Daily Devotions

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Current Study: First Peter

Today’s Topic: The Shepherd’s Gift

Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 2:25b   …you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 

 We have some friends out in South Dakota that raise sheep. At least they used to. I haven’t been there for several years so I don’t know if they still do or not. Seems to me they quit because they were too hard to take care of. I know my best friend from high school who used to raise them said the same thing. They would always jump or break through fences. They weren’t trainable. They had a rebellious and free spirit. They were very self-willed.

 Sound familiar. Reminds me of a look in the mirror. But there’s a huge difference between someone who raises sheep and a shepherd. Mutton farmers simply grow sheep for slaughter with no real personal or consistent involvement with them. They pen them up, keep them fenced in, and feed them. They get disgruntled and discouraged by the work they demand when they escape their boundaries.

 Shepherds, on the other hand, have the same ultimate goal – to raise sheep for slaughter. But they do so in a far different way. They live with their sheep. They invest all of their time in their sheep. They only pen them up at night for their own protection, not for his convenience. And they allow them to roam while they watch and care for them. If one gets out of line, he pursues it with the love of a father for a child. The sheep are the focus of his heart, and he would give his life to protect them.

 Jesus called Himself a Shepherd in John 10 when he said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.” This must be what Peter had in mind when he wrote about the death of Jesus making it possible for us to return to the Shepherd of our souls. How wonderful to know that Jesus is a Shepherd and not a mutton farmer.

 Back in July of 1941, the men of Block 14 were digging gravel outside the Auschwitz concentration camp. Suddenly, the sirens began to shriek. There’d been an escape. That evening their fears were confirmed: he was from their block.

 The next day, the block’s 600 men were forced to stand on the parade ground under the broiling sun. “At the day’s end,” wrote reporter Connie Lauerman, “the deputy commander, Fritsch, arrived in his crisply pressed uniform and shiny jackboots to announce the fate of the terrified men in dirty, striped prison suits. ‘The fugitive hasn’t been found,’ barked Fritsch. ‘In reprisal for your comrade’s escape, ten of you will die by starvation.’”

 The men slated for starvation were selected. One of them, Franciszek Gajowniczek, a Polish army sergeant, was sobbing, “My wife and my children.”

 Then a Polish Franciscan priest, Maximillian Kolbe, pushed his way to the front as S.S. guards sighted their rifles on his chest. “Herr Kommandant,” he said, “a request.”

 “What do you want?” barked the commandant.

 “I want to die in place of this prisoner,” pointing to Gajowniczek. “I’ve no wife and no children. Besides, I’m old and not good for anything.”

 A stunned silence, and then “Request granted!”

What a gift! However, the voluntary gift of the life of our High Priest is beyond comparison with the gift of the Polish priest. Why? Because He rose from the dead to be our Shepherd and Overseer. He guarantees us life. The Polish priest’s gift was only for that day. Our Shepherd’s gift is for eternity. He is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls forever. Hallelujah!

 Pastor John

Daily Devotions

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Current Study: First Peter

Today’s Topic: Too Far Down

Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 2:24-25   He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 

Dr. J. H. Jowett was a powerful preacher from England. In 1911 he became the pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. Then, in 1917, he accepted the call to become the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, succeeding the famous G. Campbell Morgan. While on the ship crossing the Atlantic back to England, an officer of his boat told him that they had just passed over the spot where the Titanic went down. He contemplated all that life and wreckage beyond the power of man to recover and redeem. He thought of the great bed of the deep sea, with all its held treasure, too far down for man to reach and restore. “Too far down!” Those words stuck in his mind.

This led him to think of all the human wreckage engulfed and sunk in oceanic depths of nameless sin. He found himself speaking out loud to the ship’s officer. Too far gone! For what? Too far down! For what? Not too far down for the love of God! Listen to this: He descended into hell, and He will descend again if you are there. “If I make my bed in hell, thou art there” (Ps. 139:8). “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). “He bore our sin” (1 Peter 2:24); then He got beneath it; down to it and beneath it; and there is no human wreckage lying in the ooze of the deepest sea of iniquity that His deep love cannot reach and redeem. What a Gospel! However far down, God’s love can get beneath it!

Jesus has already been to the depths and depravity of man’s sin. He who knew no sin became our sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He suffered the totality of God’s wrath against our sin. He substituted Himself for us in death. Then, with shouts of victory on His lips, God raised Him from the dead so that we might be victorious over sin as well. By His wounds we have been healed!

