Comments on PCBC Adult Sunday School: I Cor 4: Who do you identify with?

"I help people for a living. I want a break on wee...

2008-05-05T17:13:00.000-04:00

"I help people for a living. I want a break on weekends." Just recently I said that. And I've said it before. It's wrong on so many levels.

I work as Voc Rehab counselor helping people who went off to work one day and then something bad happened to them.

As soon as I belted out yet another rendition of "I help people for a living," the EMS tone activated and then I was off to an emergency call.

I pulled into the driveway later that day and reached into the Bible that I keep in the truck door pocket and frantically opened to Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter 2.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Phil 2:3 NIV.

And then the clincher, Do everything without complaining or arguing Phil 2:14 NIV

The posts on this subject and God's Word have served to further remind me that, as Christians, we are not to compartmentalize our lives.

Sounds like a good lesson title, "No whining!"

Usually it's just me, Nathan, and Stephanie, who w...

2008-05-05T15:05:00.000-04:00

Usually it's just me, Nathan, and Stephanie, who walks in with Joshua on one hip, Nicole's hand grasped on the other side, telling Renee to go on in and sit down. Elderly eyes light up when they see those three little ones bounce in. Nathan picks two or three hymns and I bang them out on the old piano in the corner. Stephanie holds Joshua in her lap while she helps Renee find the song in the book. He wriggles down and toddles over to stand in front of an old woman in a wheel chair. He drops his bottle on the floor and looks up at her. Her eyes are clouded over and distant.

If you'd like to visit "the least of these," here's an opportunity. Sit down next to one of these nursing home residents and help them find the right page in the hymnal. Sing with them. And after Nathan's short gospel message, ask them where they grew up. They'll take it from there.
Some don't talk, they just drool. But you can sit and sing next to them. You can hold their hand and wipe their mouth.

Sometimes there's only two or three that come into the dining room for our mini service. Sometimes more. Last time, a creaky voice interrupted Nathan's message to ask, "Do you know, 'For God so loved the world...' Is that in the Bible?" Without blinking, Nathan gently answered, "why, yes!" and began to talk with the woman about it.

Lest you think I'm really spiritual, I have to admit that I struggle every time we go, because there are many other items on my Sunday afternoon to-do list which seem more important at the time. Were it not for Stephanie's upbeat attitude, and Nathan's request for a pianist, I probably would get more weeds pulled.
But then I would have missed an old woman with a walker telling me that soon all the flowers will be coming up, and did I know that she took care of all the gardens?"

An important question and one that we should be as...

2008-05-05T12:50:00.000-04:00

An important question and one that we should be asking corporately as a church as well as individually. Who are the poor and outcasts in our community that we should be identifying with? The students at Job Corps? The families who live in mobile homes on Sand Road? The elderly? Who are the forgotten people around us?

Whoops, I meant to sign my post, above! Bill O'

2008-05-05T08:08:00.000-04:00

Whoops, I meant to sign my post, above! Bill O'

Interesting to consider the different words for th...

2008-05-05T08:07:00.000-04:00

Interesting to consider the different words for the word servant. Hyperetas is the word Paul uses here. On further review, that word references men below deck, rowing the ship, keeping it moving ahead! There are words for servant that Paul did not use, such as those who refer to 'slave' or indentured one, e.g., doulos. I welcome the opportunity to provide some forward direction in the church age!