Pastor’s Corner

Trivia:

Can you remember one of the characters in the Looney Tunes cartoon series? Why not include one of them or any of them that you remember? I'll start off with a few, Bugs Bunny, and Tweety Bird, now its your turn. Let's see if we can name all of them together.

Challenge:

Ecclesiastes 10:18 "Laziness leads to a sagging roof; idleness leads to a leaky house."

This verse is connected to the previous verses of 16 and 17, where the results of both types of leaders, (verse 16) the foolish, lazy leader and (verse 17) the wise, productive leaders were recognized.

Now Solomon directs our focus in this verse in order to describe the effect of the foolish, incompetent leader, which is hopeful that we will gather the necessary attention to bring industry to our lives.

Those places in their lives which represent them and the efforts of their lives point out the many consequences of their lives. Decline, disrepair, damage, disarray are all the consequences of ignoring the duties that they should be daily attending to. Tomorrow we will look at the outcome of living industriously.

Becky is the perfect picture of the industrious person, she is always looking for ways to develop better benefits through the many things in our home. From the left over items in the refrigerator, to the things in our pantry, to a consistent switching of her clothes in order to evenly wear clothing, to looking for ways to bring comfort and beauty to our home.

She in my eyes is the most qualified lady to be called the Proverbs 31:10-31 Worthy, Virtous woman. I am so blessed to have the joy of spending these many years with her. She fulfills the role of challenging me to daily strive to be the man that God wants me to be through this limited being, me.

Upon the passing of my brother-in-law I have been challenged to consider those things that are the results of my life. I have come to the realization that the Heavenly Father has surrounded my life with so many precious people, of which you are one of them. As we have just gone passed Thanksgiving the Lord has been reminding me of so many blessings that He has orchestrated in my life.

Then I have been reminded that these many blessings should never be taken for granted of. Last night Becky was practicing for her sisters wedding, and I was reminded of just how blessed I am. I mean how many people in our whole world get to have the priviledge of enjoying a personal concert. She has been playing a whole variety of songs and this has caused me to be reminded of the many memories that we have enjoyed over these years together.

Are any of these many blessings the consequence of my own personal efforts, No, they are the blessings that God has poured out on my life, In the instance of Becky, and her piano playing these blessings are as a result of her parents encouraging, challenging her, helping to develop this discipline in her life. Then she took on the role of continuing her developing these skills. Last Sunday as she was playing the offeratory, that moment brought back to me my first time at her church being blessed and encouraged of heart, by listening to her play.

That year had been for me a particularly hard year, a young man leaving home, family, facing the challenges of establishing a youth ministry in some 30 churches and guiding adults, much older than me, in how to minister to their teens. I remember the song she played as if it were today. It was "To God be the Glory." This was not just one song but has continued to be her lifelong theme before me over all these years. I am forever endebted to her for the faithful message of her life and challenge to me.

I have shared this story to illustrate the truths of these few verses we are studying through. I apologize for embarassing Becky, but I felt that her life best demonstrates these verses before me, and hopefully you. In fact, better than any other story that I have encountered in my lifetime.

SO GO WITH GOD ny dear one, for He alone can take our humble service and turn it though maybe even weak, or even limited and then use it to bring benefit to all of those that we encounter. As Jack Wyrtzen said continuously to me as a young man, "Ben, Little is much, when God is in it." So let God be in your life for as the beautiful melody that Becky plays for us each Sunday, He will make your service equally blessed by others when we are letting God be in and through it.