Wayne’s Word
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Seeing the air conditioning van in our parking lot one more time, I was reminded of a story I heard once. A church was having air conditioning installed in the sanctuary and so the pastor was meeting with the contractor. The man asked the pastor a number of questions about the seating capacity, square footage, and usual attendance. In the midst of his calculations, he suddenly crumpled up the paper he was figuring on and started over. “What’s wrong?” Asked the pastor. “I was figuring for a theatre instead of a church,” replied the contractor. “What’s the difference? Wouldn’t they be the same?” “No not really,” answered the contractor. “You see, in a theatre with all that’s going on on the screen, there are certain biological changes that take place: heart rates are elevated, blood pressure increases, and the body temperatures begin to climb. In other words, there is a greater need for cooling when people get excited. On the other hand, “in church…..” Come on let’s get excited about our opportunity to worship God as we gather on Sunday
mornings.
He remembered the many stained glass windows which depicted the Christian saints so beautifully, and he said, “A saint is a person who lets the light shine through.” I wonder if there could be any greater definition of a saint in any theological book, than this little boy’s response. A saint allows the light of God to shine through their life. We can all be saints, not because of any amount of perfection in our lives, but because we let the light of God shine through us.Fifty-seven pennies that were found under a little girl’s pillow when she died left their mark on the city of Philadelphia. The girl wanted to enter a little Sunday school in Philadelphia years ago, and was told that there was not enough room. She began saving her pennies to “help Sunday school have more room”. Two years later she became ill and died, and they found a small purse under her pillow with fifty-seven pennies and a piece of paper that had the following note written very neatly: “To help build the little Temple bigger, so more children can go to Sunday school.” The pastor told the story to his congregation, and the newspaper took the story across the country. Soon the pennies grew, and the outcome can be seen in Philadelphia today. There is a church which will seat 3,000 persons, a Temple University which accommodates thousands of students, a Temple Hospital, and a large Temple Sunday school. And it all began with a beautiful, dedicated spirit----and fifty-seven pennies. If fifty-seven pennies can do all this, what can we do when we Somehow a parrot which belonged to the saloon keeper was left behind. On Sunday morning that colorful bird was watching from the rafters. When the minister appeared, he squawked, “New proprietor!” When the men who were to lead in worship marched, in the bird piped, “New floor show!” But when the bird looked out over the congregation, he screeched, “Same old crowd! Summer is here, and we all know how busy we can get. Places to go, and people to see, can really keep us on the move! In all our travels and in all our busyness let’s not forget that we cannot be too busy for God and God’s work! Let’s work hard to “crowd” the church this summer, and lets continue to invite others so that we wont be the “same old crowd.”
They were burying a rather unsavory character who had never been near a place of worship in his life. The services were being conducted by a minister who had never heard of him. Carried away by the occasion, he poured on praise for the departed man. After ten minutes of describing the late lamented as an exceptional father, husband, and boss, the widow, whose expression had grown more and more puzzled, nudged her son and whispered: “Go up there and make sure that is Papa in the box.” Have you ever wondered how your life as a Christian is seen by others? One of our members here at church always closes their letters with the words: “witness for Christ every day, use words if necessary.” Moses would come down from the mountain after being with God and his face would glow. The early Disciples of Christ were known, not for their words, but for the way they loved one another. What do our actions communicate about our faith? Are we living sermons for Jesus Christ? The season of Lent is fast approaching; Ash Wednesday will be February 17th. Let’s ask ourselves, do my actions portray what I profess to be true. If not, Lent is the season in the life of the church that affords us the opportunity to realign our actions with our words. We need to become what we profess! We need to live life in such a way that no one will have to come up to the box and see if it’s really us! Let’s spend this season in prayer, study, and worship, so that we might become the children of faith that God wants us to be!
