Set up!

Friday, January 23, 2009
Dear Fellow Travelers,
Today, I spent some time with a couple in my flock, and what a time we had. They are both 80 years old and truly love Jesus. When I walked into their den, I began to hear the familiar music of the Gaithers. My friends were sitting at their kitchen table, not three feet away from their small TV, glued, as it were, to the picture and, especially, to the music. Instead of interrupting, I sat down and joined them. Soon all three of us were crying, as we listen to David Ring speak these words (my version of them): “If you don’t like the way I am, be patient, as I am in the oven and God is in the kitchen, cookin’. One of these days, when He finishes cookin’, He will open the door of that oven, pull me out and say, ‘Well done thy good and faithful servant’” (In case you don’t know, David has Cerebral Palsy!)! Anyway, when he finished speaking, he began to sing this hymn (please read the words carefully, even sing them, if you will): There is coming a day, when no heart aches shall come,
No more clouds in the sky, No more tears to dim the eye, All is peace forever more, On that happy gol-den shore, What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be, When my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face, The One who saved me by His grace; When He takes me by the hand, And leads me through the Promised Land, What a day, glorious day that will be. There'll be no sorrow there,
No more burdens to bear, No more sickness, no pain, No more parting over there; And forever I will be,
With the One who died for me, What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be, When my Jesus I shall see, And I look upon His face, The One who saved me by His grace; When He takes me by the hand, And leads me through the Promised Land, What a day, glorious day that will be!
When you are sitting with two people who are 80 years old, have been married for over 63 years, who have one foot in heaven and the other on a banana peel, and really love Jesus, and they call you “pastor,” well, let me say it this way, the Holy Spirit set me up for quite a time! In those precious moments, my mind was not pondering predestination, election, choice, grace, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Calvinism, Arminianism, or sanctification; instead, I was basking in the fruit of the glorious fact that I have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; I, even I!
These words are still ringing in my heart: When He takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. And forever I will be, with the One who died for me! My, my, even the thought that One would die for me!! I dare not ask, “Why?”
I guess I just want you to know that I am very thankful that the Holy Spirit set me up today and, in doing so, reminded me of His indescribable gift. Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. All His doing!! Hallelujah!