Church Family Update - April 16, 2020

First, some good news:

During the course of making phone calls yesterday, I discovered that yet another Ebenezer couple is pregnant! What great news!! I am not yet at liberty to say who it is but I can tell you that it’s not Marco (unless she knows something I don’t). Even in these trying times, God continues to bring new life and that’s something worth celebrating. 

Prayer Request:

Please be in prayer for the members of our congregation who are in the construction industry. This is an area that is hit particularly hard by this economic downturn and it affects a number of our Ebenezer families. 

A Devotional Thought: 

“The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45

If a cup gets bumped then whatever was in that cup comes out. The bumping doesn’t put the liquid in the cup, it brings it out. Right now I’m sitting on the couch drinking a delicious cup of coffee. If my son runs up and jumps onto the couch then the coffee will come out of the cup and onto my computer. That’s obvious. What's less obvious is what would come out of me if that happened.  

The answer is that whatever was already inside of me would come out. We’re all like cups and whatever we’re filled with, that’s what comes out when we’re bumped. In other words, we can’t blame our actions on our circumstances. Our actions simply reveal what was already in our heart. 

So if I’m walking around like a grump all day, I can't say, “Well, the only reason I’m acting this way is because I’m so sick of being stuck at home.” Wrong! The circumstances are simply revealing my inner grump who was already present inside me.

I know some people who get “bumped” and what spills out of them is love, grace, and compassion. That’s what I want to be like. They respond with kind words when they’re treated rudely. And they respond with compassion when faced with difficult circumstances. And they respond graciously when their son, who is practically exploding with energy and has been stuck in the house for a month, jumps on the couch and spills their coffee.

And how will I get to be like that? By filling myself up with love, grace, and compassion right now so that when I get bumped, that’s what comes out. 

Have a blessed day.

And try to enjoy the bumps along the way.

Pastor Jason