One time a group of friends had driven to see some other friends who lived about fifty miles away. They had a great visit, but when it was time to leave, they discovered that the keys were locked in the car. None of them knew exactly what to do, so the driver had to call her husband, who had the spare key. When he received the call he was understandably annoyed.A few minutes later, one of the friends on a whim decided to try one of the back doors of the car. Sure enough, one was unlocked. The driver rushed back inside the house hoping to reach her husband before he left, but it was too late. “Wait till he sees this!” She said, “he’ll be more than upset”. One of her friends then asked, “What are you going to do now?” “What any red blooded American wife would do,” she replied, grinning. Then she walked out to the car, opened the back door, pushed down the lock button, and slammed the door shut! During the season of Lent, we are reminded of those moments in our lives when we have not been all that we should be. Lent is a season of reflection. A time for looking at whom we are as compared to the person that God would want us to be. We spend so much time attempting to cover up our mistakes and hiding our imperfections that we often lose sight of who God would want us to be. In this season of Lent, let’s unlock the doors, unpack our sins, and spend a season in repentance as we turn our sins over to God, and seek His forgiveness.
They were burying a rather unsavory character who had never been near a place of worship in his life. The services were being conducted by a minister who had never heard of him. Carried away by the occasion, he poured on praise for the departed man. After ten minutes of describing the late lamented as an exceptional father, husband, and boss, the widow, whose expression had grown more and more puzzled, nudged her son and whispered: “Go up there and make sure that is Papa in the box.” Have you ever wondered how your life as a Christian is seen by others? One of our members here at church always closes their letters with the words: “witness for Christ every day, use words if necessary.” Moses would come down from the mountain after being with God and his face would glow. The early Disciples of Christ were known, not for their words, but for the way they loved one another. What do our actions communicate about our faith? Are we living sermons for Jesus Christ? The season of Lent is fast approaching; Ash Wednesday will be February 17th. Let’s ask ourselves, do my actions portray what I profess to be true. If not, Lent is the season in the life of the church that affords us the opportunity to realign our actions with our words. We need to become what we profess! We need to live life in such a way that no one will have to come up to the box and see if it’s really us! Let’s spend this season in prayer, study, and worship, so that we might become the children of faith that God wants us to be! God's mercies, as the scripture says, are “new every morning.” God is all about new beginnings. Join with me as we walk forward leaving our past mistakes behind and moving forward into the gift of God’s new days! An old Portuguese story depicts a young Christian boy who is forced to beg on the streets of his village. One day the beggar boy is scorned and teased by a wealthy man’s son. “If God really loves you, why doesn’t he take better care of you? Why doesn’t He tell someone to send you a pair of shoes?” Sadly the boy replied, “I think God does tell people, but they aren’t listening.” As I’ve thought about this New Year that stretches out before us, I’ve just about
decided that my focus for 2010 needs to center around listening for God’s voice. Dr. Robert Hill, author of over forty books, tells of visiting Bangkok, Thailand, where he was invited to a special celebration given by the King and Queen. His Thai guide, a young man named Joseph, asked several questions as he drove them to the pavilion. He knew a little English and was delighted to carry on a conversation. When asked where the Hills lived, they told him Richmond Virginia. “Oh, you are a rich man?” asked the boy. Bob laughed and told him, “No,” he wasn’t rich. Bob recalled, “Then he asked if we owned an automobile and I told him we had two cars in our family. His next question was about our house where we lived. I told him it was a rather simple house with ten rooms. He was amazed at its size, especially when he related his family lived in just two small rooms.” “Then he asked about our family. We told him we had four healthy children, two in college and two still at home.” “Joseph was silent for a moment or so, then he replied, ‘you are a rich man.’ We laughed, but deep in our hearts we knew he was right, though we had never thought about it in those terms. We were rich. But were we thankful?” Are we? See you Sunday
Eight year old Frank had looked forward for weeks to this particular Saturday because his father had promised to take him fishing if the weather was good. There hadn’t been any rain for weeks, so you can imagine Frank’s downcast reaction when he awoke to find that it was raining on his fishing trip. All morning Frank wandered around the house peering out the windows and grumbling more than just a little bit. “Seems like the Lord would have known that it would be better to have rain yesterday than today,” he complained to his father who was sitting by the fireplace. His father tried to explain to Frank that the rain was needed on the farmers’ crops, and their own flowers. Frank responded with “it’s just not right, it’s just not right.” Finally, about three o’clock, the rain stopped. Still time for some fishing! The gear was quickly loaded and they were off to the lake. When they arrived at the lake and started fishing, the fish were biting hungrily. They returned home with a rather large string of fish. At supper, when some of the fish were ready, Frank’s mom asked him to say grace. Frank did and concluded his prayer by saying, “And, Lord, if I sounded grumpy earlier today it was because I couldn’t see far enough ahead.” One thing that we learn in our Christian faith is that we, like Frank, cannot see
far enough ahead to be able to see God’s whole plan for our lives. That would be troubling except for the fact
that God sees from the beginning of our lives to the end. While we don’t know when the rains will come, or when
they will cease, while we don’t know when the fish will bite or when we will hit a dry spell, what we do know is
that in our waiting we are never alone, and we are never far from our living God! So listen, watch and trust in
Him!
