It's Not All About Me - by Sally Boswell

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, said the lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”   Isaiah 55:8

If I have learned anything from my first year of halfway being in the real world at college, I have learned how easy it is to focus on myself. Everyone is constantly worrying about being successful and making a difference, myself included. Actually just before I sat down to write this, I took a nap and had a dream that I wasn’t involved enough around campus to be successful!

I have also learned that, debatably, being seen as a Christian (going to church, posting scripture on Facebook, etc.) often fits into the narrative society draws of a well-rounded, successful individual. I do not think this is bad; it definitely encourages more people to be in spaces that glorify God. However, the reason we go to church and identify as Christians is to seek a relationship with God, not to make other people think we have our life together.

We are not called to worry about if other people think we are impressive, and we are not even called to worry about what our lives will look like in ten years. As Luke 10:27 says, we are called to love the LORD our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and all our mind and to Love our neighbors as ourselves. Furthermore, we are called to stop worrying!

God is capable of far more than we can wrap our minds around, so why worry? Seek a relationship with Him because you love Him, not because you live in constant fear of how you are perceived. Once you know Him, it will be so much easier to worry less, to focus less on yourself, and to give more of yourself to others. The love of Jesus Christ lives in each and every one of us; living out that love is the only place our focus should be. 

I Grew Up in a Railroad Town - by Walt Brehm

Scripture for today – Matthew 25:37-40; 45 (NIV)

³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”  ⁴⁰The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”     ⁴⁵ He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” 

     I grew up in a railroad town in northeastern Pennsylvania in the late forties through the fifties and into the early sixties. This was well past the heyday of hobos but especially in the early years there still were itinerant workers who moved from place to place by hopping freight trains and our house was within easy walking distance of the railroad yards.   Although I have vivid memories of this happening only twice, conversations with my siblings lead me to believe it was not uncommon for one of these men, being hungry and without resources, to come to our back door and ask for food.  The memory of my mom making a sandwich and pouring a steaming cup of coffee for a man in need was burned into my soul at an early age.  This act of obedience is something she learned from her parents during her childhood.   This is something I try to practice and hopefully have passed on to my daughter. 

     St Paul United Methodist Church offers multiple opportunities for us not to seek our salvation but to demonstrate it.  Back pack buddies; the hopefully only temporarily suspended, Living Well Ministries; The Lord is My Help; Seashore Missions.   I have found that my participation in these activities has helped me far more than those whom I have served.

Prayer – Our Father in Heaven, we praise your holy name.  We thank You for the opportunities You provide for us to be Your agents here on earth to bring physical and spiritual recovery to Your hurting children.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  AMEN

                      

Thought for today – “If not me, then who?”

I Ask Thee Not to Do But to Be - by Gwenda Wells

Go into all the world and preach the gospel.

For years I had been a Radio Gospel announcer in Pascagoula MS at 1580 AM.  On Sunday mornings the D&D Gospel Hour came on at 5:30 a.m., different groups had thirty minute sessions until 12 noon when First Baptist church of Pascagoula was turned on which turned my session off.  I truly enjoyed the years that I served as an announcer.  I received many engagements to serve as Master of Ceremony, speaker at anniversaries, plays and programs. 

While enjoying the golden opportunities, life was gracefully moving forward with living life, rearing my five sons, participating in school activities, church youth group, morning devotion before the school bus arrived, and Bible study around the dining room table after school. 

The time arrived that my duties had to change due to my financial status.  I found myself working in Security on Sunday mornings at a gate called D-Dock for Friede Goldman Inc.  My question was, “Lord, I thought You called me to the pulpit?”  The response was, “This is the pulpit, over five hundred men will come through this gate every Sunday morning, who will not go to a building that is called the church.  Your life will preach my word, you stand and shine and I will do the rest.  Sunday after Sunday for eight months I watched so many lives change without even quoting verses as I usually did, telling stories from the Bible and sharing His promises.

Heavenly Father,

            Please order my footsteps in Your way, demonstrate through me the nine fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.

Hope in God - by Donna Lewis, Social Worker LCSW

I was born to a family with generational abuse.  My mother's father at age 14 was sold by his father to a man he owed a debt to in Wisconsin.  He escaped to New Orleans where he met and married my grandmother.  Their daughter met and married my father the oldest son of a sharecropper.   He was physically and emotionally abused by his impulsive and cruel father who used religion to justify his behaviors. 

My father, a veteran and good provider, inherited his bad temper so as children we learned to fear him.   So it is completely understandable why my mother fearing that my father would become vigilante, told me to not tell anyone when I reported to her at age 12 that I was being molested by my father's brother.  I prayed and asked God to stop the circumstances.  My uncle was drafted and sent to Vietnam. 

I felt very alone and abandoned.  At church the pastor began to talk about childhood sexual abuse.  My heart leapt.  You mean there were others like me?!?!   The sorrow returned when he closed with, "this only happens in other religions not in our church".  Again I was unseen and unheard.  Did God see me as damaged also? 

I had difficulty concentrating in school.  I blamed myself.  I believed I was damaged and unlovable.  I continue to pray.  I continued to read the scriptures.  As a teenager reading about Joseph ,  a part of Genesis 50: 20   came very much alive. " You planned evil against me.  God planned it for good." This gave me hope!   I knew then that I had a purpose.  I could and would be a strength in God's hands.  "All things work to the good for those who love the Lord”  Romans 8:28. 

I made many bad choices and I learned and grew just like Jesus did.   " He learned obedience through the things he suffered" Hebrews 8:5.  After a divorce to an abusive man, my son and I relied on second Corinthians 12: 9 “My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness.”.  I entered USM school of social work specializing in trauma recovery. 

