Monday, October 21, 2019

October 21 – “just a heart …”


We had a good group of folks at church yesterday.  And for the first time in a very long time every one of them had been to a service at least once before.  It was like speaking to a group of reunion attenders or something.  And we did another of what has become one of our Seaside ministry things.  We passed around a “Thinking of you” card for the people to sign so we could send it to Ed, whose wife Pat died last week.  Again, that’s not unusual.  We send a lot of encouragement cards.  But this time we had to get two cards because the first one was already full before church even got started.  You would think someone was loved …

We got started into the book of 1 Peter.  Lots of word studies in this one.  But yesterday for some reason I ended up telling a lot of personal stories as well.  They just seemed to fit with the message of the first few verses.  Story-telling married with verse-by-verse exposition.  I’d probably flunk out of a seminary preaching class …

Lauren apparently got hold of a bushel of bananas.  She made a huge batch of banana bread loafs and brought them to church to share with whoever wanted one.  That little personal ministry project went over quite well.  Thanks, Lauren ….

I invited everyone to join us at our house for the Annual Halloween Outreach Party.  We usually bring in some pizza and then set up a ring of chairs for the children to walk through the gauntlet.  We give away candy, of course, but also DVD’s of three movies about Jesus.  And this year our friends in the biker gang that loves Jesus are coming back to give away biker-themed New Testaments.  Not that the words are different, of course.  They just have a cover acknowledging the motorcycle ministry.  Hey, come join us.  And bring along some candy or trinkets to give away.  OK, commercial over.  All that to say, after I made that invitation, a gentleman very quietly came over to me and handed me a $100 bill.  He said, “It’s for the party.”  No fuss.  No fanfare.  Just a heart for ministry …

Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Father, thank you for the many hearts for ministry over at Seaside.  Bless them.  Amen.

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