Easter Is a Great Time to Jump In!!

Why do so many people, even in the south, just come to church on Easter.  It could be that their only identification with the Lord is the crucifixion and the resurrection story.  It’s what I like to call “getting your toes wet” but not jumping totally in the water.  When I was a young lad my family had a lot on Spring River in northern Arkansas.  On that lot we could camp, and use it as a place to swim in Spring River (which year around is about 58 degrees).  The most fun for me at the start of the year was jumping into the river by running as hard as I could and going in all at once.  Of course, the shock was very real as the 58 degree water hit my body.  Usually a very loud “oh my goodness” would force it’s way through my teeth and I would immediately come up and say, “C’mon in.  The water is great!”  To which the others in our family would say, “You are crazy!”  Then I would watch as some of them would approach the water at the bank and stick their foot in and say, “no way!”   Basically their big toe was telling the rest of their body to stay out of the water because it sensed it was too cold.  Most of the time the message sent by the big toe was well received, so they would not swim at all, and I ended up swimming by myself.

You may say, “sounds like their big toe was smart!”  To which I would reply, it just kept them from enjoying the water.  No swimming because of a lack of faith and a lack of want to.  Those people who attend church only on Easter is kind of the same scenario as the river story.  They are sticking their big toe in but not willing to totally immerse themselves in the “church thing.”  They begin to feel like they want to come to church on Easter, but that is it.  Their church life is on hold until the next year.  So they go about the rest of the year watching others participate in their faith and never immersing themselves in the action of serving and ministering through the local church.  Of course, we give them information about things that are going on, asking them to reconsider, but they think it is too much of a shock for their lifestyle.   So they stay on the shore and never get to “swim.”  Sad, because the water IS so great and the fellowship is so awesome.  So, what do we who are in the church (water) do?  We keep on serving (swimming), and we continue to invite them to try it out.  Every year, without missing, I would jump in to the river and then invite the others to jump in also.  Why?  Because it was more fun to get them to swim and then spend time together.   In church life we should do the same thing.  Keep serving and keep inviting.  Never stop!!!  This year is no different.  We are going to have a great time of celebration on April 5 at 11:00 a.m. and it will be a great time to invite someone, once again, to try church out.  I can assure you your efforts to get others to come to our services will not be a waste of time.  You will give them the opportunity to hear some great music and hear the Word of God preached in a very special Easter message.  Of course, every year we are going to invite them to jump in!!   They may say no, but they may say yes.  Lifting up the name of Jesus is always worth the effort and the sacrifice.  Happy Easter!!  He is risen!!!   He is risen, Indeed!!

The Pilgrimage continues

David Warren

McFarland: The dream that could be....

I watched a great movie last week, entitled McFarland.  It is based on the true story of a high school cross country team in California at McFarland High School.  The movie tells of the struggle of a high school football coach to redefine his career in coaching and in that redefining he finds himself again a coach.  Kevin Costner, of course, makes his character come to life and and the movie takes us through the inception and continued development of the cross country team at McFarland High School.  McFarland school has long since been considered a high school without much hope for improvement and is written off as a school that cannot succeed in much of anything.  But then the dream...   Costner's character suddenly finds a new sport called cross country starting in high schools in California and births a cross country team made up of young men who are sons of migrant workers in that area.  In fact, the population of the town is known as a location to be the home of "pickers" who are mostly mexican.  The cultural divide between Costner's character and the members of his cross country team is wide, but over time narrows as Costner's rediscovers what it takes to coach anyone.  The dream he has for the boys he coaches comes to fruition as the team goes on to win the first ever state championship in cross country in California.  The dream is realized.....

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior, was a doctor. As such he was very interested in the use of ether. In order to know how his patients felt under its influence, he once had a dose administered to himself. As he was going under, in a dreamy state, a profound thought came to him. He believed that he had suddenly grasped the key to all the mysteries of the universe. When he regained consciousness, however, he was unable to remember what the insight was. Because of the great importance this thought would be to mankind, Holmes arranged to have himself given either again. This time he had a stenographer present to take down the great thought. The either was administered, and sure enough, just before passing out the insight reappeared. He mumbled the words, the stenographer took them down, and he went to sleep confident in the knowledge that he had succeeded. Upon awakening, he turned eagerly to the stenographer and asked her to read what he had uttered. This is what she read: "The entire universe is permeated with a strong odor of turpentine." 

Some times dreams are not all they are propped up to be.  But dreams are still important.  We dream, but then what happens?  We wake up.   J.M. Power said, "The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."  Acts 2:17 says  "in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."  Costner's character in the movie McFarland was in the latter years of his coaching career, but he was able to find a way to coach in an area, a sport, and a society that he didn't understand.  He had a dream and went to work to see it happen.  There is no doubt that most Christians believe these are the "last days" and that the Lord will return soon.  I agree.  So the Acts 2 scripture above is not outdated, it is current and relevant.  But where are the prophecies, where are the visions, where are the dreams?  All are locked in a sleep cycle that needs to wake up each of us to participate in that part we are made for.  

T.E. Lawrence once said, "All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for the many act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible..."

Can it be true?  Can day dreaming be a good thing?  Apparently so.  The definition of the word dream is-a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind 

during sleep.  The dream for me is what could be if I would apply myself to something and see it through.  You first see the dream, then put yourself in a position to affect the dream, and then see it come to pass.  That is the dream that could be...  Could be if we applied ourselves to it and worked to make it happen.  The first thing that drains the life out of a dream is the lack of hope.  For believers, hope is our necessary ingredient for everything we do.  Romans 5:3-5 says, 

The pilgrimage continues....

David Warren