$20 in my Mailbox

A new school year is here for  those who are attending classes at colleges, universities, community colleges, and technical schools.   I find myself thinking of my days in college today.  I was the first one in my family to graduate from college.  My Dad had attended a semester or two of college before marital responsibilities seemed more important that an education.  My Mother did not attend college and finished her high school education through a GED.    While my Mother did not go far in formal education, she instilled in me the importance of education.

Just days before I was to head to college for my freshman year,   we got in the mail the bill for college tuition and all fees.      When Mom saw the bill, she was shocked as she faced the reality that the college costs were far more than what we expected.    What Mom thought was the cost for the entire school year was actually the cost for only a semester (one half of the year).  Since college was a new experience for everyone in our household, we did not even know what a semester was.    I remember as we sat having dinner that night my Mom crying over the thought that I would not have the money to go to college.      I discovered through my employer at my summer job,  Burlington Industries, that they had a loan program for college students.  When I explained the financial plight my family and I were in, my boss helped  me to apply for a college loan of $500.   Even though the deadline for loan applications had passed, Burlington Industries accepted my loan application and gave me a loan of $500 so I could begin college.  

Another person who helped me in my college days was my Grandmother, Blonda Perry.   Every once in a while I would go to my college mailbox  to discover a letter from Grandma Perry.   (We wrote more letters and talked less on the phone in those days.)     Accompanying a handwritten letter on notebook paper,  Grandma would often include a $20 dollar bill.     While $20 might not seem to be a lot of money today,  that was about what  my Grandmother was earning for one days work making draperies at her job off of Maple Ave. in Burlington in those days.  

I share these two glimpses of people that helped me in my college days as a reminder of something we all need to remember:   all of us have benefitted from  the gifts, sacrifices, and efforts of others.    None of us are a “self made man” or “self made woman”.    There are people along the way in our family, network, job, vocation, and neighborhood who have helped us move forward with the  accomplishments we know.     Thank them, give thanks to God for them, and pay it forward.  Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  I give you thanks for the people along my journey in my life who not only believed in you, but who have believed in me and invested in me.   Help me to go and do likewise;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

Teach the Children

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,  ² To Timothy, my dear son:  Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³ I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.⁴ Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.⁵ I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.  ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.-   II Timothy 1: 1-7

It is the time of year when our children are heading back to school at grammar schools, middle schools, charter schools, high schools, colleges, and universities.  I look at school and education through a number of different viewpoints.    First, I see education as a lifelong process.  A matter of fact,  I am taking a continuing education class online this fall even though I received my last degree decades ago.  Secondly, I see education through the eyes of two children who are teachers and through the eyes of  grandchildren who are in school.

I don’t know about you, but I give thanks for teachers in classrooms along the way that encouraged me, taught me, and believed in me.   While teachers have an important role in the education of our children, it is also important to remember the vital role that family has in the education of our children.   In the passage found above,  Paul notes the important role that Lois and Eunice had in the spiritual education of Timothy.   As someone once said many years, sometimes we learn not by what we have been taught, but what we have caught through the people that we are around.     Timothy learned faith not just through what he heard from a religious  leader, but what he absorbed in his home and family.   What are the children in your life and family learning about faith through your example?   Have a great and joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God, we pray for those who are students, teachers, and school students in schools here and everywhere.   We pray for their safety, and for wisdom and compassion.  Lord, help us be mindful that all of us  teach through what we say and do;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.  

The Story of the Two Bears

Our family, like a lot of families, is scattered in numerous places.   It is rare for our 4 daughters, 3 son in laws, and 6 grandkids  to be together with us at one time in one place.   We came close to having everyone together in late July for a few days in Colorado Springs, Colorado.   (One of our daughters was not able to travel due to some health issues.)     We rented a house for several days with a view of the Rocky Mountains.    When we arrived at the house,  we found a hand-written note near the back door that shared some news that we had not even considered:  bears.   We were cautioned that bears had been spotted near the house.    One night as we were  nearing bedtime, our son-in-law shared the news that there were bears behind the house.   I looked out the windows and saw a mother bear and a cub heading across the driveway.    While it was the one and only time we saw the bears during our visit,  we heard them visit the following night as we heard noise during the night.   When morning came, we discovered one of our bear-proof trash cans overturned about 10 feet from where it stood the previous day.   This was not our only encounter with wildlife during our trip west.  One day,  I saw two bucks bolt through a park where my grandchildren were playing.    There were also sightings of chipmunks in a parking lot.

