Telling the Story Again

 

A  few months ago, my wife Ann and I travelled  a few days away from our home  to visit the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.   Our eyes soaked up the beautiful vistas along the Blue Ridge Parkway… our bodies enjoyed the tranquil thrill of  biking along the Virginia Creeper Trail… and we enjoyed eating on roadside tables and uncrowded restaurants.   One day, we stopped at a restaurant we had visited on several occasions in the past.   Though it was lunch time, the restaurant was quite uncrowded.   A nice server took our order and brought it to us promptly and with a smile.   As is often the case, I struck up a conversation with our server who asked where we were from and a little about ourselves.   When I told the server I was a pastor, her eyes lit up and a big smile came across her face.   Shen then proceeded to share with Ann and I  how she had had a terrible auto accident many years ago and how God had saved her from the clutches of death.    She ended her story with telling us that her restaurant manager had given her blessing for her to share her  testimony and that her pastor encouraged her to do the same.

I left the restaurant that day with my belly filled with a great meal and my heart full of her testimony.   I kept turning over in my mind this question:   When was the last time that you shared your testimony with anyone?     50 years ago this month in the city of Burlington at a lay witness mission at a local church, I gave my life to Jesus Christ and asked him to be the Lord and Savior of my life.   That October weekend began a journey that led to ordained ministry and to the privilege to serve as a pastor to numerous churches across North Carolina.  

In the book of Acts, we read the story of the Damascus Road experience of the apostle Paul.  In Acts 9, we read about how Paul, a persecutor of Christian, met the Lord Jesus on the Damascus Road and was transformed into one who was zealous for sharing the good news of the grace that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ.     Though we hear the Damascus Road experience in Acts 9, Paul shares his testimony again Acts 22 and Acts 26.   When was the last time you told someone the story of what God has done and is doing in your life?     The story of how Christ Jesus could love a wretch like me is one that is worth telling over and over again?   Thanks be to God.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

 

PRAYER

O God,  I give you thanks for your saving grace that transformed my life long ago and is still at work in me.   Help me to tell that story through word and deed again and again; through Christ our Lord.   Amen. 

The Mystery of the Destination

 

            Every year, Ann and I take a few days of vacation that are cloaked in mystery.  We go on a trip, and Ann does not know  until we leave where we are going.  Ann tries to pry information about our destination out of friends or family , but they do not tell her (because they often do not know the destination either).           

            There are times and experiences in life  that we know we are going somewhere , but we don’t where to.  There have been a few times my son in law has gone on missions with the U.S. Army that he did not know his destination.  There have been times as a Methodist pastor that I knew that I was going to be serving a church, but I did not know the name of the church or its location. 

            Life in general and the Christian life in particular is sometimes cloaked in mystery.    Though we have our plans for the day and goals for our life, we never know for certain what each day holds for us or what will unfold in our life.  In Hebrews 11:8, we read these words about Abraham,  “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”   None of us knows for sure who will cross our path today, what will happen this evening,  or what tomorrow will bring.  So, we live by faith trusting in the God we know amid the many, many things we do not know.  Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall    

PRAYER

O God,  we are grateful that even though we do not know the twists and turns of our future, we know you.  Give us faith and trust in you as we face days ahead.    Amen. 

I Am Voting For...

 

As I  would suspect most of you know, we have an election in a few weeks here in North Carolina and the USA.    It is hard to miss that fact if you read the newspaper… go on a social media site… ride in your car down a major highway… or open your mail.     Candidates at the local, county, state, and national level are selling themselves and their plans in hopes of  getting our vote. 

From a biblical perspective, we find little help in choosing who to vote for.   When we open the Old Testament, we see that God chose the  leadership for Israel (e.g. Samuel, Saul).   In the New Testament, we see that Jesus chose the disciples after deep prayer and that the “replacement disciple” for Judas was chosen by the casting of lots.   We do find  in I Timothy 3: 1-7  this guidance for the choosing of overseers (or bishops):

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. ² Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full^[a] respect. ⁵ (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. ⁷ He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

There have been times through the years when people have sought my counsel as a pastor about who to vote for.   Though I have my opinions and do vote and will note,  I always choose not to come down on the side of any particular party.     I  remind you that while much attention may focus on candidates for national office or state office, choose carefully those who you elect on the local level.   They serve in important positions also.  For example, it is the county commissioners in NC that determine your property tax each year.  I will encourage you to do what I do as you prepare to vote by doing the following:

PRAY-    In the gospel of Luke, we see that Jesus spent the night in prayer before he chose his disciples.   Spend time in prayer asking God to  guide you as you vote.  

STUDY-  Study the stances of the candidates on the issues that are close to your heart.   Be careful about just voting for a candidate because of their stance on one issue.   Try to discover their stances and plans beyond what you might see on a 60 second television ad or on social media.    Try to discover not just what the candidates are against, but also what they are.   Be an informed voter. 

ASK YOURSELF-  Ask yourself some questions after you study such as the following:   Does this candidate have a servants  heart?    Are they eager to serve all the people or more interested in what their election might mean for themselves  and their donors?   Does this candidate have a character that your children or grandchildren can look up to?

PRAY SOME MORE-  Once the election is over, pray some more.   Pray for those who are elected as they face the tasks before them.   It is huge task being an elected official these days and they will need God’s help to do it well.   Pray also  for yourself and for  our country that we might be united as citizens behind these newly elected or re-elected officials. 

Have a joy-filled week and best wishes to all the candidates.-  Pastor Randy Wall 

 

PRAYER

Lord, I offer prayers for our community, state, and nation during this election season.    Give us eyes and a heart to see who the candidates really are and to vote accordingly.   God bless us in these days;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.   

