FIRST PLACE IN THE HEART

I used to laugh with a friend about what we were going to be when we grew up. It seemed like a funny thing to say in college, but it probably became less and less amusing as the years rolled by. My answer for a long time was that I wanted to decide by the time I was fifty years old and then I wanted to be it for five years and then promptly retire. It is becoming apparent to me that I really do not know what I am going to be when I grow up. I cannot tell you all I believe He wants me to be or where all I think He is going to lead me. I can only pray that I will have the faith and courage to say whatever, wherever. I hope I will be like the middle-ager who hit a double while playing baseball with his kids. He was on second. His breath was on first. But his heart was roaring around third toward home.

I say unreservedly, wherever is worth going. At times I have remained behind only to find myself surrounded with nothing. But sometimes I have also left all to go with Him and I have known His everything. I am convinced if I would always go I would always be glad.

Wherever it takes you—go;
Whichever the task—do it;
Wherever the burden—accept it;
Whenever it calls—answer it;
Whichever the lesson—learn it;
However dark the path—follow Him,
Because wherever He takes you,
It is worth it.

—Bob Benson "In Quest Of The Shared Life"

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 16:24-25).

Our Lord is with us on our journeys. He is there when we are home. He sits with us at our table. He knows about funerals and weddings and commencements and hospitals and jails and unemployment and labor and laughter and rest and tears. He knows because He is with us—He comes to us again and again—until we can say, "It’s You! It’s You!" —Selected

"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death" (Philippians 3:10).

I may never be as clever as my neighbors down the street,
I may never be as wealthy as some other men I meet;
I may never have the glory that some other men have had,
But I've got to be successful as a little fellow's dad.
There are certain dreams I cherish that I'd like to see come true.
There are things I would accomplish ere my working time is through.
But the task my heart is set on is to guide a little lad,
And to make myself successful as that little fellow's dad.
I may never get earth's glory; I may never gather gold;
Men may count me as a failure when my business life is told;
But if he who follows after is a Christian, I'll be glad,
For I'll know I've been successful as a little fellow's dad.

—Unknown Author

Rev. Larry W. Greiner

On a recent Sunday morning, as I was preparing for our youth worship service, a young man walked into the room and said, "Hi, Rev. Larry." It was Pat, our Korean American soldier back from Iraq! We looked at him in shock, as he hadn’t told us he was coming. He wanted to surprise us, and indeed he did!

Standing before us was an answer to our prayers (and yours). Pat looked well, and we asked him to give his testimony. He shared many of the things I had written about in previous "Korean Korners"— how he had marched through Iraq to Baghdad with numerous encounters with the enemy, facing death on two occasions. He told how many of the American soldiers had written Scripture verses on the sides of their tanks and vehicles. Pat, who was commander and driver of one of the vehicles in his Brigade, had written on his vehicle, "For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways" (Psalm 91:11). He said that every morning he woke with the thought, "This might be the day I die."

Psalm 91 was the Scripture his mother had told him to cling to during the war. He said other soldiers had claimed it as well. Pat read that Psalm each day, and committed his physical life into the Lord’s hands. He knew that he was one bullet away from his eternal home.

Pat closed by telling us there were no atheists in his outfit when the war finally began. We are thankful that the Lord spared Pat. He has a great testimony for Christ. Please continue to pray for him as he returns to his camp in South Carolina to complete his service to his country. The greatest joy is knowing that Pat is also faithful in his service for his God and King.

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness making everything in its vicinity 
freshen into smiles. —Washington Irving