10/09/2019
If you know much about me,you would know that one thing I do with much of my free time is grandchild or grand-dog sitting. Those moments are truly highlights in my life. I have realized that when I am taking care of grandkids and grandpets I feel a little extra pressure because I am responsible at that time for pets and children who are not my own. I think it brings out in me an attentiveness and caution that may even be beyond what I have for my own dog or when my own children lived at home. I am simply managing for that short, designated period of time these very special family members. God forbid if anything happened on my watch!!!
Recently one of my granddaughters was staying with her other grandma.I received a picture via text of my granddaughter’s new haircut while with her other grandma. No, it was not done professionally! It was done with scissors in the hands of a creative 4 year old herself. I immediately laughed because I know that virtually every child has this kind of experience sometime in their life and the good news is that it will grow back!. But I also thought at that moment, as I was laughing, that I was glad it did not happen on my watch! I called the other grandma to make sure that she was laughing also! She was but she was also devastated. I assured her it could happen to any of us.
This makes me think about God and what stewardship means. I know that the word “stewardship” has lost its place in many ways in today’s world, but I am reminded that stewardship denotes the management of another’s property or resources. Everything I have is God’s and I am simply managing God’s resources. Theses resources have been given to me to use and share for the benefit of God’s people.
If I had been the grandma in charge at the time of the disaster, I would have been devastated. I would have felt that I had not taken good enough care of my grandchild while she was in my care. Honestly, isn’t this the same kind of response we ought to feel when we think about all that God blesses us with? God owns it all and we are simply managing His resources. God gives to us so that we will administer what we receive for the benefit of God’s people.
It’s a wonder-FULL life we can have from God, Pastor Patti
Archived Posts
One Final Scene About Scrooge
There was one more scene in Dickens’s novel that reveals something of what has happened to Scrooge over the years. I did not have time to share it on Sunday, but I believe it reveals a great deal about the regrets in Scrooge’s life....
What Jacob Marley Would Do,
If He Could Do It…
I thought about using the following for a benediction—since Jacob Marley was warning Scrooge about the danger of loving money and what it could buy. Ends up with the Cantata and everything else going on, I didn’t have the time. So here is what you might have heard if the sermon itself was 5 minutes shorter!
A Confirming Word on Old King Herod
I just want to echo what Rick said in his fine sermon yesterday (Nov. 23). Herod was a ruthless tyrant and skilled politician. When the Magi don’t report back to him, he decides to kill all the male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2. That’s one paranoid dude.
Power Without Conscience?
I ran out of room for this vignette in Sunday’s sermon. Remember the quote that could be the headline for Ahab and Naboth: “All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” The following reinforces that truth.
The Cars Are Looking for A King
I don’t have a thing to add to Pastor Jessica’s excellent sermon this last Sunday. The fable/parable she shared has been one of my favorites for all the lessons she pulled from it in her message. I was playing around with my friend Chat GPT and after several abortive attempts, we came up with the following modernized version of Judges 9:7-15.
The Lost Benediction
Depending on the length of the sermon, I try to add a little something extra in my benedictions. This week I wrote up a benediction but then realized we’d be singing and waving our umbrellas to some New Orleans jazz.
Change of Focus This Week
Instead of sharing with you about yesterday’s sermon I’d like to invite you to do some background reading for next Sunday’s “Only Murders in the Bible.” Seeing that it is All Saints Day this Sunday, we are going to look at the very first Christian martyr, Stephen.