A Fall to Remember

 

            I feel so blessed to live in my home state of North Carolina.  Though I have had the privilege to travel to some beautiful places, there is no place any more beautiful than the Tar Heel state.  Part of the beauty we have here in North Carolina is that we truly experience all the seasons.  I love all the seasons, but the season of Fall is my favorite.

            When Fall brings a chill in the air and  the color of the leaves start to change, it calls me to remember.    I especially remember when the month of October turns the calendar.  Two big things happened in my life in October:  I gave my heart to Jesus Christ and I began to give my heart to my wife, Ann, as I fell in love with her.    When the leaves change in October, I remember that Jesus changed my heart.  When the Fall chill in the air comes, I remember how my heart was warmed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

            I encourage you to remember what Christ has done in your life. Remember your conversion and give thanks to God.  One of the ways we remember our conversion is through telling others what Christ has done in our life.    In the Book of Acts, we hear about Paul’s conversion on the Damascus Road in Acts 9.  In Acts 22, we hear the apostle Paul tell of his conversion to the people at Jerusalem.   Telling others about what Christ has done in our life is something that is fitting whatever the season.   -   Pastor Randy Wall     

PRAYER

            Lord, I offer prayers of thanksgiving for saving me from my sins and for the people that told me about you.   Help me to remember to tell others about what you have done in my life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

The Man Asleep ON My Car

 

Having lived several decades and lived and served as a pastor in many places, there are many memorable Sunday mornings.   I recall one Sunday morning when I came out of the parsonage to head to the church as I readied for the church activities of the day when I saw something I had never seen before  and something that I have never seen since:   a man asleep on the hood of my car parked in the driveway.   Please understand that the man was not asleep IN my car, but the man was asleep ON my car

I did not  know what to do.  Was the man dead or was he just asleep?   Should I call the police or simply try to arouse him from his slumber?     I chose the latter, and the good news is that he gradually woke up.   As I got closer to the nocturnal visitor, I discovered that he had a strong  smell of alcoholic beverages on him.   As he woke, he looked at me with embarrassment as he realized that I was the pastor.  Slowly, he stumbled to his feet and slowly walked to the mobile home nearby that he called home.   This man and I continued to see each other in our comings and goings.   We would throw up a hand  at each other and we both went to and fro, but we never talked about the event on that Sunday morning.   The best that I could figure is that he was so drunk the night before that he mistakenly thought when he arrived at the parsonage that he was home. 

Sometimes, people find themselves in the wrong place just as that drunken man at the parsonage many years ago.   In Luke 15, we hear about a man that wakes up one day and realizes he was in the wrong place.   This prodigal son had gone away from home with hopes that life was better there.    Though he left with his pockets full of his Dad’s money, one day he woke up to find his friends far away and so was his money.   He had not only wasted his money, but found himself wasting his life and heading in the wrong direction.  He decided he would return to his father.  

Have you ever found yourself in the wrong place in your life?   Have you ever woke up perhaps not in a drunken stupor, but to realize that you are on a dead end street?  Like that man who woke from the hood of my car long ago, you can always head home to the Father who you will find anxiously waiting to tell you “welcome home”.     Have a joy-filled week!-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER :     O God,  we give you thanks for your love that receives your wayward children and loves them that we know in your son Jesus Christ.   Help us to turn to you;  through Christ our Lord.   Amen.   

A World Filled with Books

 The summer months are traditionally a time when students set their books aside and enjoy activities like swimming.  When I was growing up, my Mom thought it important that my brother and I go to the local library during the summer to check out some books to maintain our reading skills.   It was through the books that I read during those summer days that I gained a love for reading that continues to this day.  

The Gospel of John is a different book of the Bible.   You might have heard the saying that “that is a horse of a different color.”  Well, it is fair to say that the gospel of John is a different gospel than Matthew, Mark, and Luke.    The other  day, I was thinking about books and I thought of the final words of the gospel of John.   In John 21:  24-25 we read:

²⁴ This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.   ²⁵ Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

            I was always amazed at the number of books in my local library when I was a child when I compared it to the number of books in our home.    There are lots of books that are in print in our world today.   Visit one of the book stores at your local mall or go out on an internet site that sells books and look at all the books there are.   Oh, just to imagine that that all the books in the world are not enough to write down all the good and glorious things that the Lord Jesus Christ did and is still doing in our world today.    What a mighty Savior and what a great God we serve.  Have a joy-filled week!-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER :     O God,  we give you thanks for the fact that you are still working in the world today.   Give us eyes to see your mighty works and hands and hearts eager to be instruments of your love;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen. 

My Ten Cents Worth

If you travel to the beach in the Wilmington area, you probably will see the USS North Carolina along the highway just outside of town.   When I was in the first grade, the campaign began to try to bring the USS North Carolina back to the Tar Heel state instead of selling it for scrap metal.   As I recall, the late Hugh Morton was one of the leaders in the fund raising campaign.  I am certain that there were persons and companies that gave large sums of money to bring the USS North Carolina home.  However, I am also certain that there were  persons that gave small sums of money because  I was one of those persons.  If my memory is correct, I gave a grand total of ten cents to the USS North Carolina fund-raising campaign by collecting discarded soft drink bottles along the roadside and getting money for the bottles  at the store.

            Deuteronomy 16: 17 says, “Every one shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you.”   Some can give large gifts of money, and others give small gifts of money.  What I know is if all of us will simply give as we are able, then God can take it and use it for His honor and his glory.      Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall 

PRAYER

            O God, we give thanks that the Lord Jesus gave the greatest gift he could give for our salvation- His very life.   Stir in our hearts that we might always give as we are able to the work of your Kingdom;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.