 Friend, you are not too far down for the Savior to find you. You are not too deep in your sin for Jesus to get under you and lift you out of it. You are not so overwhelmed with guilt that His grace cannot restore you. You are not so lost that the Shepherd cannot find you.

 He is looking for you right now. His arms are extended. His reach is limitless. Don’t resist the tug you feel. It is the hand of the Lord lifting you to Eternal Life. Turn to Him and embrace Him. He will forgive your sins and accept you as His own.

 Pastor John

Daily Devotions

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

 Current Study: First Peter

Today’s Topic: Follow Christ’s Example

 Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 2:20-23   But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 

One of my favorite newspaper comic strips is Frank and Ernest. Today, Frank is seen exiting a Stress Relief Class. As he approaches Ernest, he says, “We learn to take things as they come and not stress out.” Ernest responds with, “It’s an ‘Oh-Well-ness’ program.”

 I believe it would benefit each of us to say “Oh well” a little more often. There’s far too much stress in our lives, and much of it is self-generated. In today’s Scripture, Peter points out to us one way in which we generate stress: we seem to suffer from a growing epidemic of “wrong-righting.” No, not wrong-writing. Wrong-righting is the prideful pursuit of self-serving justice. It is our attempt to make sure everyone knows when we are right, and to fix it when they don’t. It’s pretty stressful having to defend one’s self all the time. It’s overwhelming to take on the total responsibility for one’s own image. Wrong-righting stands opposed to Oh-Well-ness.

I suspect that our lives would be much more enjoyable if we weren’t constantly under pressure to prove ourselves. In Aesop’s fables, a traveler was entertaining some men in a tavern with an account of the wonders he had done abroad.

“I was once at Rhodes,” said he, “and the people of Rhodes, you know, are famous for jumping. Well, I completed a jump there that no other man could equal within a yard. That’s a fact, and if we were there I could bring you ten men who would prove it.”

“What need is there to go to Rhodes for witnesses?” asked one of his hearers. “Just imagine you are there now and show us your leap.”

 Many who say they follow Christ have only their words to try to prove it. But true followers of Christ prove their commitment by walking in the steps of Jesus. They trust their lives, their reputations, and their image to the One who judges justly. They do not seek human justice. They wait patiently for God’s justice, and as they do, they know the life of Jesus will be revealed through patient endurance of suffering.

We have been called to such a commendable lifestyle. We have been granted the grace and the faith to graduate with honors from God’s Oh-Well-ness program. Bad stuff happens. Oh well. Friends accuse us of wrong-doing when we know we are innocent. Oh well. Bosses fire us for what someone else did. Oh well. Injustice invades our lives every day. Oh well.

Our natural tendency is to fight. Our flesh says fix it. Our pride demands protection of our reputation. Our faith says Oh well.

Instant stress relief. Someone else is responsible for the outcome. We have a great example of that outcome – the resurrection of Jesus to glory. So forget the bad stuff. Forget your image. Don’t worry about your reputation. If you’re following in the steps of Jesus, it won’t matter what people say. And when all those people, whose opinion you’re so concerned about today, stand in front of Jesus to be judged, they’ll see you standing beside Jesus, and they’ll have to give glory to God because of how you lived your life.

Pastor John

Daily Devotions

Monday, June 08, 2009

Current Study: First Peter

Today’s Topic: Be A Respectful Employee

Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 2:18-20   Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

Shortly after I turned sixteen, I got a job at a local grocery store on the east side of St. Paul, Minnesota. I was hired originally as a bag boy. I worked hard, and went out of my way to do more than what was expected of me. I earned the respect of the storeowner, and before long, I had been promoted to stock boy. Shortly after that, I was put in charge of my own aisle. I was completely responsible for ordering and stocking breakfast cereal.

Then came another move up the grocery ladder. I was transferred to the dairy department and made responsible for all the milk and cheese. By the time I was seventeen I was again promoted, this time to the meat department. I started out just cleaning up all the equipment, but before long, the meat manager recognized my desire to learn and the positive work ethic implanted in me by my parents, and he began teaching me how to cut up beef, pork, and chickens. Later that year we moved out of the city, but when I returned for college, I was immediately given my old job back.

