National Emergency Dispatchers Week 2024

Philippians 3

¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

This week's blog is dedicated to our essential 911 Operators of emergency services that are the first ones we speak with in a crisis situation. This week is National Dispatchers Week 2024.

Make sure to reach out to them and thank them for everything that they do, just don't call 911 to contact them, find their non-emergency number.

 

Dispatcher's Prayer

Lord, They're in our hands tonight,

Yours and mine -

Those guys who keep the peace and fight the crime.

They're men, with wives and families,

and feelings, too.

They give themselves for our protection, those men in blue.

I know my part in this is crucial, too.

I must inform those men in blue,

When trouble strikes, and where.

And send them quickly, no time to spare.

*

I cannot see the scene from where I sit.

My eyes and ears scan the console, brightly lit.

I must wait in blind suspense

to hear each "ten-four,"

As they let me know they have

survived one time more.

*

I know a part of them that few others ever see -

Their eyes reflecting scenes depicting how cruel life can really be.

A battered child, a senseless wreck, or a murderer set free,

A brother-in-arms shot down, never more be.

*

I'll make the coffee, and keep it fresh and strong.

They'll stop by for a cup or two, but not for long.

Another call, a plea, or just a happenstance.

Duty will beckon, "Come, time to take another chance."

*

I'll answer the phone and questions too.

And dig out the stats and records they ask me to.

I'll type the reports and of course, joke with them some.

I'll even put off that reporter who dials in on "nine-one-one."

*

Let me, Lord, speak, calm and clear,

To those out there while I'm in here.

I'm their link, and they are mine

In this partnership of fighting crime.

*

It seems to me that we're all a team -

They, You, and me, I mean.

I'll do my best, and they will too.

But, still Lord, we need You to see us through.

Amen.

Post Easter Attitude and Gratitude

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

As I had my silent time with God this morning, like many people I asked the Lord how maintain that Easter feeling of joy and love? I asked how I continue this feeling on a Monday morning, let alone days into the future. Many of us that return to work the day after Easter may find ourselves tired from the busy and well fed Easter schedule.  

As a pastor who had a full sanctuary yesterday, I have even asked myself: "how do I keep that Easter feeling going, how do I minister God's Spirit in such a way as people will want to repeat their worship attendance"?

Pastor Hal Seed writes in an article in Church Leaders.com called "4 Ways to Keep Easter Guests Coming Back" about how to keep the Easter feeling going on in the church after Easter Sunday. 

1.     Prepare for them

2.     Pray for them

3.     Connect with them

4.     Give then a reason to return

These steps are not only excellent for having visitors return to church, but can be used in our retaining that Easter feeling long after Easter Sunday. Beloved, Easter is not a one day experience, but rather and experience in which we are made a new people. 

1.     Prepare yourself to meet people, by preparing your attitude and your actions prior to gracing the day.

2.     Pray for people before you begin your day, pray for people during your day and pray for people as your day is concluding.

3.     Connect with people and work on building relationship rather than tearing down a relationship.

4.     Give people a reason to return after meeting you, make your departing conversation even better than your introduction conversation. 

May "Attitude and Gratitude" be your mantra going into the future, long after Easter Sunday. Because of the cross and the empty tomb, we are not just a one day Easter people, we are an Easter people eternal 

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Pastor Tim.

Twenty Dollars and Eighty Five Cents

Proverbs 10:9 ESV 

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

There is a story about an armored car that turned over, dumping its contents all over the city street. Several people were seen swarming over the accident scene, picking up the money that had swept over the street.

Immediately after only two people came forward and gave the authorities the money that they had picked up, one being a sixth grade boy with eighty five cents and the other a mother of six who picked up twenty dollars in quarters. When asked why they returned the money, the woman and the boy stated that the money did not belong to them and turning it in was the right thing to do.

Authorities say that over $500.000 was taken off the street and all that was returned was twenty dollars and eighty five cents. 

