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
Key Takeaway from Sunday
If I had to identify a specific take away from
Sunday’s sermon it would probably be this:
The Rest of the Story
I mentioned Russell Conwell in Sunday’s message. He was a famous preacher, educator, and lecturer. His sermon/lecture “Acres of Diamonds” was turned into a book and sold rather well. I used Conwell’s illustrations to talk about sharing the good news of Jesus with those closest to us first—family, friends, coworkers, and church family. The wider world is our ultimate aim, but until you invest in the people God has already put in your life, you are unlikely to have much success.
No One Said It Would be Easy
To love Jesus first is to learn to love all the other people in our lives with greater intensity and less selfishness
What’s Saved Is Often Lost
Here’s the benediction we didn’t have time for yesterday (Sunday, November 3). It’s one of my favorite quotations (portions of a newspaper column). I hope you find it as inspiring as I have
Leftovers Continued…
It’s not just the fact that God is un-impressed by our leftovers, it actually goes deeper than that. In a sense, Jesus is passionately and purposely opposed to anything leftover. To be a follower of Jesus Christ is to work diligently to make sure that in the end nothing at all is left over.
Less Stuff and Fewer Wants
Here’s a point I left off Sunday’s sermon due to time and length. In dealing with an Entitled mindset it is very helpful if you can Reduce Materialism and Consumerism.
Entitlement Can Hit You in Ways You Might Never Suspect
The people of God (Israel) were chosen by God to fulfill a unique calling—to be a light to all the other nations of the nations of the world. God chose them because of their willingness to be used by Him for His purposes. But after a while the Israelites began to think that they were chosen--not because with God they could fulfill a special purpose--but because they were a special people, uniquely favored and loved for who they were.