just like they have.
My mom is one of these ladies in the church I grew up in. Every Sunday you can find her in the choir loft, the soprano side in her choir robe along with the other reassuring, faithful choir members who were there when I was young.
And tomorrow morning, on Easter Sunday, celebrating a risen Savior, each of these pillars will be in place, some with a new Easter dress, some with the same Easter dress from last year. But they will be there, in their spot rejoicing over not only that Christ has risen, but that they are still around to praise Jesus one more Easter morning. And I will be there to receive an intangible, irreplaceable comfort from them and they don't even know it.
They ask about your family, tell you how beautiful your children are and ask, genuinely wanting to know, how you are this week. If you shared your troubles they would listen intently and pray specifically. Then they would send you on your way with a hug, a smile and that calmness that only those life warriors know and can pass on to you.
You can't help but be encouraged by these pillars of strength, these women who have been through all of life's trials, the ups, the downs and those day to day afflictions. They've learned through the fire that when we are tested we shall come forth as gold. They are golden.
Every church has them.
They are those ladies, some widowed, some single, some married who sit in the same spot week after week in church. They are that fixture that you remembered as a child who are still there today as an adult. Every week, we are greeted by these aging beauties as we come in and sit down. They are incredibly reassuring to me. In times of trouble, in times of doubt, I can look to these women who have each been through so much and know that I will make it through my trials, just like they have.
My mom is one of these ladies in the church I grew up in. Every Sunday you can find her in the choir loft, the soprano side in her choir robe along with the other reassuring, faithful choir members who were there when I was young.
And tomorrow morning, on Easter Sunday, celebrating a risen Savior, each of these pillars will be in place, some with a new Easter dress, some with the same Easter dress from last year. But they will be there, in their spot rejoicing over not only that Christ has risen, but that they are still around to praise Jesus one more Easter morning. And I will be there to receive an intangible, irreplaceable comfort from them and they don't even know it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)