Last week as I returned to the town of my first church to do a funeral, I was reminded of a story that a member there told me. Vernie, the church member, was in Houston visiting a granddaughter in a hospital in the Medical Center. She had been severely injured in an accident. After a long, anxious day Vernie and some of the family were driving out of the parking garage to go home for a little rest.
This was back in the day when there was an actual person in a booth that you paid as you exited the garage. The attendant was an older African American man with a pleasant disposition. Vernie told me these details of what this man did because they made such a deep impression on him. After receiving Vernie's ticket and cash payment the attendant looked behind Vernie, there was not another car in sight. The attendant held on to Vernie's change and asked, "How are your loved ones this evening?" Vernie briefly told his story and the attendant listened and asked questions about his granddaughter, including her name and condition. Then he asked, "Would it be OK if I said a word of prayer for her and for all of you." Of course, Vernie agreed.
After the prayer, which brought Vernie and his family to tears, the attendant asked if Vernie had a relationship with Jesus and Vernie said yes, they were all Christians. Then the attendant handed him his change, shook his hand and told them he would be praying for all of them.
It made a deep impression on Vernie and on me. I cannot imagine a job with less potential in being a witness for Christ than a parking lot attended, sitting in a booth in the middle of the night. Yet here, this man found a way to turn it into a ministry. Vernie also told me that his granddaughter was being treated by the some of the best doctors in the country, but no one made them feel better in that hospital than the parking lot attendant.
I am sure that man was replaced by a machine in that parking lot. But where ever he his now, I know a man with that kind of dedication has found a way to make his job a ministry. Our challenge this Labor Day weekend, is to "go and do likewise."
For the journey...
Tim
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Back to School
That date that is most anticipated and most dreaded is upon us - the first day of school. I don't know of a lot of inspiring first day of school stories or quotes. There is a not a lot that I can tell people academically but I can tell you of George Danzig. He was a senior at Stanford University during the dark days of the Depression. Everyone knew that graduation then meant the unemployment line except there was an outside chance that George could make the head of his class and qualify for a teaching job at Stanford. He would have to make a perfect score on his mathematics final so he studied hard, so hard in fact that he lost track of time and arrived at the final exam late.
George took his seat and began to work on the eight problems on his paper. Then he turned to two problems written on the blackboard. Try as he might, he could not solve them. As he turned in his exam he asked if he might have a couple of days to keep working on those two problems on the board. His professor looked surprised and then surprised George by giving him permission.
George went back to his room and began to pound away at those two equations. After many hours he found a solution for one but he could not solve the other. Dejected, he left his work at his professor's office convinced he had no hope for a job.
The next morning, his professor awakened George from sleep excitedly telling him he had made mathematics history. Being late to the exam, George had not heard why those two problems were on the board. His professor explained that he put them up there because those where two classic problems that even Einstein had said he could not solve. Danzig, had not heard that explanation or that they were unsolvable and he had actually solved one of them. The next day, that same professor gave George a teaching job at Stanford where he taught until he retired.
Sometimes it is best not to know what you cannot do. We need to be careful what we call impossible. Let me remind you of the last line of last week's message, "Everything is possible for the one who believes." Mark 9:23
For the journey...
Tim
George took his seat and began to work on the eight problems on his paper. Then he turned to two problems written on the blackboard. Try as he might, he could not solve them. As he turned in his exam he asked if he might have a couple of days to keep working on those two problems on the board. His professor looked surprised and then surprised George by giving him permission.
George went back to his room and began to pound away at those two equations. After many hours he found a solution for one but he could not solve the other. Dejected, he left his work at his professor's office convinced he had no hope for a job.
The next morning, his professor awakened George from sleep excitedly telling him he had made mathematics history. Being late to the exam, George had not heard why those two problems were on the board. His professor explained that he put them up there because those where two classic problems that even Einstein had said he could not solve. Danzig, had not heard that explanation or that they were unsolvable and he had actually solved one of them. The next day, that same professor gave George a teaching job at Stanford where he taught until he retired.
Sometimes it is best not to know what you cannot do. We need to be careful what we call impossible. Let me remind you of the last line of last week's message, "Everything is possible for the one who believes." Mark 9:23
For the journey...
