Month: September 2019

Question and Answer

On Sunday, September 22, 2019, I finished the study of Colossians in a whirlwind.  Two of the verses we hit as we hustled to end of the book were 3:18-19: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.”  

Well after the service was over, and too late to clarify, I received this text question: “If my wife is wanting to help, though I don’t want help, isn’t she fulfilling her role as a helper that is built into her?” 

Here’s my guess as to the question’s origin.  In the course of talking about wives respecting their husbands, I very likely spoke in terms of wives who want to be overly helpful.  I was trying to be tongue-in-cheek and I was using “helpful” as a euphemism for “controlling” or “back-seat driving.” Certainly, a wife can be helpful without looking over her husband’s shoulder and/or second guessing his actions.  I need help running my household, even if I don’t need help with the particular project I’m working on this minute. (This is one of those times I wish the textline wasn’t anonymous – because I have no idea if I’m answering your question).  I will confess that the expression I used and that I assume the texter is responding to, may have been influenced by a Tim Hawkins sketch called “Helper in the Car.” LOL.

Prayer Request

I don’t know who clicks on “Pastor’s Blog” who might not also click on “Prayer Bulletin,” but for those who might not see the PB, I just want to ask you to pray three things for our congregation:

1.  Pray that we would reach OUT.  We, the Church, have one commission, but life gets so busy it’s easy to forget our first and foremost task.  At the very least, we can invite friends, neighbors, and co-workers to church!
2. Pray that we would reach reach IN.  Fellowship, friendship, touching lives, and meeting needs ought to be part of the community experience that is Word of Grace Fellowship.  Pray that this would start with open hearts on Sunday morning and continue with thoughtful alertness throughout the week, every week. This isn’t an institutional (staff) prayer request; this a body prayer request (Eph 4:16), but often in the same way life keeps us too busy to witness, “churchiness” can keep us too busy take time to know one another’s needs.
3. Pray that God’s people would supply for the financial needs of WOGF.   The last two months have fallen short and I have been told before, you can’t help if you don’t know….  Please help and please beseech the One Who owns all those cattle!!  

Yours because I’m His,

Pastor Scott    

I have a book of illustrations compiled by author and speaker Craig Brian Larson.  This one is entitled, “Lost People.”

         On Sunday, December 22, 1996, Carnell Taylor was working on a paving crew repairing the Interstate 64 bridge over the Elizabeth River in Virginia. The road was icy, and a pickup truck slid out of control and hit Taylor, knocking him off the bridge. He fell 75 feet and hit the cold waters of the river below. His pelvis and some of the bones in his face were broken.

         Joseph J. Brisson, the captain of a barge passing by at that moment, saw Taylor fall and quickly had to make a life-or-death decision. He knew Taylor would drown before he and his crew could launch their small boat and reach him. The numbingly cold water and strong currents of the river could kill him if he dived in to rescue Taylor. He had a family, and Christmas was three days away.

        Brisson decided to risk his life for a man he had never met. He dived into the river, swam to Taylor, and grabbed hold of him. “Don’t worry, buddy,” he said, “I got you.” Brisson held Taylor’s face above the water and encouraged him to keep talking. Then he took hold of a piece of wood in the water and slid it under Taylor to help keep him afloat.  The current was too strong for them to swim to safety, and eventually the cold caused Brisson to lose his grip on Taylor. So Brisson wrapped his legs around the injured man’s waist and held on.

          After nearly 30 minutes the crew from the barge was finally able to reach the two men and pull them from the water into the small boat. Taylor was hospitalized for broken bones. Brisson, the hero, was treated for mild hypothermia.

          Brisson later told the Associated Press he knew what he had to do when he saw the man fall. “I have family,” he said. “I thought about that. But I thought about how life is very important. I’m a Christian man, and I couldn’t let anything happen to him.”

          In this perilous rescue, Joseph Brisson shows us the heart of God. The God of love knows better than anyone the tremendous value of a human being and his or her eternal soul. For even one person Jesus was willing to leave the safety and joy of his family in heaven and give himself to save others.

 I, Pastor Scott, know that many of you reading this would sacrifice your comfort or safety to physically help someone – many of you, as veterans or first responders, have.  I wonder what stops us from sacrificing our emotional comfort to help save someone from eternity IN HELL?  

Something to think about – starting with me,

Your Brother, Pastor Scott

I’m writing this blog on 9/11.  I had planned to pen something thoughtful about “Theodicy” (why a Good God permits evil), but I can’t get this viral 9/10 piece out of mind.  Perhaps you saw it:

On this day, 18 years ago, 246 people went to sleep in preparation for their morning flights. 2,606 people went to sleep in preparation for work in the morning. 343 firefighters went to sleep in preparation for their morning shift. 60 police officers went to sleep in preparation for morning patrol. 8 paramedics went to sleep in preparation for the morning shift. None of them saw past 10:00am Sept 11, 2001. In one single moment life may never be the same. As you live and enjoy the breaths you take today and tonight before you go to sleep in preparation for your life tomorrow, kiss the ones you love, snuggle a little tighter, and never take one second of your life for granted.

The sentiment is great!  As a husband, father, and a (very recent) grandfather I need to be vigilant about loving my family.  But as a believer in Christ, as a witness for Him (Acts 1:8 – thanks to Levi for bringing that out so powerfully this past Sunday), I need to use this 9/11 reminder to wake up to the truth that anytime I talk to anyone could be the last time I talk to him or her.  You and I need to ask ourselves: “Am I really living as a light in this dark world? Am I intentionally using my words and ‘making the most of {my} time, because the days are evil’* and short?”

Thoughtfully,

Pastor Scott

*Ephesians 5:18