Who Does She Look Like?

 

            Ann and I  are still basking in the joy of having a new grandchild  born earlier this month.  Em is a beautiful little girl and we now are proud to say that we have 8 grandchildren, 4 girls and 4 boys.  We love and are grateful for each and everyone.  

One of the things that has come in our family in recent days is discussion on who Em looks like.    Old baby pictures have been brought out of her  Mom when she was young.   Why, we have even looked at old pictures of my wife Ann (her Mimi) with some saying that Em looks like her.    I recall my friend Tommy Smith telling the story that when he was a boy that he used to deliver telegrams on his bike in the town where he lived.   These were the days before there was a phone in every home much less anything like cell phone pictures and social media.   Tommy recalled one telegram he delivered got straight to the point which said,  “Fixtures like his father, features like his mother.”   

It occurred to me that I have the answer on who Em looks like  that will  finally end the speculation and discussion:  SHE LOOKS LIKE GOD.   Don’t take my word for it.   Lets go to a higher authority, the Word of God where we read these words:    So God created mankind in his own image,  in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them  (Genesis 1:27). 

When you get right down to it, everyone of us is made in the image of  God.   There is something about each and everyone of not only my 8 grandchildren, but every person that reflects the goodness and glory of God .  I don’t know what you think, but I believe that so many of the issues between people  would vanish if we treated others like  that was true.   I look forward to seeing all the ways that Em reflects God in the days and years ahead.     Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER

            O God, you have fearfully and wondrously made each one of us in your image.   Thank you for human life.   Give us eyes and hearts to see you in one another, and give us grace and forgiveness for the times we fail to reflect your divine goodness;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.  

Look at the Birds

 

            This is the time of year when we are planting flowers around our house.  Winter is over, and spring is definitely here  as its shows its lovely face in the buds and blooms around the countryside.  I remember a time I discovered some bird eggs in one of our hanging baskets of flowers  on our porch.  Evidently, a bird thought that was a good place to lay her eggs.  As I looked at that nest of eggs, I was reminded of the words of Jesus about birds in the sermon on the mount:  “Therefore,  I tell you, do not worry about your life; what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food,  and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. “  (Matthew 6: 25-26)  

            Many of you reading this are probably worrying about something today.  It might be something as trivial as what clothes you will wear for some special event coming up.  It might be that you are worrying  about something as major as what the doctor will tell you or how you are going to pay the bills.  Whether your worries be small or large,  remember the birds.   Though the bird does not know for sure where its next meal is still coming from, it still has a song to sing and it sings it to the glory of God.  Despite those things that worry you, you too still have a song to sing because you too have a heavenly Father that cares about you just as it cares about me.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER

            God, I praise you for the wonder and beauty of all your creation.  Help me to place my worries into your gracious hands knowing of your great love and care; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Amos Wingo and the Cross

 

I enjoy reading.  I always have and I hope that I always will.   Besides reading the Bible daily, I also regularly read other books or listen to books in the car in my travels.  One of my favorite writers is the late Pat Conroy.   He writes with great description of the people and places of the South.  I have read most of Conroy’s books, but I suppose my favorite Pat Conroy book is Prince of Tides.    Those of you who do not read might have seen the 1991 movie of the same name.   One of the characters in the book is Amos Wingo, grandfather of the main character, football coach-storyteller Tom Wingo.   There is a story in the book that every year during Holy Week that Amos Wingo would carry a cross through the streets of the tiny South Carolina coastal town of Colleton.  Even  when his health was growing frail and he got older, still Amos Wingo would put that heavy wooden cross on his shoulders and carry it through the streets of his town as a statement of his own faith and a reminder that Jesus bore a cross long ago outside the town of Jerusalem. 

I think of Amos Wingo and that story as I read Mark 8: 34-35 where we read these words:

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 

The story of the cross in the Bible is the story of the willingness of Jesus to sacrifice his life because of his love for people like you and I and to save us from our sins.   What is it  or who is it that you feel a deep passion about?     What cause or person do you feel a deep love about?   While I am not sure that you and I need to carry a cross during Holy Week through the town or community where we live, taking up the cross is something that is done regularly and willingly.   What higher purpose is your life about?     Have a joy-filled week and God bless.-   Pastor Randy Wall 

PRAYER:     O God,   I give you thanks that Jesus Christ loved me to death.  Help me to live more passionately for the higher purpose of being your disciple;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen. 

A 24/7 Christian

 

Charlotte traffic.    Those two words bring fear or anxiety in the heart of the bravest of souls.    I was in the thick of Charlotte traffic recently travelling down Independence Boulevard.    As a car pulled into the lane beside me, the on-coming car showed their distaste for their action by constantly blowing the heart for at least five seconds and then giving them a “one finger salute”.    I think most of you will know what the “one finger salute” is.    As the Toyota quickly changed lanes,  my heart sank as I looked at the back of their car and saw the sign of the fish on it.    From the time of the early Church, the sign of the fish has been a symbol of a Christian and a follower of  Jesus.     If the driver of the car was its rightful owner, that person was showing they were a Christian with the sign of the fish but they were showing something else with their antics in Charlotte traffic.

As I have thought about that recent experience in Charlotte traffic, my mind keeps turning to a passage in John 15:1-3 which says:  

 ¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

            Am I bearing the fruit of being a follower of Christ Jesus not just at church on Sundays, but on Saturdays in Charlotte traffic, Thursday nights at home, and on Fridays at the grocery store?    What about you?  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER:     O God,   forgive us for the times that we talk the faith, but do not walk in and through faith.  Help me get out of the way and let you live through us and bear fruit; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.