FROM THE PASTOR
This has been the first week since May that I have not had opportunity to spend time on the lake. Seemed odd but that’s how life goes occasionally. Oh, it wasn’t a totally unproductive week. I was able to accomplish considerable paperwork and accounting, I also ended up purchasing a 2018 Ford Explorer XLT to replace the Jeep Commander.
The Jeep rolled over 229,000 miles last week and I felt that with the number of miles I put on it each year, just perhaps, it was time to make the change. Fortunately, it’s still in excellent shape and my grandson is starting his junior year of high school so I thought I would ask him if he might want it. Needless to say, he (with his folks’ permission) accepted my offer in a heartbeat. So, today, after church, he and his dad are coming to Portage to pick it up.
I bought the Jeep when Evan was 6 off a lease his folks had just completed. Over the years I‘ve thought numerous times how nice it would be if it lasted long enough for it to be his first vehicle… mission accomplished. All this has had the effect of reminding me how important it is to pass something on to the next generation.
This gift happens to be a material object but it’s also important that we pass on wisdom, work ethic, the value of a spoken commitment, and especially faith. I used to hear people comment how their mom or dad or grandparent would say such and such to them. And I have to confess in many cases my response was. “Yeah, right”. But as I’ve gotten older the spoken word… one on one action… and the quiet reminders of those I owe so much to, have set themselves prominently into my life.
God, Himself, gave us the ultimate example in and through His Word concerning the importance of passing on WISDOM & TRUTH…
Psalm 78:1-7 (NASB)
1 Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
4 We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children,
6 That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children,
7 That they should put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments,
It’s nice to pass on an inheritance… but ‘things’ wear out” and ‘money’ gets spent or loses its value, but WISDOM & TRUTH carries on for all eternity.
Psalm 102:18 (NASB)
18 This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.
Thank you for your faithfulness. Pastor Larry
