A number of years ago, a family came to our church from Mt. Lebanon. The whole family became involved in the ministry.
When one of the young boys grew up, he dedicated himself to be a missionary to Russia. He moved his family there, started a church, and was there for 14 years. Then he transferred his ministry into a country where mission work is considered “against the law.” He’s there now preaching the Gospel to Russian immigrants in that country.
I just got a letter from him. He ran into a traveler from Nepal. And he won that man to Christ! Now, this new believer’s dream is to go back to Nepal and become a Pastor and preach the Gospel there!
My word to you today is to be faithful with those little kids in your Sunday School….. and always view them as potential missionaries! You never know what God plans to do in the hearts and lives of these boys and girls …….now…….. and for eternity.
]]>I soon can learn to do it if you’ll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I’d rather get my lessons by observing what you do;
For I might misunderstand you and the high advise you give,
But there’s no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.
When I see a deed of kindness, I am eager to be kind.
When a weaker brother stumbles and a strong man stays behind
Just to see if he can help him, then the wish grows strong in me
To become as big and thoughtful as I know that friend to be.
And all travelers can witness that the best of guides today
Is not the one who tells them, but the one who shows the way.
One good man teaches many, men believe what they behold;
One deed of kindness noticed is worth forty that are told.
Who stands with men of honor learns to hold his honor dear,
For right living speaks a language which to every one is clear.
Though an able speaker charms me with his eloquence, I say,
I’d rather see a sermon than to hear one, any day.
Our waiter was a master of his trade. We even signed up for their version of the “frequent flyer program, although we don’t do this often enough to earn any miles. I left a good tip and thought, “This guy really has a great job” when I counted the tables he was working and did the math.
The piano player was doing an excellent job and we were enjoying the ambiance of it all. I looked up and saw Lou and Bobbi Sisco. They used to attend our church but now live in Florida. (They come back to visit family and friends from time to time.)
I spoke out, “Louie! . . .Louie!” The guy gave me this “I’m not Louie” look. I looked again and they were the spitting image of Lou and Bobbi.
JoAnn said, “Put your glasses on!” She also said some other things. . . . Not long after that, ‘Louie and his wife, Bobbi’ looked like they were leaving the restaurant.
We had such a memorable time! I’m sure JoAnn will always remember this as our “Louie, Louie” date.
I’m sharing this little event on our church e-mail list for the ladies to print out and lay in a strategic place – like on top of the sports page or near the TV remote, to plant a Valentine seed. Guys, if you are reading this first, do something special for your wife. If you are going out for dinner, keep your glasses on and think before speaking to strangers.
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When our five-year old granddaughter, Jenna, comes for a visit from Columbus, Ohio, we always go out to do some kind of shopping. One of our favorite places is Trax Farms and the main reason is their vast selection of old fashioned candies. It is like a sweet trip down memory lane.
It is Monday morning as I write and Jenna was ready to go on our shopping excursion. I thought she would be satisfied to first go up to the church and hang out with the staff a little. Maybe Jenna could find something she could be interested in for awhile. Doris, one of our secretaries, invited her to help pick up bulletins and papers in the auditorium that had been left behind from Sunday. That job lasted about ten minutes.
She came back in my office and sat down. After awhile she said, “I’m bored and hungry.” I tried to reason with her and persuaded her that boredom was ok. In fact it was good to be bored every now and then. She was not influence by my reasoning. I originally had this idea that I could get some work done and she would keep herself occupied and we could each have a good time doing our own thing.
I gave in and said, “Well, lets go deal with this boredom and hunger.” We stopped first at Trax farms. Her eyes lit up when we got to the candy section. She said, “Can I get this?” and you know my response was, “Sure.” That scenario played out four times and we had a bag of candy. The next stop was McDonalds. On the way to McDonalds I said we could go to Wal Mart after lunch. As we were eating in McDonalds I asked her what she wanted to get at Mal Mart and she responded, “Fingernail polish.” So we got some purple polish. It cost $2.00 and she was happy with it.
