The Phone Call

I am reminded today of the scripture in Genesis where Isaac sowed in a time of famine, and reaped a hundred fold return. (Genesis 26:12) As I sit outside on my balcony, the sky is overcast. The air has a slight chill, with a hint of fall on the horizon. I am praying and studying the word of God. My mind is also running in several different directions.

I think about the phone call I had last night. I get one from him every night. It was my seven year old grandson. The boy has the gift of gab. I say he inherited it from his mom, who likes to talk, and from his late great grandmother, who passed away several years before he was born. Zach likes to talk, and last night he was on a roll. But his subject threw me. I'm not sure where he got his ideas, who he had been listening to. Could it be that God was speaking to the boy? I think of Samuel, who heard the voice of the Lord at an early age.

He was talking about helping the poor. He spoke of how the church (of which he is a part of, and I serve as pastor) needs to be more involved in helping the poor. And we need to be more involved in missions work, and in giving to missions. He went on with several ideas about fundraising. I listened, and wondered. I felt challenged, but was thinking of my own needs, and the needs of the church.

The economy is down. People aren't working. We are doing all we can to stay above water. I wanted to tell him these things, but didn't have the heart to speak negatively about helping the poor or missions work. I didn't want to tell him that I wanted to do more, it just wasn't possible right now. I didn't want to dishearten little man, which I affectionately call him. After all, he is right. We need to do more.

Last night's phone call is stuck in my head, in my mind. And as I think about it today, I am reminded of this verse in Genesis. Isaac sowed when it didn't look like the right thing to do, or the right time to do it. He sowed anyway. He gave, and he kept on giving. He was faithful to serve, and faithful to expect. He believed God would produce a bountiful harvest. And God did!

I am thankful for the phone call last night. I am blessed by the child like faith and the enthusiasm. I am challenged in these times to give more, do more, pray more, be more!

Out of the mouth of babes...

"Maw Maw, we need to talk. Turn the radio off." My five year old grandson said to my wife, Trish. She was taking him home from church after the midweek service. Although Zach's mom was at the service, he had asked that my wife take him home, so she obliged. The request to turn off the radio was a little unusual for him. Although my wife did not tell me the station that was playing, the dial is usually on His Radio. Zachary loves His Radio.

This Wednesday night service was different. Rather than dismiss the kids and youth after praise and worship, we kept everyone in the sanctuary. Our midweek attendance has been down lately, with school activities and sickness, and I wanted to have all available people for a meeting that was needed. Our annual Harvest Festival would be coming up in 3 days, and I wanted to make sure we had all bases covered. This is a major outreach for our church, and requires much planning. The meeting I had called for was one that was of the round table kind. Except there was no round table. It was an open format, with a couple of key people telling where we were, how we would do things, and what was needed. Talk was going on in several directions. This is where the problem arose...

I didn't know there was a problem, and in reality, there wasn't. At least not from my vantage point of assessing everything. But as Maw Maw was driving Zach home, he needed to talk. Trish relayed the conversation he had to her. It was something like this:

"Maw Maw, I have been in a lot of meetings. This one was not done right. Everyone was talking. When a meeting is taking place, everyone is supposed to be quiet, and you listen to the person up front."

As I said, I had asked a couple of the outreach leaders to the front. In the midst of their communication, people were responding back and forth. There was also one lady making rounds and talking to people while this was going on.

A meeting out of order? Not really. But what stirred me was that the kids learn early. Zach understands a lot more about flow, order, and reverence than a lot of adults. He may have misinterpreted this one, but at least he is watching.

Art Linkletter used to do a show called, "Kids say the darnedest things". Yeah. You can learn a lot through a child. One of the perks of being paw paw is that this time around I am actually still enough to listen. And I am loving it!

Got any kid stories about church? I'd love to hear yours.

Pastor Ronnie

HELP US HELP THEM

We've started a "shoe drive" here at New Harvest, through our Helping Hands Outreach. The purpose is to collect shoes for those in need. We will make them available to those here in our area who need them, and to selected missions projects.

I was checking my pictures this morning of last week's mission trip to El Salvador. I have already placed some of them on our overhead at the church, put some here on the website, and had others printed up. Moving pics of the power of God on display as Pastor Joey Turner and I ministered throughout the country are displayed. But the ones which move me the most are not of us preaching eloquent sermons, nor of people falling out under the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, those stir me... but it's pictures like this one that stir me the most. I found it on a CD I had not yet loaded on my computer, but it is similar to some of the others.

This village is within a mile of a hotel we lodge at in Santa Ana, Hotel Tolteka. The hotel is a nice one, modest price. While we were there, there were 2 other missionary teams from the states. So it accomodates the Americans, with hot water, air conditioning, etc. I have stayed at this hotel before, but never knew until now that only about 3 blocks away sits this area.

I don't remember the name of the place. I wrote it down on one of my notepads, but honestly haven't unpacked everything. This area was where people were placed when the earthquakes of 2001 and 2002 devasted large portions of the nation. The homes are shacks with tin roofs. No grass or playground facilities exist here... Only dirt and dust for the children. I saw one toy- a soccer ball that the boys were sharing. The other "toys" were used tires that the boys were rolling around. And then this picture-- I hadn't noticed it before. They seem to be playing with sticks.

And one other thing-- I noticed about half the kids there did not have shoes. We plan on returning, probably sometime in August. I would like to have plenty of shoes to take with me. There are 500+ kids from 10 and under in this village.. Anyone want to help me round up some shoes? Do you know of a company that might want to make a donation? Let me know.

Be Blessed,
Pastor Ronnie