A man went to visit a psychiatrist. He told the doctor “look I’ve got two problems.” The psychiatrist said, “Okay, tell me all about your problems.” The man began, “Well first of all I think that I am a soft drink vending machine.” The doctor immediately began to counsel with his new patient. The appointment was almost up and the doctor had become truly exasperated with the patient, because nothing had helped. Finally, out of desperation the doctor, jumped to his feet, reached in his pocket, took out three quarters, and forced them down the man’s throat. Triumphantly, the doctor said, “Okay, now give me a drink!” The man chocked back a reply, “I can’t Doc. That’s my second problem; I’m out of order.” With all the news that we have heard and read lately, the amount of violence in our cities, conflicts all over the world, unrest and political turmoil, and too many other problems to even articulate, our world is, as it’s always been, a broken place. What can we do? Do we just hang up an “out of order” sign and go on with business as usual? Can we do anything at all? All hard questions that unfortunately I don’t have answers for. I do know this though; somehow the answer starts with me! I must live in the order
that God created, and I must, with my life, actions and words pass that order on to those who live around me!
A man was visiting his brother and sister-in-law and found his young nephew helping them bake cupcakes. The parents went into the living room and let the boy finish frosting the cupcakes by himself. When the boy finished, he brought the cupcakes into the living room and served them to his parents and his uncle. “These cupcakes look wonderful!” his uncle exclaimed. He then took a couple of more bites while looking at the other cupcakes. “And they are delicious too.” The boy's parents were still eating their first cupcake when the uncle had finished, so he took another. As he began his second cupcake, he thanked his nephew again and asked, “How did you get the icing to spread so smoothly?” His nephew answered, “I licked them.” So many times in life we find ourselves wishing that things would run just a little more smoothly. We encounter so many bumps and hills, so many cracks and crevices in life that we live in a continual state of being “all shook up.” As I read this story I realized that in order for things to be smooth in life, we've got to take our licking. We need the bumpy times; we need the uphill times in order to know when things are smooth! We need the rough to recognize the smooth. So just hang on, it might be rough now, but the smooth is on the way.
There was a mountain climber who fell and slid into a deep crevice. His friends lowered
a prop to him and said, “Grab hold of the rope!” I wonder how many times we miss hearing what God has to say for us because we are so busy talking to God, making sure that God understands exactly what we need. It is so important that as God's children we stop and take time to listen for His voice. By listening for God we can avoid a lot of the uh-oh of life!
At a tiny general store in the country the proprietor had a clerk who may have been
the laziest man who ever lived. One day a customer noticed that this clerk was nowhere to be found.
A woman invited some people to dinner. At the table she turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, “Would you like to day the blessing?” “I wouldn’t know what to say,” the little girl replied. “Just say what you hear Mommy say,” the mother said. The little girl bowed her head and said, “Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?” I sometimes wonder what people learn from us as they watch our actions and hear our words. Do we reflect the love of Christ in our everyday contact with our friends and neighbors? We must never forget that our everyday actions and words speak louder than our Sunday
actions!