Tim
Friday, August 16, 2013
Keeping On
Gid Prather was a Deacon and a Sunday School teacher in my first church. When I started there, he had already taught elementary children in Sunday School longer than I had been alive. Gid did not start teaching until he was in his forties - after his own children had grown past the class he taught. I knew that was rare and unusual. It was also rare and unusual for anyone to do what he did in teaching children well into his eighties.
Gid had his share of trials. He and his wife lost a child because of a mistake a doctor made as their infant son was being born. He raised two daughters, then lost a grandson who died in his arms after and accidental shooting on a hunting trip. He grieved those boys all his life but he kept on loving and teaching children.
After seeing his perseverance, I wanted to know how he did it, so I asked him what was the secret of teaching children in Sunday School for over forty years and not giving up? He thought about it - he had seen a lot of other teachers come and go. After a good pause he said, "I don't know. I just love them..." He went on to talk about how he prepared each week and prayed for the kids. He told me the secret even if he said he did not know. It was in that phrase, "I just love them..."
The secret to keeping on in anything in the Christian life, especially the things that can wear us out, like teaching children for forty years, is love. Paul wrote, "Love never fails." That phrase means it never runs out of resources. When we learn to love, we learn to last.
I hope you will join me this Sunday as we begin a new sermon series with another phrase from Paul, "Let us not grow weary in doing good..." Paul had a few ideas on keeping on. Let's come to learn how to do just that.
For the journey....
Tim
Gid had his share of trials. He and his wife lost a child because of a mistake a doctor made as their infant son was being born. He raised two daughters, then lost a grandson who died in his arms after and accidental shooting on a hunting trip. He grieved those boys all his life but he kept on loving and teaching children.
After seeing his perseverance, I wanted to know how he did it, so I asked him what was the secret of teaching children in Sunday School for over forty years and not giving up? He thought about it - he had seen a lot of other teachers come and go. After a good pause he said, "I don't know. I just love them..." He went on to talk about how he prepared each week and prayed for the kids. He told me the secret even if he said he did not know. It was in that phrase, "I just love them..."
The secret to keeping on in anything in the Christian life, especially the things that can wear us out, like teaching children for forty years, is love. Paul wrote, "Love never fails." That phrase means it never runs out of resources. When we learn to love, we learn to last.
I hope you will join me this Sunday as we begin a new sermon series with another phrase from Paul, "Let us not grow weary in doing good..." Paul had a few ideas on keeping on. Let's come to learn how to do just that.
For the journey....
Tim
Friday, August 9, 2013
Changing Hearts and Minds
I receive frequent emails from Baptist Student Ministries (BSM) about the work going on at college campuses across our state. This is a key time of year as BSM's gear up for a new year and new students. I wanted to share this story from one of those emails with you this week.
Throughout this year, the Texas Southern BSM
has seen God impact multiple lives. One of the most memorable stories,
Jamie Russell, BSM director says, was that of a young lady named Fatima.
"Fatima was very honest and admitted that even though her family had always attended church she was not a Christian. During one of our twenty minute check-ins, as we read through Acts 9, Fatima abruptly interrupted our reading. She excitedly proclaimed, “He did that, God did that for Paul?” I simply answered, “Yes, He did.” She began to weep profusely and exclaimed, “He can do that for me!” Her entire countenance changed as we continued the passage. At the end of our twenty minute check-in she said she was so excited because she finally understood that God truly has the power to change hearts. Fatima’s humble realization of the hope that Christ Jesus gives us through salvation was overwhelming."
"Fatima was very honest and admitted that even though her family had always attended church she was not a Christian. During one of our twenty minute check-ins, as we read through Acts 9, Fatima abruptly interrupted our reading. She excitedly proclaimed, “He did that, God did that for Paul?” I simply answered, “Yes, He did.” She began to weep profusely and exclaimed, “He can do that for me!” Her entire countenance changed as we continued the passage. At the end of our twenty minute check-in she said she was so excited because she finally understood that God truly has the power to change hearts. Fatima’s humble realization of the hope that Christ Jesus gives us through salvation was overwhelming."
As I read through 2 Corinthians, I see where God continued to change Paul's heart according to the situation he was facing in the church. God was not done with changing Paul's heart in Acts 9. Heart change seems to be the norm for the Christian life. Is it the norm for your life? For this week? We will look at that Sunday and see how God wants to keep changing our hearts and our minds.
For the journey...
Tim
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