Jim was in despair. Worry had taken over his life. He was hospitalized with shingles in pain and feeling that he could not make it through the night. In despair he sat down and wrote a farewell note to his wife and son.
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First Week at the Character Inn
Our first week living in the Character Inn is complete. When we arrived a group of young people on the Inn staff were singing to welcome us. Our family sang back to thank them. They have been working hard to familiarize me with the operating systems and procedures.
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A Word in Passing
Telling other people about what Jesus has done in your life should not be difficult or complex. Someone said witnessing is just one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.
While hiking North Manitou Island last July I was talking with a friend about witnessing. He told an interesting story as we walked. When he was ten he was walking down the street one day in East Grand Rapids Michigan, delivering newspapers when he saw a young lady approaching. She was carrying a backpack. When she got to little Mike she looked strait into his eyes and with a radiant smile said, “Jesus loves you.” Without breaking stride she walked out of his life.
A few years later Mike came to faith in Jesus Christ, but he always remembered the word the girl with the backpack spoke in passing
It helps me to know that I am not responsible to “make converts.” I just need to nudge everyone I meet one step closer to Jesus. Kind deeds help. Careful listening is always powerful. But sometimes just a word in passing will lodge deep in someone’s heart and ring in their ears for years. Maybe even for eternity.
My Green Desk
I said good bye to an old friend the other day. We have been together for over twenty-two years. He was my old green Steelcase Executive desk. It was a huge boat of a thing. Strong enough to survive a nuclear blast. The desk moved with me from Xenia, Ohio to Celina, Ohio to Niles, Michigan to Jackson, Michigan to Knox County, Ohio to Fremont. But the other day I realized it was time to part company. My two strong sons neither of whom had been born when I got the desk helped me hoist the desk into the truck. I stood and watched it until it was out of sight and remembered back.
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Farewell to Fremont, My Mayberry
This Sunday at eleven o’clock I will step into the First Baptist pulpit as Senior Pastor for the last time. Our family has promised to sing once more and I will preach my farewell message. I have preached about six hundred messages from the First Baptist pulpit. I hope I did some good. I like to think some homes are happier, some marriages are stronger, and some hearts are lighter. I know there are some who understood the Gospel and embraced the faith during our time here. I am sure there has been some eternal fruit, too. Only God knows how much. He has promised to keep a careful record of that. We are not qualified to evaluate that this side of eternity.
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God Substitutes
Some of the Psalms are Psalms of Assent. They are songs for the road when you are on a holy pilgrimage. It is especially helpful to think of Psalm 133 that way.
At least twice a year the fathers and sons would make their way from wherever they lived to the temple in Jerusalem. (Deuteronomy 16:16) This is a song for brothers together on the road. Can you hear the deep men’s voices as they sing and stride up toward the Holy City? Can you imagine the hearts of the sons and fathers knit together in the Lord as the sons observed their father’s enthusiasm and devotion to the things of the Lord? There would have been a sacrifice of time and money to make a pilgrimage like that. That would become a cherished tradition.
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