But everything about this job wasn’t always perfect. While I was in the dairy department, something happened that scared me a little, and made me mature a lot. I had gone down to the basement of the store where the cheese cooler was. I was doing inventory and ordering. I shut the door of the cooler behind me, not knowing that the latch had broken and there was no way to open the door from the inside. I was trapped inside a small walk-in cooler in the corner of the basement. It was 38 degrees and I had no jacket on. The cooler was very well insulated, which also made it soundproof. I was in that cooler for over an hour before someone finally came looking for me.

When they found me, I was taken to the boss’s office. Even though the owner of the store had already promoted me three times for my proven work ethic, I was accused of sloughing off and finding ways to avoid work. I was docked two hours pay and given a written warning that went into my file. I did not fight. I did not defend myself. I submitted to the authority of my employer. I know I could have stood up for myself, but in all honesty, I wanted to honor God more than defend myself. Sounds a little weird for a teenager, but it’s true.

Later that day I was called back into the boss’s office. I sat in front of his desk, and heard these words – “John, I’m sorry. I acted rashly. I went down to the basement and checked the door. It is broken. I was wrong to discipline you. Please forgive me. And thank you for the respect you have shown me as your boss.” The disciplinary letter was removed from my file, and my pay was restored.

Two days later, I was honored with a new nickname around the store. The story of what had happened spread quickly. One of the men in the meat department shouted it out the first time as I walked past the meat counter. “Hi Preach!” I looked around to see if he might have been talking to someone else. There was no one else around. Soon everyone in the store was calling me Preach. I know I had spoken to some of them in the past about my faith. I know they all knew my dad was a pastor. But it wasn’t until my life modeled the humility of Christ that they said I was preaching.

I’m sure that some of you are struggling with your employers right now. Some of your bosses are probably not very nice.  But rather than whine, complain, and let a bitter attitude invade your spirit, why not consider how your life can be commendable to God. Keep serving faithfully. Let your life preach the truth of God’s grace as modeled by the submissive spirit of Christ. Your boss is watching. Let him see Jesus in you.

Pastor John

Daily Devotions

Thursday, June 04, 2009

 Current Study: First Peter

Today’s Topic: Freedom and Respect

 Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 2:16-17   Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

As we close out this week, there are two items I wish to address from today’s Scripture reading in First Peter. First, the freedom we have in Christ because of grace can never become a cover-up for evil. The Apostle Paul said it this way – What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2) Freedom is the result of the removal of restraints. It is not, however, the disregard for discipline. Far too many people think that freedom releases them from responsibility, when in fact it carries the highest regard for responsibility.

Missionary author Elisabeth Elliot said it this way: Freedom and discipline have come to be regarded as mutually exclusive, when in fact freedom is not at all the opposite, but the final reward, of discipline. It is to be bought with a high price, not merely claimed …. The [professional] skater and [race] horse are free to perform as they do only because they have been subjected to countless hours of grueling work, rigidly prescribed, faithfully carried out. Men are free to soar into space because they have willingly confined themselves in a tiny capsule designed and produced by highly trained scientists and craftsmen, have meticulously followed instructions and submitted themselves to rules which others defined.

So, point number one is this – don’t use freedom as a means of accomplishing your own objectives and fulfilling your own desires. Use your freedom to responsibly serve the One who gave it to you.

Second, there is a huge need for a return to respect for others in our culture and in our churches. Walls of disrespect have been built between races, genders, and socio-economic groups. Here’s a story that touches on one aspect of respect from our everyday lives as employees and employers. It’s told by Raleigh Washington in a 1993 article in Moody Magazine entitled Breaking Down Walls. You will discover from reading the first line of the story that Mr. Washington is a black man.

As a young teen, I worked summers for a white grocer. Albert Soud made me his unofficial butcher. One day a girl who lived with her single mom and four other kids in the apartment above us came into the store and asked for 25 cents-worth of baloney. The family was very poor, so I sliced about three times that much, wrapped it up, and wrote 25 cents on the package. When the girl took it to the cash register, Mr. Soud looked at the package and threw it on his own scale. He rolled his eyes at me, but said to the girl, “Twenty-five cents, please.”

 After we closed, Mr. Soud said, “Raleigh, I work hard to try to make ends meet, and you defrauded me. I believe you were trying to help that young lady, but you helped her at my expense. Next time you want to help somebody, ask me, and I’ll respond. But don’t steal from me.”

