Scripture

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.

~Pslam 19:1-3

Quote

Two things fill the mind with new and increasing wonder and awe: the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.

~Immanuel Kant

Can we speak without using words? The answer is yes! When I see a small child pitch a fit in a public place, the child nor the parents have to say a thing–I know the kid is a spoiled brat that needs his rear end torn up. When I see tears of compassion or grief, I know that love is behind those tears. The moon and stars never make a sound, at least not one I can hear but they speak. They tell me that God is great, infinitely great and powerful. They tell me He is awesome and far beyond my ability to comprehend. The natural world also speaks of God’s ability to create beautiful and majestic things. I love the mountains and I love streams. In our recent mountain retreat our cabin was right above a small branch and a waterfall. Although it rained the first three days we were there, I got to sit of the deck and do my devotions on the last day. I could go to sleep by a waterfall, there is something calming about the sound of the water cascading over the rocks.

One of my grandsons and I got into a discussion about waterfalls and how awesome they can be. There are a dozen waterfalls in the Hendersonville, N.C. area and he went to one and I went to another so we were comparing notes. As I listened to him describe his emotions of seeing such a sight I said, “Son, you have to see the Niagara Falls. It is the most awesome thing I have ever seen.” He said, “Yeah, I want to go there some day granddaddy.” I saw the falls 28 years ago. June and I could hear the roar as soon as we got out of the car but when I saw them I was speechless. The most awesome moment of my life. The fall didn’t speak a word audibly to me but they did speak: wow, did they speak.” Our God is an awesome God.

Extra

According to the stop watch, I have Covid. I think it is the flu but you don’t argue with those who are writing your prescriptions. Head ache, body ache yesterday, not today, congestion and cough. I will have to miss tonight but LORD willing I will be back in the saddle by Sunday. I didn’t do anything yesterday, stayed in bed all day. Got up and watched Ty’s game and went back to bed. I feel 100 percent better today PTL.

There are a lot of others who have much greater issues and the Clark girls are the first to come to mind. Pray for Christy Clark and Charity Clark. No they are not twins, no relations betweem them but both have stage 4 cancer. Lift them up every day, everytime you think about them breath a prayer for them in Jesus name.

God bless you, I hope you have a good day and thanks for reading the blog.

PS…WEE CARE shutting down the end of May

It is a bitter/sweet moment for me and many in the area. For almost 40 years the Care Care Program has been open from 6:00-600 Monday through Friday. It was a struggle from the start and would not have started at all had it not been for the vision and generosity of Jimmie Stephenson. If you go back to the late 90’s you would have the sanctuary packed out three times a year, Easter, WEE Care graduation and WEE Care Christmas. I got to share the gospel with thousands. I have done more commencement addresses than any preacher in the country. Several times we went over the 500 mark in attendance. We helped a lot of teachers because we were so convenient and in the old days people didn’t have many choices, Central Park in Decatur and Danville. We touched a lot of lives. I’m not saying we did not have problems; we had them and one of the biggest battles we fought constantly is that it was a MINISTRY, not a business. We never intended to make money, that was not our goal. We never intended to break even. You don’t break even in ministry. No children’s ministry has ever paid for itself or ever will. The same can be said about youth. We spend right at $40,000 a year on Youth Ministry at Grace Point. We have over 40 young people. Are those young people going to give forty thousand dollars a year so we can break even. NO! Sam Drucker says, “The moment a business begans thinking about those inside the business instead of the customer {those out side}, you will see a decline. There is no doubt that the three year old preschool which is coming to public schools will hurt churches who have pre-school. Everything runs its course and I am so thankful that we helped thousands and never had a law suit. One law suit would have shut us down years ago. When I first got them news, it broke my heart but I am at peace with the decision. It reminds me of the old days when Bro. Tucker ran busses and picked up Children all over the county. Do you think they broke even? You have to have a solid core group that understands your objective or else not get into the ministry. To be honest, we never had the solid core group at Danville. We had opposition from day one and were never able to make to two one. There is a reason for that but I can go into it. I hate it for the one involved but as for me, I rejoice over all the help we gave to some many over the past 40 years. The reward for true ministry will come later.