CLASSIC CAR

"Earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints." - Jude 3

I love classic cars. There is something fascinating about these road warriors. There was a time they owned the road--providing transportation to grandmas, gangsters, doctors making house calls, families taking a Sunday drive, salesmen trying to ply their wares. They have a uniqueness and an elegance that stands out in the box-like family vehicles, the monster trucks and sporty SUVs, and the lookalike family cars occupying the road today. Some of them were short-lived in popularity. They bore names that today have little meaning - but they are really neat.

Unfortunately today, you have to be very careful with these cars. Their "age" and uniqueness put them at great risk on the high-speed highways of today. You even have to ration the amount of road miles because their parts are no longer being produced.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is very ancient. It has a beauty in its original form that makes it even more precious today with the trendy and sometimes indistinguishable religious imitators.

Fortunately, the gospel wears well on today's highways in today's world. It is not fragile, needing protection. It is robust, needing faithfulness. The gospel is not intended to be kept in a warehouse as a remnant of other times. It is intended to engage the world where the rubber meets the road.

A classic car may have been built well, but only a few people have the means and opportunity to drive it. The gospel today is for everyone--it is durable for eternity.

This devotional is published on behalf of the Church of God of Landisville and its friends (C) by Stephen L Dunn All rights reserved.

2010

One of my roles as Lead Pastor is to be the "big picture person." This means I have to look at the whole church and its mission, not just parts of it. I need to be the person who reminds each part that they are part of a whole body and help them fit together in a unified way.

It also involves me in long range and advanced planning--sometimes the first into a particular territory because people need me to scout and map the terrain. That's why I found myself in early June working on the overall worship plan for 2009-2010.

2010! I still find myself thinking of 2008 at times! But Bill Stine, our Choir Director uses his summer to prepare for the church's program year. For him to do his job effectively, he needs the big picture in worship from me. So this AM I completed the Worship Planner for 2009-2010.

We need to have advance planning to strategically place ourselves to do the work in a fast-changing and ever-changing world. But we must always do it with a certain sense of humility. James, the brother of our Lord wrote: "Now listen, you who say,'Tomorrow we will go this or to that city, spend a year there, carry on business, make money. Why, you don't even know what will happen tomorrow ... Instead, you ought to say, If is the Lord's will, we will do this or that." (James 4:1a-14, 15a)

All of our planning and all of our plans must carry the obedient flexiblity that keeps they in concert with God's will for us.

McDONALDS AT 6:00 AM PLUS

Steve,
Your devotional story is familiar to many. I have often thought of ‘why doesn’t that person get a job?’ Maybe they are in desperate circumstances or lazy, or whatever. I, like you, have come to realize that it is not our job to judge, but we must be vigilant and not suckered.

A quick story: One night I pulled into the gas station across from McD’s on Centerville Road @ Rt 30. I noticed a fairly old, dilapidated (that is a kinder word) auto sitting at the pumps. There were some kids in the back seat, maybe three or four. There was a lady in the front. When I was pumping gas the man of the group came over to me and asked if I could ‘loan’ him $5 so that they could get fuel to make their way back to home in New Jersey. Well, as I often am, very reluctant and then I thought that $5.00 of gas would not get him but about 100 miles or so, at best! I ended up giving him $10 which he promptly put to use on purchasing fuel. He came over to me and asked for my mailing address. I really became suspicious at that time about giving my address to a stranger, but I did. I left and completely forgot about the incident. One day a crumpled envelope appeared in our mail box. Lo and behold when I opened it there was a $10 folded up in a rather tattered piece of paper which had a genuine ‘thank you’ note attached.

God is good all the time despite my feeble attempts at playing Christian.

Tom Shea

McDONALDS - 6:00 AM

"McDonalds-6:00 am"
Reading: Matthew 25

Dianne and I took a three day vacation last week to Baltimore and the Inner Harbor. We got a great hotel deal, so we stayed down town--handy to Camden Yards, where the Tigers were playing the Orioles and handy to Inner Harbor, a great gathering of shops, museums and other interesting sights. We parked our car and walked everywhere.

Typically Dianne and I are on two different sleep schedules. I am generally asleep by 10 and up around four. She is asleep by midnight or later and up 4-5 hours after I have risen. I try to stay in hotels that have complimentary breakfasts so I can eat around 5.30 or 6.00 and then have a "second" breakfast around 9.00 or 9.30 when she is ready.

This hotel did not accomodate me. And on Saturday, the restaurant didn't even open until seven. Fortunately, McDonalds is open at 6.00. But as in many major American cities, a tourist will share the streets with the homeless and other street people. When I arrived at McDonalds, a beggar persistently got my attention (I couldn't get in the door without talking to him.) "Sir, can get a hot meal?" I really didn't want to argue, so I said, "I'll bring something out."

Inside, one of the men in line said to me, "He does this every morning. He really can go to work but he prefers to beg for a meal. I have enough savvy to know that's always a possibility, but since I had given my word, took him breakfast as I left to return to the hotel.

Was he taking advantage of me? Maybe. But I really have no way of knowing what his day was going to be like. A friend once said that the only way not to be taken advantage of is to never help. As I gave him the meal, he said, "Sir you have done a good deed for the day." I didn't respond--didn't feel the need to.