Brothers and Sisters, our treasure is not here on earth, it is within the Kingdom of Heaven. My prayer for us all this week is that we will be like the young boy and the mother of six, two people that truly walk in integrity and truly understand the straight path that God has placed them on.

This is the day that the Lord has made

Pastor Tim

The Real St. Patrick's Day.

Today is St. Patrick's Day and many of us will be wearing green, attending parades, and eating corned beef and cabbage dinners. But what of the real reason for celebrating St. Patrick's day that is much more than a holiday to celebrate Ireland.

St. Patrick as a young lad had been captured and was sent to Ireland as a slave. Patrick was able to escape, but had a vision from God to return to Ireland as a missionary to those that had once enslaved him. Patrick returned as a missionary and baptized many and started several monasteries. Here are some awesome St. Patrick's Day aids to the visual items of the day.

The Shamrock: He used the shamrock, a three-leaved clover which grows all over the island, to explain the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity ie the theory that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are each separate elements of just one entity.

St. Patrick removing the snakes from Ireland: It is, however, very unlikely there were ever any snakes in Ireland! This particular legend of Saint Patrick is easy to translate as snakes were sacred to the Druids; their banishment reflects St Patrick's success at removing pagan influence from the island.

As we celebrate St. Patrick's Day and put on all our green and orange clothing, may we celebrate the true missionary work and saving souls for Jesus Christ that Patrick completed in Ireland.

May God grant you always...
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.

Sources: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/legend-of-Saint-Patr…

1. Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation (San-Francisco: Harper, 1984), 235.

The Out of This World Blessing

Psalm 5:12 ESVFor you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

This week we speak of Leonard Nimoy who portrayed the Vulcan science officer Mr. Spock in the Star Trek television series and movies. Did you know that his iconic Vulcan salute  had religious beginnings that are used to this very day.

In his autobiography I Am Not Spock, Nimoy wrote that he based it on the Priestly Blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the salute. The letter Shin here stands for El Shaddai, meaning "Almighty (God)", as well as for Shekinah and Shalom. Nimoy wrote that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue, where he saw the blessing performed and was impressed by it.

Mr. Nimoy had the right idea with the utilization of this salute for his Vulcan character, in the fact that we are called to bless others in the name of God the Father and Creator of all.  Am I asking that you approach everyone from now on with this greeting, sure if you want to. More importantly is the prayer that you will greet all that you meet with God's Love and God's Blessing.

Live Long and Prosper! This is the day that the Lord has made.

The blessing gesture which was the inspiration for the Vulcan salute

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_salute

Finding Your Wings

And The Oscar Goes...........

Micah 6:8 ESV 

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Philippians 4:13ESV

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Last night the Oscar Awards were televised and many were awarded the prized gold statue(s) in celebration and commemoration of their acting skills, and acting achievements. Some were awarded the golden statues in celebration and commemoration of their skills in making a movie look and sound realistic in appearance .

Yet, at the end of the day these awards and these actors were only portraying a certain event or a certain character(s). Often those is society will either live their live vicariously through the actors, and even confuse some of them with reality.

The message that I want to communicate this morning is in the fact that those of us that are not winning gold statues are not to be envious, but rather to praise the eternal reward that awaits those that follow Christ Jesus.

None of the awards last night went to those that clothed and fed the poor, those that helped to heal the sick, those that form relationships with the downtrodden. As we journey through this season of Lent we must focus on the cross in which Christ Jesus sacrificed himself for our eternal reward.

A golden statue can never give one the strength that they need to endure, it can never give us the will to go out as the Body of Christ to the world and for the world. We that follow Christ go out in ministry not for the acclamation, not for the pats on the back, but rather in the fact  it is who God has made and called us to be. 

Beloved, my prayer for you today is in the knowledge that we that follow Christ have already achieved the victory and that Christ paid the price for our eternal reward. this prize can never be represented or fulfilled by a gold statue, only a wooden cross and an empty tomb achieved that.

You are all winners in Christ, go out today shouting and claiming the victory.

Pastor Tim.