The Days of Our Lives

Greetings!

It has been another amazing week at FUMC! Our Children and Family Ministry team has done an outstanding job with Vacation Bible School. We have 69 children enrolled and 72 active volunteers! I now understand the deep emotion of Paul when he said to the church in Corinth "Every time I think of you—and I think of you often!—I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There's no end to what has happened in you—it's beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives." (1 Corinthians 1:4-6, The Message)

That is the exact emotion that springs up in my heart when I think about YOU and the ministry you are called to provide in our community! Praise be to the Lord!

Lately, we have been talking a great deal about God's call on our lives to serve Him with our gifts and talents. Our church continues to respond in amazing ways. If you are still on the fence about whether you have the time or the gifts to serve, may the reflection below be a challenge and an encouragement to you today.

There is a story of an old mountaineer and his wife. They were sitting in front of the fireplace one evening just whiling away the time. After a long silence, the wife said: “Jed, I think it’s raining. Go outside and check, will ya?” The old mountaineer continued to gaze into the fire for a second, sighed, then said, “Aw Ma, why don’t we just call in the dog and see if he’s wet.”

Sounds like one of my responses. There are times that we have a tendency to get lazy, don’t we? We want to do only what we need to and that transfers over, quite frequently, to our spiritual lives. At least I know it has for me. I have to pray that God helps me overcome my desire to be lazy in my physical life because it tends to easily influence my spiritual life as well.

I am reminded of John Wesley, the Father of Methodism. He traveled 250,000 miles on horseback, averaging twenty miles a day for forty years. He preached 4,000 sermons, produced 400 books, and learned ten languages. At age 83, he was annoyed that he could not write more than fifteen hours a day without hurting his eyes. At age 86, he felt ashamed he could not preach more than twice a day. He complained in his diary that there was an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning.

In comparison to John Wesley, my life is rather calm. It is not that we need to add more to our lives and get as busy as we can. The blessing comes with how we spend our lives. Do we spend it on ourselves or in service to God? There is much to do for the Kingdom today — none of us should be bored! Let’s get up and do something for God today, and tomorrow, and throughout every season God’s blesses us with. There’s so much work to be done!! Will you join me?

God, You and You only have created every aspect of my life. You alone know the days of my life. Protect me from apathy and laziness. Challenge me to use my days and the time you grant me for Your purposes and for the building up of Your Kingdom. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Take Care & God Bless,

Pastor Don