With measles making a comeback in many upper-income countries including the United States and still rampant in some poorer nations such as Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar, a leading measles expert is warning of a danger beyond the spread of the disease itself: There’s mounting evidence that when a person is infected with measles, the virus also wipes out the immune system’s memory of how to fight off all sorts of other life-threatening infections – ranging from gastro-intestinal bugs that cause diarrhea to respiratory viruses that trigger pneumonia. From WFDD Radio
I
know that many churches have renewal and revival services. Some last all week,
while others have them over a weekend. A special speaker is chosen who will
bring a fresh perspective to the congregation. It’s a time when we can stop and
take a spiritual inventory and work on rekindling the fire of our faith.
Last
weekend we had a special speaker at our church. I had been looking forward to
his coming. We’ve had him before and he is so refreshing, encouraging,
challenging, and inspiring. He helps stir up our faith, and makes us reconsider
our priorities. He makes me want to draw closer to God.
We
had two sessions with him on Saturday, and then he led the service on Sunday
morning. In one way, it doesn’t seem like much time, but in another, he
deposited so much in us. I have reviewed my notes and listened to some of the
messages again because there is much more than you can grasp in one sitting.
We
got the chance to talk over the weekend, and he picked up on something that I
didn’t realize about myself. He said that I was a detail person. I like
specifics and want to know everything. At one point while he was teaching he
was covering some detailed background to his story and he looked over at me and
said, “You must be loving this.” I was eating it up. He shared details about
relationships and places from the scripture that I found completely
fascinating.
Throughout
the whole weekend he shared some insights and perceptions he felt from the Lord
about our church and its place in our community. That’s something we all need
to realize, that God has a specific purpose for our church to fulfill in the
community. Then to take it a little deeper, what is our individual role in fulfilling
our church’s purpose? When God calls us to attend a specific church, then He
has a reason for us to be there.
When
we get the chance to attend a conference, we have to work to protect the seed
that was sown. The enemy wants us to quickly forget what we learned and return
to our routines. That means we have to reflect on what we heard and figure out
how to apply it.
In
our conference we learned that the purpose of a church is to help raise up the
next generation. God wants us to grow in our faith and trust in Him. He wants
us to draw closer and to open our hearts to His great love. But He also wants
us to find a way to reach the next generation with the Good News of his gospel.
To
me that means we have to look around and ask, “Are we attracting the younger
generations to our church?” Consider where you go to church. Do you have young
families that attend? If not, how can you pass the torch to someone who isn’t
there? We may have to consider doing somethings differently in order to attract
them.
I
know that thought may be unpleasant. I understand; I don’t like change either.
But if what we are doing now doesn’t bring in the next generation, how are we
going to pass on what we have learned about God? Some churches offer different
services with different formats to meet the various needs. That’s great. The
only question that lingers in my mind is how will the older generation pass on
their wisdom if they never meet the younger generation?
The
solution is… I don’t know. How do we reach the lost and disengaged? All of us
have relatives who are unreached. Don’t we want a local church to reach out to
them with the love of God? We have to realize that others are praying for us to
reach out to their family members who aren’t saved. If what we are currently
doing is not reaching out to the lost, then we have to change, to do something
that will attract them.
I
want to encourage you to consider how you came to know the Lord. Most of us
would have to admit our lives were in a mess. That’s where God chose to meet
us, when we were at our worst. So, in order to reach the lost, we are going to
have to open our hearts in a different way to receive the broken, discouraged,
the hurting, and those who have all kinds of problems. Jesus came for them and
He wants to use us. They will be the ones who will carry the torch into the
future.
Happy Happy Joy Joy! My new novel The Weakest Reed
is about to be released on Amazon! I hope you love it! So many things
happened to prevent the publishing. But the Lord graciously did for me
what I could not do on my own. I love His kindness! If you’d like to
read a snippet, see below or go to Amazon. If you buy the printed
version the ebook is free. As always, I really appreciate your
encouraging comments, likes and shares, and especially your reviews.
They’re so important! Thank you! Can’t wait to hear what you think!
Here’s a preview:
There once was a lovely girl who was the delight of her parents. She
was obedient almost to a fault. Often we wondered if she’d ever think
for herself. When she finally did, one poor choice changed the entire
direction of her life.
As her father I watched helplessly as she struggled to overcome the
odds. Her natural personality as an introvert became exaggerated. Fear
took over and became her closest companion. Seldom did she smile and
rarely would she leave the house.
So we prayed.
Night and day her mother and I lifted our daughter up to the Lord.
She seemed broken beyond repair. I held tightly to a promise in
Scripture and did my best to believe it.
“He will not crush the weakest reed nor put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.” –Isaiah 42:3
When Heidi Weston had a serious accident with her horse, she
thought she’d never have horses in her life again… until she met Trusty
the miniature horse.
The first time Trusty, a miniature horse, went to a memory care facility, he went over to a woman with dementia. From KUOW.ORG
I have lived on a
farm nearly all my life. Born into a small dairy farm family, I now own another
small farm. One constant in all that time has been chainsawing trees. When I
was small, I remember my dad using a chainsaw but I also remember him trying to
cut down trees using a two man saw. If you haven’t seen one, the thing has two big
wooden handles, giant teeth and preferably two men to pull it back and forth to
eventually fell a tree. It doesn’t work as well with a grown man and a spindly
kid.
