Minister's Letter - March 2009
Paid in Full
I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days away with other ministers at the annual Birmingham District Retreat. Although our programme was reasonably full there was time set aside for reflection so I took the opportunity to go out into the countryside on my own to walk and pray.
I must say that I appreciated this time away from the ‘hustle and bustle’ of everyday life, the opportunity to ‘catch up’ with friends and colleagues, to receive quality teaching, to worship and most of all, to have quality time alone with God.
For many of us these days, life can be so busy, there’s always something happening and if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves struggling to have the ‘quality time’ alone with God that we so desperately need. This ‘busy-ness’ can often cause us to miss the ‘still small voice’ of God, causing us to grow weary as we do things in our own strength, and more ‘self centred’ as we take our eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that if we carefully follow God’s commands, keeping Christ central in our lives, we will be blessed. We will be ‘the head and not the tail; above and not beneath’ (Deuteronomy 28:13). Christ wants to bring direction and purpose to our lives, and to bless us.
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could easily afford it, he told his dad that was all he wanted.
As graduation day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.
Curious and somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man’s name embossed in gold.
Angrily, he rose and said to his father, “With all your money, you give me a Bible?” And he stormed out of the house.
Many years passed, and the young man became very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but he knew his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go visit him. He had not seen him since that graduation day years earlier.
Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away and had willed all of his possessions to his son. The son needed to come home immediately and take care of things.
When the man arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still gift-wrapped Bible just as he had left it years ago. With tears running down his face, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse of Scripture: “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).
As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name-the same dealer who had the sports car he desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation and the words “Paid in Full.”
How many times do we miss God’s blessings because we can’t see past our own desires?
Every blessing
Jon
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Minister's Letter - February 2009
The value of good relationships
Over the years here in Worcester I have been encouraged to see the love and care shown to so many by members of our church communities. These relationships are precious and so needed in our world today.
The ‘Word for today’ recently said that ‘relationships are like flowers; if you don’t nurture and protect them, they die. That’s why Paul writes: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). Sometimes it takes heartache and crisis to remind us how irreplaceable the people in our lives are.’
One author writes: “I have spent long hours in the Intensive Care waiting room watching anguished people listening to urgent questions: “Will my husband make it?” “Will my child walk again?” “How do you live without your companion of 30 years?” The Intensive Care waiting room is different from any other place in the world. And the people who wait are different. They can’t do enough for each other. No one is rude. The distinctions of race and class melt away. The bin man loves his wife as much as the university professor loves his, and everyone understands this. Each person pulls for everyone else. In the Intensive Care waiting room the world changes. Vanity and pretence vanish. The universe is focused on the doctor’s next report. If only it will show improvement. Everyone knows that loving someone else is what life is all about. Could we learn to love like that, if we realised that every day of life, is like a day in the Intensive Care waiting room?”
I would like to praise God for everyone who has/is showing God’s love in this very special way.
Every blessing for this New Year
Jon