When we got in the car she said, “Where are we going next?” She was on a roll. As we were driving back through South Park she said from the back seat, “I see some nice swings over there.” I kept driving. We went home and unloaded our treasures and I’m back in the office trying to do some work.
I love to go shopping with Jenna.
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As I was leaving the house today (Thursday) I noticed that several of my neighbors were flying their flags and I was reminded, “This is Veterans Day.” I went back into the basement and found our flag and put it up. I love America; I love our veterans.
This was a good day to reflect back to my high school graduation and not knowing what to do with my life. How could you at age seventeen? I considered joining the service. A few friends were signing up for the Air Force so I thought, “That sounds good to me.” My parents signed for me and I went to the court house downtown for the oath and it wasn’t long until I was boarding an old C47 prop plane out of the Allegheny Airport in West Mifflin for San Antonio, Texas….in July.
JoAnn and I enjoyed our time in the Air Force. Our first son John was born at Perrin Air Force base in Sherman, Texas in a little building they called the base hospital. I think it had asbestos shingles on the outside. Then we were on to bigger things like Bible College and Christian ministry. Dan was born a little later (14 months) here in Pittsburgh and Stephen arrived about ten years later.
My time in the service was during the Cuba Missile Crisis and it was a scary time. Every one of our jet fighters were loaded with missiles and on high alert. The pilots were sleeping on the base so they could run to their planes at short notice. It was eerie and fearful. Some of our veterans have paid a much heavier price in the protection of our land. Freedom is not free. We can’t thank them enough for their service. We salute them.
We look back with fondness on our military time and are very grateful that we could serve our country in this way.
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I was flying Jet Blue and they are the ones with more leg room and a TV monitor in the seat back in front of you, so this did help a little. The other jet was ready when we arrived but everything does take time. They told us we would be sitting in the same seat arrangement because this was a similar jet. Well some of the passenger had thrown away their boarding card and were panicking as to where to sit. The ground people handled everything very professional.
After they put our luggage in this plane we were headed back to the runway. It took us another hour to taxi for takeoff.
It took over five hours for this trip and I actually wondered where I parked my car in the extended parking lot. I thought it was pick up station #14, so I got off there and started to hunt the car. Most keys have this alarm button that will sound your cars alarm if you get close enough for it to work. I was pushing the button and looking for the car when I stumbled onto the car and then wondered why the alarm didn’t go off. I hadn’t been pushing the right button on the key.
What a relief to finally get out of airport parking.
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It is Wednesday evening up here in Boston, Mass . I arrived on Monday and have been visiting Boston Baptist College. This is the third time I’ve been to this school and it is always exciting to see these young people as they prepare for the ministry. Boston is a beautiful place, especially now with the changing colors of the leaves.
I thought this would be a good evening to not go out to eat … but as I was out walking around the motel …. racking up steps on my pedometer, I spied a CVS store and just had to stop in and look around. There was nothing good to buy to eat. But I did find a cup of Ramen noodles. How would I fix it?
Back in the room I put a cup of water in the one cup coffee maker and ran the water through the coffee maker into the cup of noodles. Now how creative is that? I had this other problem…no fork or spoon. Now this gets a little messy, literally. I took those little coffee stirrers and tried to use them as chop sticks. I could never work regular chop sticks and those little stirrers bent! I’ll leave the rest of the story up to your imagination.
Tomorrow I will speak in the chapel service and then head to the airport. As I type this I’m watching The Fox News Channel. I’ll be praying tonight that conservatives will be elected to important places in our local and national government. Please help your friends & family get to polls this Tuesday.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend.
Pastor John
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Usually we have staff personnel man the speaking posts but this year we were led to turn it over to the men of the church.
The topics chosen were: The Love of God; God’s Forgiveness and Ours; Surrender; God’s Grace.
The speakers developed their topic from Scripture and personal experience. After each session they broke down into groups for discussion of the topic. We had so many positive comments from the men about the opportunity to hear the guys of the church share their stories. They said it was good to hear “from one of us.”
The retreat lasted from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. The men enjoyed Sunday morning worship together before they packed up to come home.
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