Thursday; May 13

How is the Lord’s church going to come out of the pandemic? I have been pondering this question for the last year. A year ago I was a lot more pessimistic than I am today. I feared that the lockdowns, illnesses and economic downturns were going to overwhelm us. While there have been some issues, as we stand on the brink of what we hope is a return to normalcy, I am a bit more optimistic; but still have to consider reality. Yes, we have been spared many of the issues I feared during my darkest times (maybe a better way of putting it is that we have been “blessed”); but we still have some catching up to do. So, how will the church respond to the impact of the crisis?
As I thought about this challenge, my mind was taken back to a great man of God named Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a Jew who took on the task of helping the city of Jerusalem become inhabitable after years of desolation. He invested his skill and his emotion in an effort to restore the walls of the city – yet, there was something more that helped them accomplish the task. When describing the progress made in the rebuilding process Nehemiah observed, “So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” (Nehemiah 4:6). In essence, it wasn’t just circumstances or even leadership that made the difference, it was good, old-fashioned elbow grease!
I believe in the Lord’s power to turn anything into a positive, but how do we see our role? The question is not, “Is He going to use us to restore the influence of His church in the post-pandemic world?”; the issue is “How will He use us to restore His church in the post-pandemic world?”. Let’s join together to make a difference in our world by having a desire to do the work of the Lord. Who knows, maybe the next great restoration of Christianity will begin here and now!
Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more