by Pastor Linda Skinner
When I was about 8 years old, my mom had a heart attack and was in bed for about a month. It really scared me because she was my rock. Not only did she take care of me and love me, but she was always the picture of health and vitality. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t or wouldn’t do for me or anyone else. It frightened me to realize that she was not super-human but was vulnerable just like anyone else to illness and death.
The first day, my dad cooked breakfast and it was awful. He fried an egg, but it was so tough I couldn’t even cut it with a knife. You see, I was raised on a Chicken Ranch, so our eggs were always fresh. Dad turned the pan on the stove and walked out to the “egg house” and got an egg, came back inside, and broke it into the pan. It cooked in about 30 seconds and it was hard as shoe leather. (You can’t fast cook eggs, if you didn’t know that.) When I told him it was too tough, he said “just eat it, you’ll be fine.” I broke into tears. Mom called me into the bedroom and asked me what was wrong. I told her “that I was scared she was going to die, and we’d all starve to death.”
Of course, she got a good laugh at that one. But everything was a teaching time for my mom. So, she pulled out her Bible and read Matthew 6:25-27:
Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or stay away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Then she said something like – “Don’t be scared; your Heavenly Father will always be with you even if I’m not and he will make sure you don’t starve.” I don’t think I really understood what she was saying but I felt better. I don’t’ think it was her words as much as it was the strength of her faith. She had a faith that literally could move mountains and many times did. As a child, I don’t think I appreciated the strength of her faith, but it still impacted my life greatly.
When our faith becomes a central part of our life and literally “oozes” out of us, it has a profound impact on those around us.
This weekend Pastor David will be kicking off our new series, “Move It.” Using the Book of James, we will learn how genuine faith can only result in amazing works. Pastor David will lead us through the principles in James chapter 1.
Blessings,
Pastor Linda