Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Encourage One Another



“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
 but let us encourage one another—all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

The writer to the Hebrews advises his readers to stay in the habit of meeting with like-minded believers in worship. He instructs his readers, then and now, to both encourage others and gain encouragement by being together in worship and in learning situations devoted to the Lord.

He gives us reason to establish this practice:
· Time of Christ’s return is coming soon. We need to be ready.
· Our presence in worship gives us strength to face the future.
· Our presence encourages others who may be going through a hard time.

We live in a fallen world. We need to connect with the LORD to guide us through.

graphic:people.opposingviews.com

Monday, May 19, 2014

Bittersweet Moments




“Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.”
Ps.116:15 (NIV)

One of my closest friends, Martha, called early Sunday afternoon. She had stayed the night at the nursing home. She received a telephone call last Monday that her sister was heading into the very last phase of her life. Sunday’s call to me was to tell me her sister had passed.
I called our mutual friend, Ginny, who is our pastoral assistant. My purpose was to communicate our friend’s need of prayer. As I conversed with Ginny, I realized I experienced a quiet joy for our friend’s sister and yet sadness for my friend and her daughters. 
After Hubby and I had lunch, I had a graduation Open House to go to. The grandson of another close friend graduated from high school on Saturday. That friend and her family have known and worshipped with Martha for a long time. I wanted to insure that they received the prayer call about Martha’s loss.
As I sat in our living room making initial input I reflect on times when we had suffered a loss of a loved one. When my dad passed on, I found a poem by John Donne that summed up my feelings. I always remember the main thought of these lines-We all are impacted by the loss of a life because our lives intertwine with those we meet as we walk this earth.
  
'No Man is an Island'

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne

graphic: alighthouse.com

God Alone

  Jesus and the children at our church's prayer walk.          I will both lie down in peace and sleep;  For You alone, O LORD make ...