pastoroncall.net » Wow http://pastoroncall.net Pastoral Services Thu, 09 Apr 2015 20:21:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.33 Lost and Found http://pastoroncall.net/lost-found/ http://pastoroncall.net/lost-found/#comments Mon, 25 Aug 2014 04:20:34 +0000 http://pastoroncall.net/?p=460 Took the Blue Line into the heart of Chicago the other day. Got off the train and went left instead of right as I was told. The person I was supposed to meet told me specifically to go right as soon as I got off the train, but it looked like more people were going […]

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Took the Blue Line into the heart of Chicago the other day. Got off the train and went left instead of right as I was told. The person I was supposed to meet told me specifically to go right as soon as I got off the train, but it looked like more people were going left, so I just followed them. I soon found myself standing on a street corner without any idea of where I was or which direction to go.

People were walking by, cars were driving by, the L train was making all sorts of noise up above, and there I stood totally lost. Why did I turn left instead of right? Why did I follow the crowd? Why didn’t I Google my location before I left so I would have an idea of where to go? Maybe I could use Scout on my phone, or ask somebody for directions. But, instead I just called the person I was supposed to meet; he told me to stay where I was and he would come and get me. We were talking on the phone and within a few minutes I could see him waving to me across the street. Wow, what a relief to see a friendly face that could guide me toward our destination.

I can’t think of a better way to describe how God works in our lives. How many times do we get lost because we made a wrong turn, or we were just following the crowd, or we just didn’t prepare properly. It’s nice to have a God we can call on when we find ourselves lost and not sure which direction to go, and in His own wonderful way He tells us to stay put. He will come and get us and lead us to where we are supposed to go.The Lord is our Shepherd who is always there to lead us, guide us, and show us the way. He is willing to leave everything behind when we are lost to come and get us and take us where we need to go. As that one song goes, ” I was once lost, but now I’m found!”

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]]> http://pastoroncall.net/lost-found/feed/ 0 An Antidote to Violence http://pastoroncall.net/antidote-violence/ http://pastoroncall.net/antidote-violence/#comments Mon, 18 Aug 2014 16:22:52 +0000 http://pastoroncall.net/?p=457 Everywhere you look these days there is violence to be seen and heard. It is truly a violent world we live in and it’s been that way since the beginning of time when Cain killed his brother Abel. The Bible is full of violence (read the Old Testament) and Jesus Himself was the victim of […]

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]]> Everywhere you look these days there is violence to be seen and heard. It is truly a violent world we live in and it’s been that way since the beginning of time when Cain killed his brother Abel. The Bible is full of violence (read the Old Testament) and Jesus Himself was the victim of extreme violence. When will it end, you ask? Unfortunately, as long as the human race is alive and well, there will be violence; there will always be the perpetrator and the victim. I remember watching the opening scene of the movie 2001 Space Odyssey; there were two tribes of human like ape creatures rummaging for food in a rocky valley full of dry bones. The two tribes just happen to run into to each other and immediately the male leader of each tribe starts to demonstrate violent behavior trying to scare the other tribe away from the hunting grounds. One male leader inadvertently grabs this huge leg bone from the ground and starts swinging it around as part of his violent demonstration. He accidentally hits the other male leader on the head who falls on the ground holding his head. The male leader with the leg bone continues to hit the other male leader until he stops moving. Suddenly, the victorious male leader throws the leg bone in the air and you see it rotating in slow motion. The next thing you see is a spaceship shaped like a leg bone rotating slowly in outer space. The implication is that no amount of modernization is able to eliminate violent human behavior.Technology is not the antidote to what unfortunately lies at the very core of our being. The only antidote I am aware of is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who Himself the victim of violence had these words to say to His perpetrators, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus also in the Garden of Gethsemane told Peter to put his sword away and then had the audacity to heal the person Peter struck with his sword trying to protect Jesus from the perpetrator who was coming to take Him away. The words and actions of Jesus are the only antidote to violence I know that can change a person from the inside out. The question is, are we willing to follow in His footsteps and allow that change to take place?

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