May is here! This month we will celebrate our anniversary as a church family in the city. Many have come and gone but the vision and the one who called us stays constant. And so onward we will march to the beat of the one who died to save us and lives today! This month is going to be, as they say, “epic” as we walk it out with Jesus!
The other day I had a spat with my wife, ok maybe it would be classified as a disagreement. Ok right, some might even say a fight, though with a name like Maria, no punches were thrown so technically…..a spat. Of course in any marriage we men know ultimately our wives are always right. The sooner we let them know this or remind them how as men we can only aspire to understand the wisdom they have, the better our lives will be. Can I get an “Amen” ladies? I called to tell her this and to apologize, and I ended by telling her that She was my world. That is when the spirit of God spoke to my heart and said, “Until you learn to love your world (that is, my wife Maria) I can never truly love His world”. In other words I need to learn to love Maria as well as the other people God puts in my life. People like those of you who come to Zion. People like the checker who checks me out at the grocery store. Right down to the homeless people I pass on the streets; but especially Maria, as well as all of you. I remember one Sunday a long time ago telling the drummer of our worship team he couldn’t play that day because he wasn’t wearing socks and didn’t have a tie on. Needless to say, he never played again in the church. I was so concerned about reaching God’s world; I missed the world that was right in front of me. By the way, that drummer was my son. I have learned a lot since then. I no longer ignore the world I live in. I may not be crossing the seas to reach the lost in Africa, but I am crossing the street to reach my neighbor. As someone once said “a missionary is not one who crosses the seas, but one who sees the cross”. I am trying with all that’s in me to reach my grandkids, my son, my daughter, my sister, my niece, my nephew, and my neighbor. By His grace I will love all I come across today. I do have a passport if God opens a door of opportunity for me to travel in His world. I believe that every Christian should own two things. Number one a Bible, and number two a passport. But until that door opens to travel outside these United States, I have a mission to love all those I come in contact with, especially my family and you my church family. As I hung the phone up from talking with Maria I pledged anew to love her with everything that is in me. Because I want to love His world with everything I’ve got. I have a lot to learn but God is working everything out for His glory in my life. He even has restored a great relationship with my son. Although he hasn’t played the drums in the church since that day, his story isn’t over yet!
Loving mine and His world,
From the ARCHIVE – Speaking of Surgery…
I had to have oral surgery on a tooth yesterday and needless to say, anytime you use the word “surgery” in a sentence to describe an activity, it’s going to be a tough day. After my second root canal on the tooth, the infection in my gum persisted to stay, and even with four different antibiotics, the infection lingered. My dentist gave me a sedative to numb the area where the surgery would be done (and before it was over I had five stitches in my gum.) But the time you sit and wait for the area to get numb, you have nothing special to do. The assistant asked me if I would like to look at a magazine while we wait for the area to get numb, as if looking at People’s magazine with all the celebrities with their perfect bodies smiling at me with their perfect white teeth is going to take my mind off what’s coming. Please. Sooner than what I want the dentist returns scalpel in hand and as he leans my chair back to start the procedure he says to me, “If you feel any pain let me know.” And all I could think to myself was, believe me you will be the first one to know!
I couldn’t help but notice before he began to cut the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams was playing on the speaker above me and I had to let out a laugh. Happy? Really? That is the last song I need at this time. Happy? I am not feeling like clapping along now. Not now I am about to have oral surgery on a tooth that I have had not one but two root canals done on. As I began to open my mouth to surrender to the surgeon, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart a verse from Hebrews 12:2 “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” I finally got it. The surgery was necessary to get rid of the infection. I had to look past the surgery to the eventual healing. So many times we focus on the trial, the hard times, not realizing what they are doing for us. Jesus went to the cross, not for the cross’s sake but for ours. The joy that kept him moving from the garden to the cross was us, his creation being reconciled back to the father! What a Savior, what a God! If I was going to save the tooth I had to have this oral surgery. I must focus on the healing and not on the surgery that will get me there. As I felt the pressure from the scalpel on my gum and I knew a cut was being made, I chose to listen to the song that was playing over the speaker above me, instead of what I knew was happening. I have to say I was truly happy, and if I could have, I would have put my hands together and clapped along with the song…. Happy, happy, happy!!!! We serve a great God who makes no mistakes with us, He knows what is best for us and He knows how to get us there!
Feeling happy, Pastor Rick