Trivia:
Last week we looked at how many waterfalls form the Niagara Falls. Well you all came up with some good guesses, but there are 3 waterfalls. Bridal Veil; American Falls; Horseshoe Falls .
Here's another mind bender. Which city in New York state which is connected through the Peace Bridge? Ithaca; Rochester; Buffalo; Albany. Here's a hint this word is used to complete this saying, Don't let this ____________ you.
Challenge:
Psalm 41:1-3 "Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor! The Lord rescues then when they are in trouble. 2 The Lord protects them and keeps them alive. He gives them prosperity in the land and rescues them from their enemies. 3 The Lord nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health."
This verse lays out the quality that he talks about here. When he is speaking about poor, he means poor in health, weakened by sickness. These words are consistent with the words found in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful". He reminds us of how this godly one, who reached out to care for the sick. Then how our Heavenly Father make sure that he is delivered, preserved, blessed and even strengthened.
Then the Psalmist points out that his life is a case in point for this declaration. In fact Solomon, David's son took this truth even a step further in Proverbs 19:17, "He who aides or gives to the poor is in fact lending to the Lord."
This truth reminds me of my childhood in the little town of Carterville, Missouri. There we lived in a one room house, but the yard was several lots. Mom decided to start a garden and we all worked together on the various steps of preparing the land. My uncle graciously brought a load of manure from his barn yard, and then we kids began the work in the winter to turn over the soil. At first we thought it was such fun, even throwing it at one another, but even that became a chore for which we complained about.
I remember one day a man we called Joe came to our house and knocked on our door and offered to complete this job for a few meals. He began by enjoying breakfast with us kids, we ate eggs from our chickens, wheat pancakes, and bacon from the pig our neighbors had butchered.
Mom's cooking convinced Joe that he better work hard in order to deserve setting at our table for lunch. Joe taught us kids how to best turn over the soil and then we watered the ground with a bucket that he made into a water spreader.
We all worked hard because we wanted to help finish this chore while Joe was joining with us. We stopped to eat lunch, where mom had made homemade bread on the coal heated oven, jam we had made last year and canned. She then made BLT sandwhiches (bacon. lettuce, and tomatoe sandwiches) with sliced onions we had grown in grandma Markleys garden last year. We all went out under the cherry tree to lay on the comforter in the shade, then Joe played his harmonica and sang to us while we all fell asleep for a noon time nap.
Then we pumped water from the well and cooled ourselves off with the home made tub shower. We then finished the work of sifting through the soil removing the weeds and grass we had turned over. We raked all of the debri left over, watered down the soil one last time and then the neighbor gave us a dozen cobs of corn which we built a fire under, and placed a grill over it and roasted the corn, and made stew for our evening meal.
That evening dad came home and talked to Joe about the Lord and His love for Joe. I was so surprised when this big man, Joe, began to cry, he then asked Dad if God really loved him. Dad assured him of the love that God promised to give to him, and he asked how he could know this. There in the yard setting in the evening breeze, dad led Joe to receive the Lord into his heart.
Then that night dad asked him to join us in devotions, we read the Bible, prayed, them turned off the lights so we kids could fall asleep. The last thing I remembered was Dad and Joe talking about the love of God. Grandma had given us an old victoria record player and one record we had was George Beverly Shea, singing the songs of the Billy Graham rallies. Joe slept on the comforter blankets that mom offered for him to sleep on in the porch (there was a breeze there).
The next morning dad took Joe down to the grocery store to apply for a job. The owner hired Joe on the spot, on dads recommendation. That resulted in many blessings, Joe would tell mom just before food was beginning to turn bad in the store and she would buy it for pennies and make it into jam, canned goods, etc. For the next few years Joe would come in the evenings before summer to help us turn the soil and prepare our garden, all for a homemade meal, and talking about God's love, devotions, and prayer, and listening to those great songs sung by Mr. Shea.
Over the next ten years, after we moved Joe had taken his pay from the store and bought two horses, plow, and a wagon to haul the plow that he would use to plow the soil of gardens throughout the city. Joe refuse to be paid by us because he said dad had helped him many times, mostly by telling Himabout Jesus, and then by helping him buy and then fixing the plow, and then working for Uncle Leonard in order to buy the horses, etc.
SO GO WITH GOD for He will enable you to tell others of God's love for them, through the times that you find to give aid to those who are poor. Just remember He loves you and yearns for you to give aid to the poor in your life, in order for you to share His love for them. We are still collectively doing that through our feeding ministry at the church. Then these folks turn to tell them of the Love of God.
P.S. Please pray for Lindsay and family now in Florida near hurricane Debbie, for safety and flights are being canceled presently. Which may make their flight back difficult.
Buffalo