Students of a Vacation Bible School class were asked to write down what they liked best about Vacation Bible School. One little boy, who also happened to be the pastor’s son, thought for a moment and remembered all the songs the class had sung during the week. His spelling was not as good as his memory, for he wrote, “The thing I like best about Vacation Bible School is the sinning.” It is that time of year again and we are anticipating a great turn out for this year’s “Camp Edge” edition of Vacation Bible School. VBS is one of the largest evangelistic endeavors that we undertake here at the church, and we put a lot of time, effort and planning in the week. We hope that each and every one of you will be in prayer for us as we teach all God’s little ones who come to us this week. We still have room for some more workers! If you can’t work, come by and check us out!
A man had just had his annual physical exam and was waiting for the doctor’s initial report. The doctor came in with his charts in his hand and said, “There’s no reason why you can’t live a completely normal life as long as you don’t try to enjoy it.” Summer is here and we all enjoy the more relaxed time that it brings with it! Summer is that time when we get out of our normal routines; it’s our time to visit relatives and friends that live far away. Summer is for vacations to the mountains and to the beaches, and other places that we enjoy. With all that summer brings we need to remember that while we take vacations from
jobs, schools, and normal routines, we must not take time off from building our relationship with God. In fact
summer may even afford us the opportunity to study, pray, and worship God in a new and exciting way!
At a church meeting a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith. “I’m a millionaire,” he said, “and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life. I remember that turning point in my faith. I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night. The speaker was a missionary who told about his work. I knew that I only had a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God’s work or nothing at all. So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man today.” He finished and there was an awed silence at his testimony as he moved toward his seat. As he sat down, a smallish, rather mature, lady sitting in the same pew leaned over and said to him: “I dare you to do it again.” We have just completed a very moving and successful revival! I believe that each of those who attended was blessed in as many ways as our man in the story above. The riches of God’s Spirit were in evidence all around us! Let us take the dare issued by the woman in our story seriously and open our hearts
and lives to God’s Spirit again, and again. |
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One nice morning two men were out fishing on a large lake. It was a beautiful morning,
seventy-eight degrees and sunny with a light breeze, and the fish were biting. They had caught their limit and
were enjoying the day. One fisherman noticed a man walking on the shore. He could not believe his eyes. He said
to his friend, “If I did not know any better, I’d say that was Jesus over there.” Jesus said, “Yes, of course, I’m good at that.” The man then asked Him to heal some chronic physical problems he had. Jesus touched the affected areas, and one by one each place was restored to health. The man never felt better. Jesus then looked to the other fisherman. The man’s eyes got wide, and he said, “Don’t you come near me. I’m on 100 percent disability.” During our revival Wesley has continually challenged us to give our all to God and to God’s kingdom. We have been challenged to allow God to touch us and bring us His grace, forgiveness, love, and healing. Let us heed God’s call, and let God touch our hearts and lives in a new and greater way! |
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There is a story about a family who had a treasure and it had been passed down through several generations. The treasure itself was an antique vase that had been kept on the mantel in the living room for many years. Of course, the vase was the center piece of family life and the story of the vase was told many times to each and every new family member. One day when the lady of the house came home, she was greeted by her daughter. The daughter said, “Momma, you know that vase that you told us has been passed down from generation to generation?” Her mother acknowledged that she did in fact know the vase that the little girl was talking about. “Well,” said the little girl, “this generation just dropped it!” I often think about the people who helped shape my life— men and women of faith, men and women of the church, men and women who took to heart the Great Commission of Christ! They spent their lives passing on the faith to those who would come after them. I hope and pray that our generation of Christians will be as faithful to that task, and not have to announce that we dropped our precious treasure! |
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Nancy and I really enjoyed our camping trip up to Gatlinburg a few weeks ago. It was one of the longest trips we have taken in the motor home so far. As we traveled across six different states we discovered more construction zones than we really care to remember. I cringed every time I saw the “begin construction”, and was elated each time I finally came to the “end construction” signs. As I thought about those signs, I wondered if maybe God ought to have some of those signs to hang on each one of us. I have been a “construction zone” for many years. God has been working, molding and shaping me into that person He would have me to be. We think it takes a long time to fix a road; God’s been working on us all our lives. Along those lines, what if we announced that ,for the time being, God’s construction in our lives was going to be halted. Would our friends say, “I didn’t know any construction was going on?” Let’s hang out the signs and let God do His work in us today! |
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