 Albert Soud was sensitive to the reason for my action, and unwilling to embarrass me in front of the girl. He’d talked to me with respect, like a father to his son. I developed a real love for that man.

So point number two is this – good intentions don’t excuse disrespect for authority. It is in that context that Peter says Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. Freedom and respect are inter-connected. Our freedoms are not our right to disrespect others. When freedom and respect are combined, they produce a servant, and according to God’s social system, being a servant is the greatest expression of freedom.

Pastor John

Daily Devotions

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

 Current Study: First Peter

 Today’s Topic: Good Citizens

 Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 2:13-15   Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

 This is a call to humility. It is a call to trust in the sovereign rule of God. It is an opportunity to let the world see the heart of Jesus in us. It will require sacrifice. It demands balance. Extremism has no place here. It can only be accomplished if we first understand our true citizenship.

 As members of the family of God and devoted followers of Jesus Christ, we are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. That grace-bestowed citizenship must captivate us and dictate all responses to all other kingdoms. This causes great tension, because the Kingdom standard of love and grace so often conflicts with the application of righteousness and justice in a sinful world. But one thought helps me resolve this tension – our hope is in the return of the King, not in the return we get on our investments in other kingdoms. Our primary purpose as citizens of heaven is to recruit more citizens, not change the culture through political action. Jesus modeled that in His life on earth. We must live as He did.

 Granted, I am concerned about the political condition of our country and other countries around the world. My heart breaks for the people who suffer under tyrannical and terroristic rule. My soul cries for the millions of people who are starving because government leaders are greedy. My soul weeps violently for the millions of babies who are murdered every year because of the selfishness, sexual immorality, and pride of people. Yet my heart also mourns over the death of the doctor who provided those abortion services. All human life is precious – even those who have no regard for it.

 Do we not understand that God’s heart is more deeply affected by these things than our own? Do we think He does not care? Do we think He will not act? Do we think He is not in control any longer? O Lord, give us peace based on our faith in your sovereignty. Give us patience based on our confidence in your righteousness. Give us hope based on your Word and its promises. Give us love for others – especially those who reject you and rebel against you – that will model to them the love that Jesus has for them.

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood the balance between Christ-centered living and social action that must exist in the Christian’s life. He was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian. He was also a participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism. His involvement in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler resulted in his arrest in April 1943 and his subsequent execution by hanging in April 1945, shortly before the war’s end.

 Bonhoeffer states that there are three possible ways in which the church, or individual Christians, can act toward the state:

1. It can ask the state whether its actions are legitimate and in accordance with its character as state, i.e. it can throw the state back on its responsibilities.
2. It can aid the victims of state action. The church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community, “Do good to all people.”
3. It can choose to not just bandage the victims under the wheel of government, but to jam a spoke in the wheel itself. Such action would be direct political action, and is only possible and desirable when the church sees the state fail in its function of creating law and order and bringing about the good of God.

 Unfortunately, many Christians jump to step #3 and do not model a humble, submissive, and servant heart towards their government. This is wrong. It is contrary to the commands of Scripture given to us by Jesus (“Give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and give to God the things that belong to God”); by Paul (Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.); and by Peter (Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men.).

Good citizens of heaven make good citizens on earth. Why? Because they understand submission and sacrifice. They know what love is and how to live it out in everyday life. They live the life of Christ by loving others more than self. They win the culture war by influencing culture with Christ. No matter how bad it gets out there in the world, love will always conquer a multitude of sins. Let your citizenship be identified by the love of God others see in you.

 Pastor John

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Daily Devotions

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

 Current Study: First Peter

 Today’s Topic: Abstain From Lust

 Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 2:11-12   Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

 I will not be popular today. I will certainly not be politically correct. In fact, there will be those who may read this who will downright despise me. But that’s the price of truth.

 In today’s Scripture reading, Peter urges those who are in Christ to live as strangers in the world. He declares two general principles – first, stay away from sinful desires; and second, live good lives. I want to address the first principle today.

 The New International Version quoted above says that as followers of Christ and citizens of His eternal kingdom, we are to abstain from sinful desires. The King James Version calls it lust. Most of the time, when we hear or read the word lust, we relate it to sexual immorality. But it covers a much broader spectrum of desires that emanate from our sinful hearts. To lust is to desire anything forbidden. Unfortunately, in today’s modern society, we have chosen to believe that nothing is really forbidden. If it feels good, it must be right. If it’s available, then it must be okay. After all, who declared it forbidden anyway? It must have been Someone out of touch with who we really are.

