Dear Friends,
This has been an eventful weekend, with our travels across the state. This morning found us traveling from Cleveland to Knoxville in the morning, and from Knoxville to the Pine Grove church in Crossville.
All along the way, at every stop we were blessed by the people in the Church of God of Prophecy whom we came in contact with. Along the way today, I learned of the possibility of a new field work starting in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and another one in the Chattanooga/Cleveland/Athens area of the state. God is up to something!
Without a doubt, the cap on my day came when I returned home and received an email message from a regular reader of our daily blog who also happens to be one of my mentors in early ministry. I do not have the words to describe the lift this gave to me personally, and when I shared it with my wife, Debra, she was lifted too!
I never cease to be amazed at the goodness of the Holy Spirit, as He uses people to encourage and lift us up when our bodies are tired from the many miles on the road. When I think about my days as the pastor of a local church, one of my fondest memories is of my times at the door of the church, greeting people as they arrive and shaking hands and hugging them as they leave. The greatest moments came when I knelt down to speak to all of the children, and let them know how "special" they are to all of us.
To my friend who wrote the message....thank you for loving me. And to all of you who read this blog, why not do the same thing he did...take a moment to send an email, a card, or call and speak a word into the life of someone who has helped to mold and shape you. As John Donne said:
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." (Meditation Number XVII)
WE NEED EACH OTHER!
This has been an eventful weekend, with our travels across the state. This morning found us traveling from Cleveland to Knoxville in the morning, and from Knoxville to the Pine Grove church in Crossville.
All along the way, at every stop we were blessed by the people in the Church of God of Prophecy whom we came in contact with. Along the way today, I learned of the possibility of a new field work starting in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and another one in the Chattanooga/Cleveland/Athens area of the state. God is up to something!
Without a doubt, the cap on my day came when I returned home and received an email message from a regular reader of our daily blog who also happens to be one of my mentors in early ministry. I do not have the words to describe the lift this gave to me personally, and when I shared it with my wife, Debra, she was lifted too!
I never cease to be amazed at the goodness of the Holy Spirit, as He uses people to encourage and lift us up when our bodies are tired from the many miles on the road. When I think about my days as the pastor of a local church, one of my fondest memories is of my times at the door of the church, greeting people as they arrive and shaking hands and hugging them as they leave. The greatest moments came when I knelt down to speak to all of the children, and let them know how "special" they are to all of us.
To my friend who wrote the message....thank you for loving me. And to all of you who read this blog, why not do the same thing he did...take a moment to send an email, a card, or call and speak a word into the life of someone who has helped to mold and shape you. As John Donne said:
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." (Meditation Number XVII)
WE NEED EACH OTHER!
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