Kim, who has a strong gift of discernment, I believe, has picked up on what I also saw as a very sudden mood change in Cinderella today, after she got out of the car driven by her new friend, Justin. George, her former companion, has not been seen with her for two weeks now and she says he is in and out of the hospital. Pray for the Holy Spirit to utterly crush all iniquity that might be just under the surface here!
Through His Holy Word, God has made us aware of the diabolical modus operandi of the crime scene we inhabit in this fallen world.
If there were ever an abortion to pray for, it should be this one; to prevent the birth of sin that grows up the devil child of our evil desires and brings forth death.
Lisa, a middle-aged woman, told me she needed more Advil for the pain of her multiple sclerosis. She said she had been sleeping on a bench when someone stole her MS medication. We gave her more Advil. Please pray for Lisa who covets our prayers!
I would not have believed someone would steal medication from a sleeping person if I had not been stranded overnight at O’Hare airport in Chicago by thunderstorms. While I tried to rest comfortably on the hard plastic seats, someone stole my coveted whale-watching hat from my sleeping face!
I acquired this hat on a whale-watching boat that took us to Stellwagen Bank, a marine sanctuary near Cape Cod. The humpback whales we saw that day were 50 feet long and a ton a foot. Amazing! They blow bubbles from the deep to confuse the fish they eat, so we would see a fizzing patch of green water on the surface just before the whale breached, rocking the whole boat. I have ever since imagined a bewildered Jonah floating in a patch of fizzing, green ocean, like Mountain Dew, just before he was swallowed.
Much worse than this theft of my treasured souvenir hat, of course, was the stealing of Lisa’s MS medicine; a poor, sick woman, homeless on the street, with so little left and yet someone took even her medicine from her! Sin is so despicable, pernicious, stopping at nothing!
Why do we go around entertaining sin?
As Charles Spurgeon once asked in a sermon, would we cherish and cradle in our arms the knife that was used to kill our brother? Of course not!
But that is exactly what our sin is, only worse – sin is the bloody knife that murdered our dear Lord and Savior!
Mr. Ford looked thinner today than I remembered ever seeing him. He asked me to come over and pray for him. He found a possible custodial job online and has applied for it. I give God praise for having brought him the job opportunity and I am calling upon our Lord in faith, remembering Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount:
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
(Matthew 7:9-10)
Father in heaven, I know you love Mr. Ford, know what he needs, and will protect him and provide for him. Because you are a good, good Father!
Then, Mr. Ford called me “reverend”. If he meant I revere God, ok, but to be clear, I don’t possess any clerical collars! At a Promise Keepers in Washington, DC, many years ago, a reverend told 50,000 of us men how the Holy Spirit would ask him in his prayers, “Do you have an anger problem?” He answered, like most men would, “Who, me?” Not long afterward, he was driving to a meeting and another driver took the last available parking spot just as he pulled up to it. So the reverend got out, went over to the other car, and violently motioned with his finger, in no uncertain terms, for the driver to “ROLL DOWN THE WINDOW!” The driver rolled down the window and asked him, “Is there a problem, Father?” He then realized he was still wearing his clerical collar. The Spirit asked him again at that moment, “do you have an anger problem?” To which the reverend replied, “I sure do, Lord! I sure do!”
May all of us be so convicted of our sins, even if it means wearing a clerical collar every day!
I pointed out the official reverend of our team, Pastor Mike. I really appreciate Mike, for a young fellow, even though he deliberately dribbles Starbursts in my path, knowing I am a Hershey guy for 26 years now! He spent a long time coaching some of us today on how to bear witness and will spend even more time in the class he is teaching this fall on the book “Tactics” by Greg Koukl. Don’t worry, Mike, I will bring lots of real candy!
Editorial Comment: Mike here inserting my two cents into this blog post. As another who "does not possess any clerical collars", I too deny the title "reverend" and "pastor".
Although I do fully admit to joyfully agitating our faithful blogger Jeff with non-Hershey produced candy.
But what scares me is that this image may become a reality the more time Jeff and I spend together!
Thank you though for the Tactics plug!
We had a new team member come help us today, praise God! Welcome, Tracy! We had some people unable to come this Saturday due to ill health or work, so it was the Lord’s timing for Tracy to come and help us minister when she did. All I can tell you, Tracy, is the Lord often serves us whenever we are inclined to think we are serving Him. He showed this in the washing of his disciples’ feet in John 13 and He is still humble and kind to his servants today. What a wonderful Master we have the privilege to serve!
And that is the Word on the Street!
~Jeff Mason
For more information, or to learn how to join us in reaching people for Jesus, please email Living Water’s Director of Outreach, Mike Bongo, at mikeb@livingwatercc.com and he will get you plugged in! You will be blessed as you become a blessing to others!