Ok--
Today is Pastor Dan's 60th birthday. I know most of you have no clue who I am referring to, but this is why. Yesterday I hurt someone i really love cause I used him as my subject in what i thought was a funny connotation. I ruined what could and should have been a great Saturday for us. So this person is from my way past, when i was more young and foolish. I am no longer young.
I do not want to gush on about him, except to say when God gives him a message for you (whether Pastor realizes it or not) you had better listen.It means things are brewing and if you want a part, you better get prepared. Anything Pastor Dan does is "bathed in prayer", which means he makes sure it is not his wish, but Gods demand.
My favorite sermon he ever did was "Give me $1.62 of Jesus" meaning i want all the benefits but none of the responsibilities of following the Christ. I also used to wear a pin to tease him that said, "how much can i get away with and still go to heaven."
In short I played with God--wanting the healing and the good and fun fellowshippy bits, but not wanting to have to hard times and to do necessary changes. I wanted the love, but wanted to treasure and nurture hate in my heart for every man on earth, because I had no way of knowing the rejection was not about my looks (which i believed) but all to do with the poison Ii was spreading with my evil thoughts and words.
Pastor Dan loved me. His wife Sharon loved me.They gently showed me that there might be a life outside of Camden. They showed me it wasn't fair to believe God was the same kind of man i had known on earth. They showed me I had a purpose and it was ok to be a real woman. With so many family members around, it was hard to show the new me I was becoming through the renewing of my mind. I would be the person God wanted me to be when i could devote my whole heart to the person God saw in me. Sharon was real, and I saw I could mess up and whilst people didn't like what I did, they could still love who I was.
Camden is a tough place, especially if you are not "from there". Not everyone liked him, but not everyone liked any minister in any church in Camden, I had to learn not to take it personally.
Also before we get to carried away over a birthday, I will tell you, sometimes the great man was wrong. I know this because he never could convince me I was ever wrong. It was hard for me cause I had been raised Roman Catholic and now I was trying to be a good Wesleyan. Pastor Dan taught me to forget all that and just follow Jesus.
I lost touch with this family and through the miracle that is Facebook I found them again. We do not talk every day. I hail him when I need him. He is fine with his family, and his Jesus.
What a legacy to everyone he meets. They can say as the old hymn goes,"I've just seen Jesus".
In a sin-sick world that demands proof of God within the confines of their senses, the change in me should well point the way. We are all beggars showing other beggars where to find bread. Pastor Dan is one of the Master Bakers of the staff of life. Jesus gave him the recipe personally. Not one batch has been rejected.
Isn't that just like his Jesus?
God bless.
Today is Pastor Dan's 60th birthday. I know most of you have no clue who I am referring to, but this is why. Yesterday I hurt someone i really love cause I used him as my subject in what i thought was a funny connotation. I ruined what could and should have been a great Saturday for us. So this person is from my way past, when i was more young and foolish. I am no longer young.
I do not want to gush on about him, except to say when God gives him a message for you (whether Pastor realizes it or not) you had better listen.It means things are brewing and if you want a part, you better get prepared. Anything Pastor Dan does is "bathed in prayer", which means he makes sure it is not his wish, but Gods demand.
My favorite sermon he ever did was "Give me $1.62 of Jesus" meaning i want all the benefits but none of the responsibilities of following the Christ. I also used to wear a pin to tease him that said, "how much can i get away with and still go to heaven."
In short I played with God--wanting the healing and the good and fun fellowshippy bits, but not wanting to have to hard times and to do necessary changes. I wanted the love, but wanted to treasure and nurture hate in my heart for every man on earth, because I had no way of knowing the rejection was not about my looks (which i believed) but all to do with the poison Ii was spreading with my evil thoughts and words.
Pastor Dan loved me. His wife Sharon loved me.They gently showed me that there might be a life outside of Camden. They showed me it wasn't fair to believe God was the same kind of man i had known on earth. They showed me I had a purpose and it was ok to be a real woman. With so many family members around, it was hard to show the new me I was becoming through the renewing of my mind. I would be the person God wanted me to be when i could devote my whole heart to the person God saw in me. Sharon was real, and I saw I could mess up and whilst people didn't like what I did, they could still love who I was.
Camden is a tough place, especially if you are not "from there". Not everyone liked him, but not everyone liked any minister in any church in Camden, I had to learn not to take it personally.
Also before we get to carried away over a birthday, I will tell you, sometimes the great man was wrong. I know this because he never could convince me I was ever wrong. It was hard for me cause I had been raised Roman Catholic and now I was trying to be a good Wesleyan. Pastor Dan taught me to forget all that and just follow Jesus.
I lost touch with this family and through the miracle that is Facebook I found them again. We do not talk every day. I hail him when I need him. He is fine with his family, and his Jesus.
What a legacy to everyone he meets. They can say as the old hymn goes,"I've just seen Jesus".
In a sin-sick world that demands proof of God within the confines of their senses, the change in me should well point the way. We are all beggars showing other beggars where to find bread. Pastor Dan is one of the Master Bakers of the staff of life. Jesus gave him the recipe personally. Not one batch has been rejected.
Isn't that just like his Jesus?
God bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment