Who is your paralytic?
Visiting with my husband's youngest daughter this week. Of course any time you leave Ohio to the south or the east you have to cross the mighty Ohio River. One of my favorite road trips of all time was when we were headed home one time, and we followed the river all the way from the southernmost point of Ohio up to around the Youngstown area before cuttting back across the state to home. Lots of neat things to see along the way.
Got to meet Rigsby, who we nearly didn't get to meet because he had a bad go with some Parvo not too many weeks back.
Car shopping. Can't you just see the JOY oozing out of their pores! (NOT! LOL)
Friday night dinner. Neat place. Three guys from New York got to North Carolina and couldn't find a decent pizza. Imagine that! I loved the decor. Lots of old oil cans, gas pumps. An old soap box derby car hanging from the ceiling. Plenty of atmosphere along with a pretty good piece of pizza.
I think the highlight of this trip is going to be the worship service I attended this morning. I always enjoy my visits at other churches when I'm away from home - no matter how silly the reason I have for picking one church over another. One year coming back from mom and dad's I went to the only church that had an early service because I needed to get on the road so I could get the rental car back on time. Today's silly reason? This was the closest church to the hotel we're staying at.
It's always great to meet other believers and see what God is doing outside of my little corner of the world. Today, I got to meet Seb. He sang a couple songs for the Sunday School class, but I really enjoyed the story he told first about 50 years ago in the North Carolina mountains there weren't any phones, so when his friend got saved, he couldn't just picked up the phone and call his mom who had been praying for him all those years. He had to sit down and write a letter. The song was about a mom who had gone on to heaven without knowing that her boy was saved, and asking that his name be called so mom would know he was there (in heaven). Neat.
The Sunday school class was a blessing. I hope I always remember the picture the teacher told of running his first marathon and the struggle to make it to the end and the mental battle to make it all the way to the finish line that was even more of a struggle than the physical battle. He told how upon seeing the finish come into view he started to cry and asked for his wife. I guess that's not an unusual reaction to have. What's that got to do with anything? The topic today was the last 24 hours of Jesus' life. As he talked about all that Jesus had gone through for us and the sheer agony of the physical torture that my sin and yours caused him to have to go through, I could just about hear him saying "It is finished" with the tears of a marathon runner who has just made it to the end of an agonizing race. I told the teacher that if I got nothing else today, that one picture made the entire trip worth it.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing I received from the Lord today. I also got to meet "Squeak" and her husband (who gave up his seat next to his wife for the entire service so I could sit down). It was a real blessing to hear their excitement about the things going on in the church.
And what's a visit to church without some heavenly manna - food for the soul. I think today's sermon was just what I needed to hear before heading off to Africa later this week. The text was Mark 2:1-12, where four friends bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed. These guys were absolutely determined to get their friend to Jesus, and NOTHING was going to stop them.
I want to remember those words when I'm away, because I won't have another day, but I want to remember them when I'm back home too. There are lots of paralytics in my life on this side of the pond who need me to bring them to Jesus, and who knows if I'll have another day.
What's really neat about today's message is that the preacher gave me such a picture of Jesus that I felt motivated, not just guilted out. That's one thing I've been blessed by in all my road visits to different churches. No matter how inconsequential my reason for going to a particular church, I've always managed to find a place where Jesus Christ is exalted. That's all I need, and it's really all I want.
Got to meet Rigsby, who we nearly didn't get to meet because he had a bad go with some Parvo not too many weeks back.
Car shopping. Can't you just see the JOY oozing out of their pores! (NOT! LOL)
Friday night dinner. Neat place. Three guys from New York got to North Carolina and couldn't find a decent pizza. Imagine that! I loved the decor. Lots of old oil cans, gas pumps. An old soap box derby car hanging from the ceiling. Plenty of atmosphere along with a pretty good piece of pizza.
I think the highlight of this trip is going to be the worship service I attended this morning. I always enjoy my visits at other churches when I'm away from home - no matter how silly the reason I have for picking one church over another. One year coming back from mom and dad's I went to the only church that had an early service because I needed to get on the road so I could get the rental car back on time. Today's silly reason? This was the closest church to the hotel we're staying at.
It's always great to meet other believers and see what God is doing outside of my little corner of the world. Today, I got to meet Seb. He sang a couple songs for the Sunday School class, but I really enjoyed the story he told first about 50 years ago in the North Carolina mountains there weren't any phones, so when his friend got saved, he couldn't just picked up the phone and call his mom who had been praying for him all those years. He had to sit down and write a letter. The song was about a mom who had gone on to heaven without knowing that her boy was saved, and asking that his name be called so mom would know he was there (in heaven). Neat.
The Sunday school class was a blessing. I hope I always remember the picture the teacher told of running his first marathon and the struggle to make it to the end and the mental battle to make it all the way to the finish line that was even more of a struggle than the physical battle. He told how upon seeing the finish come into view he started to cry and asked for his wife. I guess that's not an unusual reaction to have. What's that got to do with anything? The topic today was the last 24 hours of Jesus' life. As he talked about all that Jesus had gone through for us and the sheer agony of the physical torture that my sin and yours caused him to have to go through, I could just about hear him saying "It is finished" with the tears of a marathon runner who has just made it to the end of an agonizing race. I told the teacher that if I got nothing else today, that one picture made the entire trip worth it.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing I received from the Lord today. I also got to meet "Squeak" and her husband (who gave up his seat next to his wife for the entire service so I could sit down). It was a real blessing to hear their excitement about the things going on in the church.
And what's a visit to church without some heavenly manna - food for the soul. I think today's sermon was just what I needed to hear before heading off to Africa later this week. The text was Mark 2:1-12, where four friends bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed. These guys were absolutely determined to get their friend to Jesus, and NOTHING was going to stop them.
"It was the faith of the four friends that brought about the miracle. . . . There was no way they were leaving that day without putting their friend right in front of Jesus. . . . They didn't have another day, and they weren't going to wait for Jesus to get done."
I want to remember those words when I'm away, because I won't have another day, but I want to remember them when I'm back home too. There are lots of paralytics in my life on this side of the pond who need me to bring them to Jesus, and who knows if I'll have another day.
What's really neat about today's message is that the preacher gave me such a picture of Jesus that I felt motivated, not just guilted out. That's one thing I've been blessed by in all my road visits to different churches. No matter how inconsequential my reason for going to a particular church, I've always managed to find a place where Jesus Christ is exalted. That's all I need, and it's really all I want.
posted by bullwinkl at 2:22 PM
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