These encounters with  bears and such in Colorado was a reminder of the fact that  you never know when you will have a chance encounter with wildlife.   You do not know as you travel down the road if there will be deer crossing the road around the next curve.   You do not know if or when bears will come visit your campsite in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.    You just don’t know.

“No one knows the day or the hour”,   Jesus said.     Jesus was talking about when the  second coming will take place.   Many through the years have made predictions about the second coming;  alas, it did not come to pass.    There are also some other things we do not know.   We do not know when the opportunity to help somebody will come to pass.   It might come as we go down the road as it did for a priest and levite one day  (see Luke 10).   It might come even as you are reading this.    Most of the time we do not know when an encounter with friend or family will be our last encounter.   One friend used to tell me that he always kissed his wife when he left the house as he wanted no regrets if it was his last time.    Two bears coming to visit at a rental house in Colorado Springs reminded me that there are some things we just don’t know.   May God give us a holy awareness about the preciousness of each day and each thing we see.   Have a blessed and joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God, give me a ready and willing spirit for  the wonders and opportunities you will give me in this day and life;  through Christ I pray. Amen. 

Giver Beware

As many athletes have a standard routine before each game or match, I have a standard routine I do before each Sunday service.   After early morning prayers and getting dressed, I go to a local fitness facility for a workout.    After dressing in my church clothes,  I go to a local convenience store where I sit in my truck and review the Sunday sermon and bulletin before heading to church.  As I was sitting at that local convenience store a few weeks ago,  I had something happen that had never happened there.   As I sat in my truck, a man knocked on my window.    When I rolled down the window, he told me that he needed some money for vehicle repair.  He explained that he and his wife had broken down in their vehicle... that they had a baby... and that they had a child with Downs syndrome.   As he made his request for money, he told me that he needed a few dollars to have enough money to buy the part to repair his car.    I told him that I would help him.  While he requested that I give him the money,  I told him that I would take the money to the parts store where he said that he would buy the part (which was less than half a mile away.)  

When I arrived at the parts store, I explained to the clerks that I was there to give monies for  the man who was trying to get his vehicle fixed and needed some money.  The parts store clerks told me  that they did not know of any man.  Furthermore, they told me that this same scenario had happened a few times before recently.     I then went back to the convenience store to discover  the gentleman who had had asked for money was still there.   When I told him that the people at the parts store did not know anything about his need for parts to repair his car,  he changed his story and told me that he had not been  to the parts store yet.   I wanted to ask how he knew how much the part would cost, but did not.   In a couple of minutes, I watched this man ride away in a burgundy mustang.   From my observation, there were no children or wife in the car which he said was broken down.

I must say that the outcome of this incident made me angry and disappointed.  I do not like to be lied to.   While I do not know what the man was going to do with the money,  I feel very confident that it was not to repair his car or help his family.     I tell this story for one reason and it it this:  GIVER BEWARE.     As it is important to do your due diligence in buying a car, a home, or consumer goods, it is also important to do your due diligence in those causes you support with your monies.  There are many wonderful charities and causes in our world that are doing some outstanding work and are touching many lives for good.   Likewise,  there are some people and causes that are deceptive in their use of gifts and/or who have a lot of administrative costs.     Give, my friends.   According to the Book of Acts, the only words of Jesus outside the gospels are found there in these words:  "It is more blessed to give than to receive."   Give, but give wisely.    Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall  

Prayer:     O God, I pray for those in need in our world.  Give me wisdom as I make decisions on those people and causes I will help;  in the name of  Christ our Lord.   Amen.   

