Because I love Him and you (May 2014)

[The following was copied from the May 2014 issue of The King's Business. If you are not receiving an issue and would like to please contact the church office or email us.] 

 

FROM MY HEART

 

We all need encouragement. My mother, who went to be with the Lord this time last year, was probably my biggest encourager. From the time I was a young boy, she always encouraged me to do my best. Her mantra was always, “Anyone can be mediocre. Don’t be mediocre.” She could also could put the fear of God in me. As my dad was gone in the military most of the time, she was mom AND dad. I remember one time I missed a tackle playing pee wee football. I had zeroed in on the quarterback. I was going to plant him deeper than the roots of the trees on the side of the field. I lept, already feeling his body being crushed beneath me as I slammed him to the turf. But he ducked, and I grabbed a handful of air instead. And there was my mom, with all of her love shaking her umbrella at me saying, “Don’t you miss him again.” My coach didn’t say a word. He just pointed to her and said, “Do what SHE tells you.” I also remember that the first window I ever broke with a baseball was a church window. And I want you to know it was an accident, just poor hitting on my part. I was less scared of my pastor and God than telling my mom. She could be tough when she had to be.

 

My mom was tough at times, but she loved me and was not only encourager, but also my advocate. An advocate is a person who supports you, urges you on. She always knew our (my brother and two sisters) grades, people we were with, where we were, wanted us just to do our best. She wanted us to do the right thing, not to embarrass the family or our Lord. Appearances were important also, as there was only one chance to make a first impression. She wasn’t perfect, but outside of my wife and daughter, she was my biggest advocate. And she did it from the time that I came into the world. Someone once said, “Man doesn’t live by bread alone. He also needs some buttering up.”

 

Ever find yourself thinking negative right off the bat? I do. You’ll hear an idea and the first response is how we can’t do it instead of how we can do it. For years I used to take groups to Ridgecrest, NC for Sunday School week. We would receive more information, encouragement, the “how to’s” of teaching and outreach, than we could use in a lifetime. Everyone that went would be pumped. They were ready to try new things, they had made deeper commitments to the Lord, and as a friend of mine would say, “they were ready to take on hell with a water pistol.” But we were always (and they’re in every church) met when we got back by the “cold-water committee.” People were hot with ideas, enthusiasm, spiritual growth and there they were to pour cold water on anything new and fresh. You could almost hear them now with that voice that sounded like they had been sucking a lemon tree dry, “that won’t work here, never done it that way before, well we’re not Ridgecrest.”

 

As Christians we need advocates and encouragers. We need the church to say, “Go for it!” I’m glad God never asked our opinion on whether He should send His Son. We probably wouldn’t have liked who He was saving. Imagine saving people like us. He not only sent His Son, but He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us, encourage us, convict us, teach us. The church needs to be a place so full of life, encouragement, information, love, joy, mercy, and grace that people are running to it. They’re running because that re tired of having the crud beat out of them by the world. They’re tired of the constant lies of how good is bad and bad is good. We need to be so different than the world. We need advocates and encouragers. We need to love like Jesus. Let me encourage you to encourage someone else at least once a  day. Be an advocate today. Watch God work. See you Sunday.

 

Because I love Him and you,

 

Pastor Al