Great is Thy Faithfulness

The brakes were gone. How could this be? She'd just finished a 1,500-foot mountain grade descent. The "she" was my 19-year old daughter.

And I am writing this today to glorify God and recognize His great faithfulness to us and in our lives.

It was a little after five o'clock (approximately the time of the mountain grade descent) that I remember something unusual happening. I was playfully tickling my other daughter (she's 11) and for some reason I was quoting Psalm 23 to her out loud starting with verse one: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." And I had the strange urge to continue quoting. Isn't that weird? But I don't usually do that is what I'm trying to say. I don't usually quote (and I would go on to quote) the entirety of Psalm 23 to my 11-year old daughter at just after five o'clock in the afternoon while playfully tickling her.

I mean, it was every single verse!

Don't miss the "daughter" part, the "timing" part (again, it was about the same time my 19-year old was coming down the grade) and what I'm convinced the Lord spoke to me about the next day regarding the whole situation.

I was praying Psalm 23 is what I was doing. I was praying the Scripture out loud to my one daughter, but it was really for my other daughter who was losing her brakes at just about the same exact time. I think you're hearing what I'm trying to say.

This is the God we serve. (I am tearful now.) He is a great and faithful God. He is greatly to be praised. (Oh, and by the way, my daughter was somehow able to stop her car.)

"For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways." (Psalm 91:11)

No Ministry Less Than Worthwhile

My brothers and sisters, this is now the second of three in a “Best of Pastor’s notes” series that I thought I might offer these last three Sundays of me being with you. The first was from the last century you might recall (January 10, 1999!). Today’s is from this one – April 21, 2002 to be exact. I especially appreciate what follows because it really puts things in perspective. Beloved, there is no work for Jesus that’s less than worthwhile. And don’t you ever forget it! Here’s the note:

“[There was a] faithful pastor who was told by his superior that something was wrong with his work. The supervisor told him, ‘Only one person has been added to your church this year, and he is only a boy.’ Later that day, heavy of heart, the pastor was praying when someone walked up behind him. Turning around, he saw the same boy – his only convert that year. The boy said, ‘Pastor, do you think I could become a preacher or missionary some day?’ The pastor encouraged him to pray and seek God about it. The lad was Robert Moffit who was destined to open Africa to the Gospel of Christ. Years later when Moffit spoke in London, a young doctor heard him say, ‘I have seen in the morning sun the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been.’ The young doctor, deeply moved by Moffit’s message, was none other than David Livingstone. In 1840, he sailed for Africa where he labored for Jesus for more than three decades – all of this happened because a faithful pastor encouraged his ‘one convert.’” (contributed by Bruce Howell to sermoncentral.com)