When I was in
college and shortly after, I spent several years cutting trees to sell firewood
for extra money. It was a lucrative side job and as you might have guessed, I
loved the exercise involved. Sawing the tree down, cutting it into certain
lengths, manually splitting the thicker pieces, and loading trucks for delivery
had a certain manly appeal.
On my farm now,
occasionally trees fall and need to be cut up. I know of two along the creek
that need attention now. A least a couple saws are usually ready to get some
action. Almost never do I cut a tree that is healthy. Most of my experience has
to do with trees that need to come down or have fallen on their own.
Such was the case
with one certain pecan tree on Millbridge Road this morning. The tree had
outgrown its area and a portion of it was hanging over the owner’s house. She
called and wanted me to take it down, so I went early last Sunday to check it
out. Just a little touchy in spots on whether the falling tree would hit the
house, I planned to use experience, a quality helper, a good saw, a tractor and
a stout rope to make sure the tree didn’t damage the house.
Yes, I’ve taken
down trees that worry me before. One of the most interesting situations involved
a good-sized tree that likely would fall on an ex-mother in law’s house. I
thought I could take it down safely and she and her husband didn’t want to pay
the high price of a tree company. And the biggest thing—I wanted the challenge
to get it down.
Licensed tree removal companies should have
insurance to cover the damage of a mistake. A farmer with a tractor, a saw and
some rope likely doesn’t. But the price is right. That was the situation this
Saturday morning as I started removing low hanging limbs about 8am. My nephew
joined me about 10am as we used a tractor and front end loader to take off some
limbs that would counterbalance the way I wanted the tree to fall.
With all that
done, one major limb still hung over the house and could spin the tree once it
started to fall. With the rope tautly stretched to the tractor and my nephew
set to pull it north as it started to fall, I circled the tree a couple times
to make sure where I wanted to cut next. The base of the tree was about 17
inches thick, meaning that the 20 inch bar would be almost fully in use.
I took time for
prayer twice during this adventure, just to ask for God’s to help me make the
right decisions. At the last minute, I changed positions to cut from the uphill
side of the tree. The saw ran perfectly and hit the pre-cut notch just right
while the rope and tractor pulled forward after I signaled my nephew to do his
part.
I run for fun and
my heart is used to a good workout. Once I saw the chainsaw cut start widening,
I knew the tree was slowly starting to fall. We had already cleared out good
exit routes in case the tree twisted as it fell. I jumped up and ran up uphill,
then turned to see the tree fall perfectly as was planned.
My heart was
pounding, but all was well. Faith in my own experience and equipment, but a
much greater faith in the power of prayer helped me to move forward. Similar
situations occur often in life. Trust yourself and then trust God more. Move
forward, dream and then be encouraged to achieve. You can do it with God’s
help.
So funny. I was in the grocery store and there was a man standing at
the back of the store – with maybe 5 items in his buggy. He was talking
on the phone. As I walked by, I heard him say in an irritated voice,
“I’m IN the checkout line right now, but I will get OUT of line and go
back and get IT for you!” (You can hear that tone of voice as you read,
can’t you?)
Now, the man was nowhere near the checkout line and he knew I heard
him, but all I got when we made eye contact was an irritated look to go
along with the irritated voice. I, however, smiled brightly, and came
very close to laughing. Oh, the wife (my assumption) was going to
receive the item she had called him about, but he WAS going to make sure
that she knew that he did NOT want to go ALL THE WAY to the other side
of the store to get it. This is not what I would describe as a LABOR OF
LOVE. Yes, he was willing to labor, but he was not showing the love.
The reality of my grocery store visit insight was that it brought me
to a place where I examined my labor. Is it a labor of love or is it
just labor? Does my conversation and demeanor show that I am laboring in
love? Or, does my conversation and demeanor show that- yes, I labor for
others, but I want to be sure they know how hard it is for me? Good
question.
Where can we show our labor of love? Children, spouse, family,
friends, the workplace, home, community, organizations, the church… In
general, it is anywhere that we spend our time. Labor can be done with a
spirit of love and purpose, or it can be done with a spirit of
negativity. (Yes, ‘negativity’ is exemplified by the guy in the grocery
store.) And, those we labor for can usually discern the spirit that we
labor in….
God’s Word gives us great insight about our labor:
*Power of Labor- Ephesians 4:28 – Let him labor, work with his hands
the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
(Yes, our labor helps us help others.)
*Promise of Labor- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 – Remembering without ceasing
your work of faith and labor of love. Matthew 11:28 – Come unto me all
that labor and I will give you rest. (Yes, our labor of love will be
remembered and God will give us rest.)
*Profit in Labor- Proverbs 14:23 – In all labor, there is profit. 2
Thessalonians 3:10 – If a man will not work, he shall not eat. (These
two verses are pretty clear.)
*Prayer is Labor- Colossians 4:12 – Epaphras always labored fervently
in prayer for others. (Let’s not forget to labor in prayer.)
I love the story where a little boy was carrying a heavy load of
books. When the load became too heavy, he dropped them. His dad reached
down, picked the books up, and put them back in his son’s arms. He then
picked up his son and carried him. That is the same way God works in our
lives as we labor. We may become weak, but that is when He actually
makes us strong.
No, the ‘wife’ did not know that her husband was not already in the
checkout line when she called, but she did know that he was not happy
about having to pick up an additional grocery item for her. Dear man in
the grocery store, here is a better response: “Yes, I’ll get it.”
Translation: I love you, and I will show it- as I labor in love for you.
Now that I think about it, do we even need to call it labor? Let’s just call it love.