 My friends, we are in a serious predicament. It’s not a new issue, but it is serious. God has been declared irrelevant, and man has been left to his own foolishness. This problem started way back in the beginning of time. The Apostle Paul reviewed the history of lust for us in Romans chapter one.

 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them…For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened…Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

 Lust is destroying the human race. I came across this incredible word picture the other day from the pen of author Calvin Miller. It has really caused me to think.

       Unbridled lust:

             A cannibal committing suicide

                    By nibbling on himself.

 Peter says that unbridled lust will war against your very soul. It will eat you alive. It will stop your spiritual growth and destroy your ministry effectiveness. Jesus reminded us of this truth in a parable he told about seed being sown by a farmer.

 “The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

 The desires for other things – lust – will choke out the word of God and make us unfruitful. Let us determine today, and every day, to bridle the lust of the flesh. We must choose to abstain from all that is forbidden by the Word of God, no matter what the world of gods says. Do not let the world decide for you what is forbidden. God has already declared it. Let us stand on His Word, and be fruitful. The world may accuse us of doing wrong, but on the day Jesus returns, and they must face the truth they have denied, they will have to confess that He is Lord and give Him glory for how we lived.

 Stand strong. Be faithful. The Lord your God is with you.

 Pastor John

Daily Devotions

Monday, June 1, 2009

Current Study: First Peter

 Today’s Topic: Actions Speak Loudly

 Scripture Reading:  1 Peter 2:11-12   Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

 Hello again! It’s good to be back. What a great week Denise and I had last week with some time off with family and friends. We got to attend our oldest grandson’s graduation from pre-school. He’ll be in Kindergarten in the fall. We spent two days in Duluth with our best friends and relaxed along the waterfront. I didn’t answer any phone calls, but I must admit I did do some business by email. I really need to ditch this Blackberry completely when I’m on vacation.

 While we were gone, I did some real hard thinking about actions and attitudes, and their affect on others. Peter addresses that issue in today’s Scripture, and over the next couple of days I want to share some practical applications of the truths presented. Let me start today with some quotes from famous people that will stimulate your thinking.

 Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.  Mark Twain

 Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.  John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach,

 Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again—until you can scarcely distinguish which is one and which is the other.   William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army

 Love talked about can be easily turned aside, but love demonstrated is irresistible.   W. Stanley Mooneyham

 Oh brethren, what abundance of good works are before us, and how few of them do we undertake to do. I know the world expects more of us than we do ourselves, but if we cannot answer the expectations of the unreasonable, let us do what we can to answer the expectations of God, of our own consciences, and of all just men. For it is the will of God that with well-doing we should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.    Richard Baxter

 In Conspiracy of Kindness, Steve Sjogren tells the true story of Joe Delaney and his eight-year-old son, Jared, who were playing catch in their backyard.

 Jared asked, “Dad, is there a God?” Joe replied that he went to church only a few times when he was a kid; he really had no idea. Jared ran into the house. “I’ll be right back!” he yelled.

 Moments later he returned with a helium balloon from the circus, a pen, and an index card. “I’m going to send God an airmail message,” Jared explained.

 “Dear God,” wrote Jared, “if you are real, and you are there, send people who know you to Dad and me.” God, I hope you’re watching, Joe thought, as they watched the balloon and message sail away.

 Two days later, Joe and Jared pulled into a car wash sponsored by Sjogren’s church. When Joe asked, “How much?” Sjogren answered, “It’s free. No strings attached. We just want to show God’s love in a practical way.”

 “Are you guys Christians, the kind of Christians who believe in God?” Joe asked. Sjogren said, “Yes, we’re that kind of Christians.”

 From that encounter, Steve led Joe to faith in Christ. Many people may be only one act of kindness from meeting a true Christian.

 Several weeks ago I had 1,000 cards printed that give our church people an opportunity to show the love of God to others by paying for their drive-through purchases at fast food restaurants. Some of us have started using the cards already. I’ve had the opportunity to meet three people who were thankful for the gift of love they received. I pray that God will use the gift they received to open their hearts to the greatest Gift they could ever receive – Jesus Christ.

 Let your actions speak loudly for Jesus.

Pastor John