‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ Luke 14:21b ESV
We have followed the ministry of Joni Eareckson Tada for many years and the outreach that Joni and Friends has done around the world is inspiring. So I was delighted the other night to have the regional director for Central Florida come and present the pathway for building such a ministry at our church. Though our group was tiny compared to the size of our congregation, I believe a seed was planted and will in God’s time grow into what He desires for our community. This is our little huddle, minus yours truly who was taking the shot.
That is my dearest in silver and blue on the left and Amy Schipper the Florida director on the right. The night began with a touching story, that I share with you today as a call to consider such a ministry in your community.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Mark 10:47 ESV
The story behind the writing of the hymn, “Pass Me Not” is both interesting and complicated. It all began one day when the now famous hymn writer, Fanny Crosby, went to speak at a prison. As she passed between the cell blocks, she heard one of the prisoners calling out, “O Lord, please don’t pass me by.” This led Fanny to sit down soon afterward and pen the familiar words, “Pass me not oh gentle Savior, hear my humble cry!” These were almost word for word the cry of the blind beggar named Bartimaeus who we meet in Mark’s gospel. Bartimaeus was sitting by the side of the road as Jesus began to pass and he cried out with both desperation and faith. Desperation, because he knew that only Jesus could help, and faith because he believed that He would. But even beyond the Biblical application, we can find even another layer of meaning, when we realize that, Fanny Crosby, just like Bartimaeus had been blind most of her life.
But as we sang together today at Sunshine Memory Care, I was struck by the fact that my friends there, were not singing these words in desperation or sadness, but with faith and joy. Next week is Thanksgiving and few of these precious people will have any family to sit down with, and the piece of turkey with a bit of gravy on their lunch menu is all the celebrating they will get to do. But God knows every one of them by name. He has the hairs of their heads all numbered and if no one else will sit down with them, they know that Jesus will, if they simply invite Him in! If Jesus remembers them, He also remembers you. In all the busyness of your holiday season, remember to slow and then invite Jesus into your heart for Thanksgiving! It is an invitation He will never refuse!
Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. Psalm 77:18 NKJV
One year it almost never snowed, so as a contractor whose Winter income came from snow removal, I ended up working about six weeks in a warehouse among some pretty rough looking characters. I tried my best getting along, but those tattooed younger fellows, some of whom had nose rings and I had very little in common. As one of them put it, “Pete, did you ever wonder where all those guys who were sent to after school detention ended up working?” Now, I am the sort of person who tends to get cranked up over tattoos and nose rings, because the only critters with nose rings I knew were our hogs, so that they wouldn’t destroy their own pasture and tattoos were for the old guys who had been sailors in WW2. Yet, God didn’t seem to be as hung up as I was. Instead, He focused, not on how good or bad the other guys looked, but one whether I was telling them about Jesus.
As the weeks dragged by, I tried ignoring their less than wholesome jokes, and spent my lunch times, looking for a quiet corner to eat and read my New Testament. It didn’t seem even possible to talk to anyone about Jesus, till one day as we were emptying pallets from one of the trailers, the guy next to me earnestly asked in a whisper, “So what does hallelujah mean anyway?” Rather than laughing, I delightedly did my best to explain and discovered that day, that God can give an opportunity at the most unexpected time to tell someone about His faithfulness and mercy. We just need to remind ourselves that God is delighted to accept some pretty strange characters into His family, because after all He sent Jesus to the cross to forgive, even me and you!
By the way, I loved this video about telling our grandchildren about the good old days Be sure to tell them that Jesus was the only thing good about some of those days!
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