Jesus says a good deed, a cup of cold water in his name is always a good thing. We are doing it to Jesus. So even if the street guy was taking advantage of me, Jesus was pleased I am sure because I had simply followed his command and values.

This devotional is published on behalf of the Church of God of landisville and its friends.
(C) 2009 by Stephen Dunn. All rights reserved.

DEARLY BELOVED

"Dearly Beloved"
Reading: Colossians 3.13

I had a very unique experience a couple of weeks ago. I performed a wedding ceremony at the Tuesday night rehearsal of our Worship Band. Carl, our drummer, married Carol; his second marriage, her first. What was unique was not the location or surroundings, it was the reason. They have a formal ceremony and reception planned for June--the big event and its party. But before that time arrives, Carol's lease ran out. It was not possible to move back to her parents' home--but Carol and Carl did not want to move in together before the wedding. They did not consider it appropriate to their Christian faith to "live together" for 7-8 weeks before their marriage was consecrated.

As a pastor, I need to tell you that this is indeed a unique attitude. Many people live together these days, sometimes years before getting married. I know some pastors who require them to move out before and until the ceremony occurs. I have always considered this a legalistic charade that really honors no one, just as I believe "living together" is not as committed as saying "I do" before God and the witnesses. I'm just glad when couples decide to make the commitment real and get married--finally!

A marriage is a sacred covenant. It is a covenant between a man and a woman made before God. It is a covenant with God as well. A covenant says as much about the covenant-maker as the one who receives the blessings of that covenant. A Christian marriage is a "setting apart" of two people for the purpose of making a new family--a one flesh relationship where the love of God is manifested in a special way. A relationship that should take on the character of the One Who first loved us and Whose love makes the marriage relationship possible. In a morally confused world, a marriage that is committed to reflecting the character of Christ can bring great praise to God. But the heart of a Christian marriage is rooted in what you believe about God and the sacredness of your relationship with Him.

Somehow saying that nothing about our relationship with God should reflect badly on God is indeed a unique attitude. Whether married or single, our actions, our decisions, do reflect upon God if we are known as God's people.

This devotional is published on behalf of the Church of God of Landisville and its friends. (C) 2009 by Stephen L Dunn. All rights reserved.

TORNADO ALLEY

Tornado Alley
Reading: Philippians 4.6-7

Last night there were more than 23 tornadoes in the Midwest. For many years I Iived in the area of that region known as Tornado Alley. It was a place where those monster storms could come roaring through the night capricously reaping destruction. A house would be gone here, a row of trees there, a car dumped four streets over; and a dog house left untouched and unmoved. When the summer days were hot and a cold front started arriving, you began to watch the skies for thunderstorms rolling in. A storm front could easily carry those ominous funnel clouds that would drop to earth in a heartbeat to start a path of destruction.

The irony, however, was that people living in Tornado Alley did not live in fear nor were they preoccupied with the possibility of sudden disaster. By and large you simply went about your daily business in normal ways even in storm season. Anxiety would only make life unbearable. It would drive you to the storm cellars instead of the fields where there was work to be done. Yes, you were alert and yes, you made provisions for a quick trip to shelter when conditions became threatening; but you went about life with confidence and contentment.

The Bible warns us that an anxious spirit is a destructive one. Philippians 4 tells us, "Be anxious about nothing." This is not a Pollyannish naivete. It is a confidence in God's providence and protection and provision. "But in everything with thanksgiving, present your requests you to God, and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

A healthy Christian is not anxious. A mature Christian approaches all situations placing their trust in God. This does not mean we are not concerned or careful, but we do not let worry define our lives. We have Jesus Christ.

This devotional is published on behalf of the Church of God of Landisville and its friends (C) 2009 by Stephen L Dunn. All rights reserved

MISCARRIAGE

"Miscarriage"
Reading: Isaiah 61.1-3

"...to comfort those who mourn, and provide for those who grieve ...
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair."

Last Tuesday my baby lost a baby. My youngest daughter Katie was four month's pregnant. She and Jason were happily anticipating the birth of their first child. But the doctors told her Tuesday that a miscarriage had occurred.

"Miscarried" is an interesting and disturbing word. It is intended to soften the reality that a life has ended prematurely. A life that a mother and father have partnered with God to create. A life that already has reality in the womb. A life to which the parents, especially the mother, are already connected.

It doesn't really soften the pain. The immediate impact is sometimes devastating, in fact.
Time will tell how it will affect Katie and Jason. My prayer is that it will draw them closer to one another and to God. My oldest daughter Christi also suffered a miscarriage in her first pregnancy. My son-in-law Tim consoled her with a blessed response, "God knew something was wrong and decided to take care of it now." Whether his answer eased her pain, I don't know but his words were true. After Christi's recovery they started over and my grandson Jake is now over a year old. His presence has now become a light of God's love for their lives.

A miscarriage is one of those terrible valleys of shadow of death David described to us. He never said such places were not painful, heart-wrenching--but he reminded us that we are never alone when we must walk that path. God walks even more closely with us when we must take uncertain steps in those shadowy valleys. And any grief we experience, He will comfort and remove--replacing it with His joy.