“I will lead the blind by a way they
do not know, in paths they do not know, I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them
and rugged places into plains. These are
the things I will do, and I will not leave them undone” (Isa. 42:16).
Hey
Gang: Our church has set a goal to raise
sufficient funds to tear down the old and replace it with the new. The Pastor has been preaching a series on the
subject “Raising the Roof” meaning raising the roof of the new building. Our church has gone through tremendous growth
in the past several years resulting in many new young families with many new
little people.
This has
resulted in a ritual of giving each teacher a shoe horn as they enter their shoe
box classrooms to be used to fit the increased numbers into the class room. Just jesting on the shoe horns, but only on
the shoe horns. What a wondrous blessing
it is to see this problem increasing with each Sunday. At this point, nearing the two hundred
plateau in weekly attendance.
This,the
result of a young pastor who also has five little ones, who preaches the word
and nothing but the word, and, where the word is preached- nothing but the
word- there is growth. This you can take
to the bank! This is truly a family
church.
The theme
this week was focused on money but, then again, it really was not on money. It was more focused on the “process” of raising
the needed support to “Raise the Roof”.
As I listened to his words many memories of by- gone years when we were
building the needed facilities at the Village, came flooding through my
mind.
I recalled
the day I spoke at a Rotary Club and laid out the vision that I felt God Had
shown me in California, that we were about to set out making it a reality. It was a message that was enthusiastically
received but at the end of the meeting a group of men were sitting around one
of the tables. They called me over and asked the question, “How are you going
to do all of this and where are you going to get the money?”
My response:
“I do not have a clue!” A big lanky sort
of fellow that reminded me of my dad, who I learned later was a co-president of
a Foundation said, “I will support you” anyone who is that honest will surely
succeed.
Our pastor
had just returned from a hunting trip to Colorado. If you know anything about such trips, you
know the hunting is done in the high country.
Have been in the mountains many times I can say with gusto it is a
wonderful experience to look up at these majestic creations of God with awe
deep in your heart!
The morning
after arriving in base camp, Pastor awoke to the reality that seeing the top of
the mountain was vastly different than hiking to the top of the mountain where
the deer and elk roam. He learned very
abruptly, as they started the climb of three miles and 2000 feet to the summit,
that the process getting there was going to be a test of one’s will power and
fortitude.
As I
listened to his narrative of their trips up and down the mountain, a memory flooded
my mind - the day that I sat down with paper and pen and wrote a description of
what I thought God had told me we were to do, in the coming years. I completed the task in several hours. I confess it was very easy and I did not even
raise a sweat. BUT- from the moment God opened the door and said, “Go for it!” it was rope- burn time, just
trying to hang on!
There were many days when I found myself on paths I did not
recognize. I learned a great deal about
faith and depending on God in those early years, AND every year since.
Blessings,
Gramps
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