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
Gandhi and the Sugar
I wasn’t preaching Sunday, Reverend Jackie Chandler was. And she talked about the power of influence you get when you practice what you preach. This famous illustration came to mind. It fits Jackie’s points quite well. Enjoy!
Not Just for Parents
Our current sermon series is about How To Talk Parent, but it doesn’t require any of us to be parents to appreciate the bits of wisdom OUR parents shared with us growing up.
If Not Higher
Here’s a story I wanted to use when talking about ‘what you do when no one is looking’ yesterday. It’s a wonderful illustration of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6:1-6—do what you do because of who you want to be, not so that others will take notice and praise you.
The Perfect Church
There is an old joke about the perfect church. We talked just a little about the perfect pastor, but turnabout is fair play. It goes like this:
The Clothes You Wear
Sunday I talked about Joshua the High Priest having his filthy clothing replaced by a cleaned and beautiful garments. I also used the illustration of a boy becomes a dragon—who ‘wears’ dragon scales—and is stripped of those scales in order to be restored to a boy. In fact, I could have done the whole sermon around all the clothing imagery in scripture.
What just missed the cut for Sunday’s Sermon
Naaman’s servants may actually become one of the hidden gems of the sermon. They say, essentially: “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.”
One of the Longest Benedictions I Ran Out of Time to Share
Maybe you know the story of how Joseph and Mary accidentally left Jesus at the gas station on their way home from Jerusalem. Well, not the gas station bathroom in Jesus’ case. Joe and Mary are far down the road before they realize Jesus isn’t with them...