Thursday, February 25, 2010
Pastor's Corner
for Sunday 28th Feb.
Caring for the Hurting
Patricia L. Miller, a former hospital staff person, writes, “While at work in the emergency room, I learned to stop crying at the pain around me. Each day it seemed I was becoming insensitive to people and their real needs. Five years of emergency room exposure had taken its toll. Then God intervened. I was taking information for registering a young woman who had overdosed on drugs and had attempted suicide. Her mother sat before me as I typed the information into the computer. The mother was unkempt and bleary eyed. She had been awakened in the middle of the night by the police to come to the hospital. She could only speak to me in a whisper. ‘Hurry up’, I said to myself, as she slowly gave me the information. My impatience was raw as I finished the report and jumped to the machine to copy the medical cards. That's when God stopped me—at the copy machine. He spoke to my heart so clearly: ‘You didn't even look at her.’ He repeated it, gently: ‘You didn't even look at her.’ I felt his grief for her and for her daughter, and I bowed my head. ‘I'm sorry, Lord. I am so sorry.’ I sat down in front of the distraught woman and covered her hands with mine. I looked into her eyes with all the love that God could flood through me and said, ‘I care. Don't give up.’ She wept and wept. She poured her heart out to me about the years of dealing with a rebellious daughter as a single mom. Finally, she looked up and thanked me. Me…the coldhearted one with no feelings. My attitude changed that night. My Jesus came right into the workplace in spite of rules that tried to keep him out. He came in to set me free to care again. He gave himself to that woman through me. My God, who so loved the world, broke that self-imposed barrier around my heart. Now he could reach out, not only to me in my pain, but to a lost and hurting woman.”
May God keep our hearts sensitive to the pain of others so that we help them find healing and comfort in the embrace of a loving God.
Pastor Don.
Caring for the Hurting
Patricia L. Miller, a former hospital staff person, writes, “While at work in the emergency room, I learned to stop crying at the pain around me. Each day it seemed I was becoming insensitive to people and their real needs. Five years of emergency room exposure had taken its toll. Then God intervened. I was taking information for registering a young woman who had overdosed on drugs and had attempted suicide. Her mother sat before me as I typed the information into the computer. The mother was unkempt and bleary eyed. She had been awakened in the middle of the night by the police to come to the hospital. She could only speak to me in a whisper. ‘Hurry up’, I said to myself, as she slowly gave me the information. My impatience was raw as I finished the report and jumped to the machine to copy the medical cards. That's when God stopped me—at the copy machine. He spoke to my heart so clearly: ‘You didn't even look at her.’ He repeated it, gently: ‘You didn't even look at her.’ I felt his grief for her and for her daughter, and I bowed my head. ‘I'm sorry, Lord. I am so sorry.’ I sat down in front of the distraught woman and covered her hands with mine. I looked into her eyes with all the love that God could flood through me and said, ‘I care. Don't give up.’ She wept and wept. She poured her heart out to me about the years of dealing with a rebellious daughter as a single mom. Finally, she looked up and thanked me. Me…the coldhearted one with no feelings. My attitude changed that night. My Jesus came right into the workplace in spite of rules that tried to keep him out. He came in to set me free to care again. He gave himself to that woman through me. My God, who so loved the world, broke that self-imposed barrier around my heart. Now he could reach out, not only to me in my pain, but to a lost and hurting woman.”
May God keep our hearts sensitive to the pain of others so that we help them find healing and comfort in the embrace of a loving God.
Pastor Don.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Pastor's Corner
for Sunday 21st Feb
Prepare for battle on your knees.
Prayer has always been the Christian’s first line of defense against the enemy. The night before Jesus was crucified He went into the garden to pray and He asked his disciples to pray with Him but they kept falling asleep! Think about that. On the eve of history’s most significant day, the day when God would win a victory over sin and death that would forever change that face of history, Jesus’ disciples are sleeping! And all Jesus had asked of them was to pray. Jesus still changed history; Jesus still conquered sin and death but the disciples missed being a part of all of that. They had an opportunity to be participants in the most crucial battle of the ages and they slept through it! How sad!
When Jesus went into the garden He said that His soul was heavy to the point of death. The disciples went in boldly claiming that they would die for Jesus. Jesus spent the time praying and the disciples spent the time sleeping and when the time came to engage the enemy, Jesus won the battle with unbelievable courage while the disciples ran away in fear.
Prayer is the difference between victory and defeat. Don’t engage the enemy without preparing for the battle in prayer.
Pastor Don.
Prepare for battle on your knees.
Prayer has always been the Christian’s first line of defense against the enemy. The night before Jesus was crucified He went into the garden to pray and He asked his disciples to pray with Him but they kept falling asleep! Think about that. On the eve of history’s most significant day, the day when God would win a victory over sin and death that would forever change that face of history, Jesus’ disciples are sleeping! And all Jesus had asked of them was to pray. Jesus still changed history; Jesus still conquered sin and death but the disciples missed being a part of all of that. They had an opportunity to be participants in the most crucial battle of the ages and they slept through it! How sad!
When Jesus went into the garden He said that His soul was heavy to the point of death. The disciples went in boldly claiming that they would die for Jesus. Jesus spent the time praying and the disciples spent the time sleeping and when the time came to engage the enemy, Jesus won the battle with unbelievable courage while the disciples ran away in fear.
Prayer is the difference between victory and defeat. Don’t engage the enemy without preparing for the battle in prayer.
Pastor Don.
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