Today God has used my weakness to be my strengths.  Children and adults who have suffered or are suffering abuse are comfortable speaking with me.  I understand what they feel because I have experienced it.   The Spirit of Lord is working through me.   American Standard Version Genesis 50:20  And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.   I have been blessed greatly as the things that I suffered have now become my strengths.   The word of God lives in me.

Taste and See - by Rev. Dr. Rick Brooks

“It is good, so very good, to experience the quiet ministry of the living spirit of the living God.”  - Howard Thurman

1 Peter 2:2-3 reads, “As newborn babies, long for the spiritual milk, the real stuff, not watered down. That is what will make you grow up to salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Peter is actually quoting Psalm 34:8: “Taste and see,” says the Psalmist, “that the Lord is gracious.” Then, like a newborn baby who has tasted his mother’s milk, you will want more. And more.

Who can fail to comprehend this simple picture? We are to yearn for the ministry of God’s Spirit the way a newborn yearns for nourishment.

Nothing else will satisfy. Nothing else comes close.

“My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Psalm 84: 12).

Our souls hunger for what only God can satisfy. As St. Augustine famously said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

He alone holds what we need.

Here’s the thing, the Lord waits upon us to be gracious and give us what we most need. But we have this propensity to forget that very thing – and to forget him, and to starve ourselves. The question of why we do this is one of the great sermons you will no doubt get to hear if you keep coming to St. Paul (wink, wink). For now, let us diligently agree that it doesn’t have to be this way.

One of the primary ways we receive the goodness of the Lord is through prayer. But prayer, communion with the Divine Lover of our souls, is not limited to one kind of habit or method – not by any means.

Just as we are not all wired the same way, some of us find certain ways of praying more helpful than others. Some of you may drink in the goodness of God by quietly reading and studying the word. Others find that a meditative walk on the beach, or gently moving in another area of God’s creation, opens up a pathway to the peace and assurance of God.

I have heard that some like to knit, keeping the hands busy so that the body’s somewhat engaged, freeing the mind and spirit to receive the presence of the Lord God. Others encourage their own spirits to tune in to the divine dimension while the body engages in yoga poses. For that matter, why not simply sit down in quiet and taste and drink in the goodness of the Lord with your coffee or tea?

Taste and see that the Lord is good! As the old commercial put it: It doesn’t get any better than this.

“It is good, so very good, to experience the quiet ministry of the living spirit of the living God”

Vine to Vine - by Barbara Lemon

Express:

The idea of how I enter situations and the attitude in which I carry , has been an area in which God placed on my heart to search and examine.       

In this life we are on the move, in our hearts, our minds and of course the physical journey that I would say is one of perpetual motion.   I, like many of us, wake up feeling one way and throughout the day this can take on changes, and by the end can look totally different.

I know who I was this morning but I've changed a few times since then. - Alice in Wonderland

As I am a spirit of wondering thoughts, I am often tempted to jump from one topic to another in a matter of seconds.  When I remember I am God created, I can be more forgiving of myself,  but also humored by the fact,  that my "monkey brain" can leave many dazed and confused as it does myself sometimes.

Explore:  

"I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.- John 15:5

As I am stirred often by others words of influence, I have discovered I can simply take a word or phrase that was directed for one particular situation and apply it to other areas of my life.  The phrase I heard recently was from a preacher speaking on the subject of marriage.  He asked the question, "what have you killed lately based on your reactivity?"  

As I  proceed into my day, the reality is that all my interactions are subject to "reactivity".  I have never been convinced that I would set out to kill, steal or destroy, I mean that is the enemies job, right?  But,   I do have to ask myself when or how have I responded to another, in word or action, where I put them on defense or hit on a nerve leaving someone else's heart on a path of negativity.  My response to others is often a gauge of the attitude in my heart.  I can sometimes be found swinging from vine to vine in my thoughts, as well as my heart.  If I miss out on abiding in Christ, this most important vine, than my reactivity will miss the mark and produce nothing good in me or in those I am around.  It has clearly been a learning journey of how I alone, become less productive and more destructive, and proving the futility of self-reliance. 

I am so thankful, how God reminds me time and time again,   He that is in me is Greater, for I alone can not produce that good stuff, that good reaction, that good fruit.

Embrace:

My challenge as I embrace this journey, is that I will cling to the vine of Him who is greater, and trust He will guide my reactivity into a victory.  I would love for my reactions to be that which produces lasting fruit…. this is how I desire to enter situations, in all my moments that make up my day from portal-to-portal.

Have You Given Your All? - by Rev. Tom East

Read: Psalm 54:4-7

I will sacrifice to you freely; I will give thanks to your name, Lord,

because it is so good    Psalm 54:6

During his reign, King Frederick William III of Prussia found himself in a bind.  Wars had been costly, and in trying to build the nation, he was seriously short of finances.  After careful reflection, he decided to ask the women of Prussia if they would bring their jewelry of gold and silver to be melted down for their country.  Each piece of jewelry he received, he would exchange for a decoration of bronze or iron as a symbol of his gratitude.  These decorations would be inscribed, ‘I gave gold for Iron, 1813.’

The response was overwhelming.  But more importantly, the women prized these gifts from the king even more highly than their former jewelry!  The reason of course was clear.  They were proof that they had sacrificed for their king.                                      .

When we come to know our King Jesus, we, too should want to exchange the flourishes of our former life for Him. The amazing thing about our King Jesus is that He not only takes our jewels but He takes our rags too -- and uses them for the good of His Kingdom!

Perhaps there are some things we need to sacrifice to him today. Let's pray and ask for His revelation. There are great things awaiting those who give out of gratitude for what God has done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to be givers rather than takers so we can give freely as Jesus gave for us on the cross. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Prayer Focus: A thankful heart