Getting to Know You

My wife and I went to the theatre recently.   To be more specific, we went to see a production of the musical "The King and I" at the Belk Theatre in Charlotte.     While I had seen the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical production in movie form, I believe it was the first time I had seen it presented in the theatre.

As we see the story of Anna the English school teacher unfold in the musical as she teaches the children of the King of Siam, there is an occasion when she sings a song that includes these words:
Getting to know you,  
Getting to know all about you
Getting to like you
Getting to hope you like me. 

While I had heard the song before, the words of that song took on a new meaning that evening.    The words of that song say well what I hope happens in our relationship with God.   God knows you and I.   Our God knows all about us.   How wonderful for us to have the aim to  get to know God.   John 10:14 puts it this way:
I'm the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me.  

There are many voices that are competing for our attention in our world today.   With glitz and glitter, they tell us how good the causes they promote are.  Oh, to be able to hear "that still small voice" of God and to get to know God.     I believe that as we get to know God, something happens in us that changes us.  Later in the song "Getting to Know you", Anna puts it this way as she sings:
Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy?
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by Day.    

Have a blessed and joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God, you know me through and through.    Help me to know you more that I might be more like you;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

He Holds Our Hand

Our grandson, Julian, is progressing now  from crawling to be a toddler.  It is exciting for all of us as we watch him starting to walk.   While he still walks a few steps from parent to parent or couch to chair,  he still enjoys walking with someone holding his hand.

People hold hands for all sorts of reasons.  Let me share a few examples.    Worshippers hold hands in worship as a sign of unity and accord.   Couples hold hands as a way of affection for one another.  A newbie skater is glad to hold the hand of a veteran skater as they seek to maneuver around the skating rink knowing they need the help.    A few days ago, I held the hand of an elderly man who needed help getting up out of his chair.     From the cradle to the grave, people hold our hands and we hold the hands of people for all kinds of reasons.     I came across a passage about hand-holding in the Psalms the other day.   In Psalm 73, we read:

3 Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever.

How good it is to know that as we toddle along the road of life that God holds our hand.    His hand sometimes steadies us, often encourages us, and always guides and loves  us.     What a blessing it is also  to know that there are others along the way to hold our hand.  Thanks be to God.  Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   "Precious Lord, take my hand.  Lead me on help me stand.  I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.   Through the storm, through the night lead me on through the light.  Take my hand, precious Lord.  Lead me home."   Amen.   

A Pitcher, A Basin, and Towel

My wife and I went to a wedding in recent days.  There were present at the wedding many of the things that you commonly see at such events-  beautiful bridesmaids, an angelic  looking bride with a radiant smile,  a cute flower girl dropping flower petals down the center aisle of the church, handsome groomsmen,  a groom with both a  look of anticipation and nervousness across his face.    This wedding also featured something else that I have seen never at a wedding and very rarely in a worship service-  a basin, a pitcher, and a towel.   After the bride and groom exchanged their vows and rings,  they took turns sitting in a chair washing each others feet while a combination guitarist and soloist softly played and sung.   It was a beautiful act that added much to a wonderful occasion, and it was  a poignant reminder of some important lessons to me.

You may have heard the phrase "that is a horse of a different color".   Well, you might say that the Gospel of John is a gospel that is different not in color but substance  than Matthew, Mark, and Luke.   While Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus on the Lords Supper on the night that Jesus was betrayed,  John focuses on the fact that Jesus girds himself with a towel and (like a lowly slave and servant) washes the feet of his disciples.  John tells us that Jesus exclaims that "as I wash  your feet, so you are to wash one anothers feet".

In marriage and in life in Christ, we are called to serve each other.   It is not simply the woman serving the man a meal or clean clothes, but it is the husband and wife serving each other not for the sake of duty, but for the sake of love.   Marriage is not  about what I can get, but  what I can give.  And such is this nature of the life in Christ.   In this "what is in it for me" world,  perhaps the best of life is found not in how others serve us but in how we serve others.  

PRAYER:   O God, you sent your son Christ Jesus not to be served but to serve and to be a ransom for many.    Help us to die to self to live for you serving for Christ sake.  Amen.