Any Given Sunday

Today a lady visited the church. She came in late so I didn't get to talk to her until after the worship gathering. Turns out she was there to ask me to conduct her funeral. I conducted her husband's funeral about a dozen years ago. She has a terminal disease and not long to live. I wondered why her eyes were closed during the entire sermon. Apparently she is on heavy medication and in a lot of pain.

I debated putting this in my blog but I think people need to know the stories behind the stories - what's going on in the hearts and lives of people sitting beside them on any given Sunday.

As I preached from 1 John chapter five I saw smiles and frowns, heads nodding in agreement as well as some looking as though they might not be so sure of the validity of what I was saying. Its good to have seekers in the house along with the committed core.

One young man about 30 years of age told me that he had been thinking about it for a while and decided to make a faith commitment to Christ. That was good news. He's been prayed for quite a while. Now we pray for his growth in Christ.

Out in the parking lot before the worship gathering began I was talking with a teen guy in the church about landscaping. I want him to help me on a Faith in Action project next month since he had recently told me he wanted to go into landscaping when he got out of high school. As we were in front of the church a guy in the neighborhood who had visited us several times but hadn't been back in a few weeks drove by. He didn't notice me but I noticed him. He was looking at all of the cars in the parking lot and it almost seemed he was wanting to pull in but drove on by. My heart went out to him. I'll try to call him this week.

May God remind us that others are hurting, seeking, lost and lonely. And we may come in contact with them, not only on any given Sunday, but any given day of the week.