From the Pastor’s Heart…

 9/14/08

John MacArthur tells the story of two men going opposite directions on a mountain trail. They meet each other head on with a steep cliff on one side and sheer rock on the other. They were completely unable to pass. The harder they tried, the more frustrated they became. Finally, without saying a word, one man simply laid down and let the other man walk on top of him. MacArthur says that that illustrates kindness – that one doesn’t mind getting walked on if it benefits someone else.

Well, in truth, the biblical word ‘kind’ means ‘useful’ or ‘serving.’ It has the idea of sacrificing yourself so that you might be useful to others. Christ was the perfect example of that when He told each of us to ‘take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for My yoke is easy and My burden (load) is light’ (Matthew 11:29-30).

Paul tells us that when we taste the kindness of others it should spur us on to be kind ourselves.

Joyce and I want you as a congregation to know how very blessed we were at the ‘pastor appreciation’ dinner on Sunday night. Your gracious kindness to us through cards, letters, poems, etc. were so very much appreciated. While it is impossible to thank everyone for each individual act, or to thank everyone involved in the dinner or the ‘inspired’ program, we pray that this ‘thank you’ and our heartfelt recognition of your kindness will express to you our love for each of you.

It is a joy to be your pastor,