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"So Ananias went and found Saul" (Acts 9:17).
Edrie is from Dominica and moved to the Boston area in the late eighties. Several years later she was expectant with an unplanned pregnancy. A pastor's wife, who was also a visiting nurse, expressed care to her during her prenatal checkups. She invited her to church and it was there that Edrie accepted the Lord.
Though their relationship was of brief duration Edrie remembers this pastor's wife's name was Heidi. Shortly thereafter Edrie moved, along with her infant son Alvin, to Taunton Massachusetts where I pastored at the time. Her pastor called me and asked if I would follow up.
I
called Marcia (to the right in the photo), a dedicated member of the
church, and asked if she would look into the matter and see what we
could do. Within days Marcia brought Edrie and Alvin to church and they
have been attending ever since. Marita, to the left in the photo,
became like a grandmother to Alvin and many others in the church
expressed love as well. Edrie has relied on the women of the church
(especially Marita and Marcia) for transportation and other means of
support. The men in the church have demonstrated to Alvin examples of
godly masculinity, so needed by a boy raised by a single mother.I saw Alvin, who is now 13, last weekend. He has accepted the Lord as well and openly expressed his desire to serve the Lord. We shared for a few minutes and I reinforced my trademark challenge, "Stay faithful".
The work in God's Kingdom is advanced when individual, very ordinary people, merely obey the Lord's call in their lives. It's the accumulative impact of God's servants like Heidi, Marcia, Marita and many others who care for others. All over the world today this is happening and many of you are a part of it. Your labor is scarcely recognized but is critically significant.
Ananias is the man God called to minister to Saul (Paul) shortly after his miraculous conversion. He was initially quite reluctant yet he obeyed the Lord. He had an essential role in welcoming Saul into the Christian fellowship.
Today let me again remind you of a great Scriptural promise in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians that I committed to memory many years ago. "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Amen!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen C. Weber
Brooksyne's prayer: Jesus, in the Gospels You are often represented as a Shepherd who gently tends to the needs of Your lambs. Even as You spoke to Ananias about his need to go after Saul and help him on his new-found spiritual walk, You also appoint us to be under-shepherds who care for the needs of those in the body. There are a good number among our flock who are frail and in need of guidance, understanding and genuine compassion. Help us to seek them out and generously give of our time, our love, and our resources.
Note: Yesterday I received a thoughtful note from a sister in the Lord and I see that the final verse I selected today is also related to her observation. She wrote in regard to yesterday's message about the words from Hebrews 3:12: "See to it, brothers..." "I loved the idea of your sermon and even how you told us to reflect on these words but I found it difficult to feel like the words were really directed at me." This was my response to her:
I can't recall for sure but I very likely addressed the men as "brothers" and the women as "sisters" when I gave the personal challenge based on the verse.
On a technical note the correct translation would be "brothers" as there is a separate Greek word for both "sisters" and "friends". However I don't believe at all that the writer of Hebrews was excluding women from his heartfelt challenge! I normally use translations such as NIV, NASV and KJV. The New Living Translation states "dear brothers and sisters" which is great but "and sisters" is not in the original text (as noted in the footnote).
Finally in regard to comments that I made the last several days concerning the revised Massachusetts marriage license an alert reader sent me the following site that has a copy of the new form for any who may be interested.
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; and the King James Version.
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