A real life catastrophe...

So the other day I’m riding up the road on an interstate, not quite in the boonies but you could see them from where I was. I’m driving along at highway speed and up in front of me, I saw the tell tale brake lights of about 15 vehicles in front of me suddenly coming on as cars, a tractor trailer, a school bus and other vehicles are slamming on brakes for some problem in the roadway I was not yet able to see. When I saw the tractor trailer begin to fish tale slightly next to the school bus, I thought “Oh this is not going to end well!” Fortunately the trucker did an amazing job of straightening out the truck, the school bus driver stayed in her lane and miraculously none of the other drivers over reacted and there was not a 15 car pileup.   The blue smoke from tires quickly dissipated and traffic keep flowing with some cars still veering left or right. I figured this meant there was some kind of debris in the roadway that was making people swerve. As I got to the spot mere seconds later, I saw the problem. A flock of about 15 terrified ducklings was going back and forth in one lane of traffic, disoriented and tragically confused. They were scurrying one way only to have a car zoom by and they’d reverse direction unexpectedly. Their choice of timing happened to be when all those cars were passing through an otherwise clear stretch of highway. It was terrorizing the ducklings and also the motorists who suddenly were risking life and limb to spare the lives of these ducklings; attempting to make several thousand pound vehicles do things only professional stunt drivers would attempt. Keep in mind this is all happening on a highway with a posted 65 mile an hour speed limit. As I avoided the ducklings with my vehicle, a quick glance at the roadway sadly showed there were a number of ducklings and or parents who were not so fortunate as the roadway was littered with feathers and bodies. I glanced in my rear view mirror in time to see an SUV swerve and miraculously drive over the flock – straddling them with his tires and I don’t know how but he missed them, I think only by the grace of God! 

As the intensity of the near catastrophe I had just witnessed and been a part of with those other drivers began to subside; I finally exhaled and a flood of emotions and thoughts began to flow. The drama was so intense I blurted out some of my thoughts even though I was the only human in the car! Since I had a long drive ahead of me, I thought about that scene from a spiritual point of view. One of my thoughts was the irony of priorities. Here were ordinary humans, swerving all over the road or trying to stop on a dime; making a split-second decision and risking a major accident that could have very well meant major injury and possibly even death for them or others in order to save the lives of some ducks. Now before you think I’m heartless and don’t care about the poor animals, while I’m no Dr. Doolittle, I avoided the ducks because I saw the warnings of the conditions and was able to do so safely. If however I’d have been a few seconds faster and was forced to choose between my safety and the well being of those poor ducks, I’m sure the ducks would have lost. I was taught that people are more valuable than animals and certainly possessions. God’s word makes it clear this is the proper way to prioritize as mankind was the crowing act of God’s creative work. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care for animals, but we should not place animals above people in terms of importance. Our society doesn’t have these same priorities and there are numerous examples where people suffer so animals might prosper.

As I was driving after this intense near miss, I thought about the actions of those well meaning drivers and I looked at that little group of lost ducklings, without father or mother to guide them, running scared to and fro, terrorized and traumatized  and I thought of the compassion of our Lord Jesus who looked upon the multitudes with a gut wrenching view of the multitudes because they were weary (some translations say harassed), and scattered,  like sheep having no shepherd (Matt. 9:36). My next thought was that many Christian people arguably might care more for a flock of ducklings than for people who are doomed to an eternity in Hell. Many Christians would risk life and limb for those 15 ducks faster than for 15 lost neighbors on their street. Convicting isn’t it? At least it is to me. Yet I’m proud to tell you that many Christ following disciples here at Calvary are moved with compassion for those lost sheep who have no shepherd and they demonstrate this by their faithful service to Jesus.

This past week, 46 of our people left the comforts of home on two different mission trip opportunities, one group of 9 adults to Waterville Maine to work with Living Water Community Church in a place that is 98% un-churched. The other team of 31 youth and 6 chaperones went to serve in Philadelphia as part of a large mission opportunity involving a number of churches working in the inner city. I am so proud of Calvary as the bride of Christ because you consistently demonstrate your commitments to give, to serve and to go to minister and reach people who are more lost than those poor ducks. The urgency of the task for those who are in danger of perishing without Christ demands we risk everything to save them as that is exactly what Christ did for me and for you so that we could avoid a real life catastrophe. In our neighborhood, in our city, county, state, nation and even to the uttermost parts of the earth; people need the Lord. At our annual meeting of Southern Baptist Churches, we were challenged that every church needs to embrace one of the 3800 yet unreached people groups with no access to the gospel in order to win them to Christ. I accepted that challenge and believe God would have us do that here at Calvary. What will it take to move us? The image of those little ducks on the brink of disaster, scurrying back and forth is etched in my mind; but oh the joy of seeing them saved and rescued is thrilling. How the Lord delights when we do His will in reaching out to win those He died to save. How He delights in a church who engages in helping people avoid an eternal, real life catastrophe called Hell! By the grace of God, we’ll see God do the impossible in saving those people if we’ll be faithful to take all measures necessary to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save… from my little corner of the world to yours and theirs…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

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Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

A willingness to get involved...

I’ve often wondered why God has wired me the way He has and believe it or not, I’m actually kind of a shy person.  I take after my mom more on that naturally than my outgoing father who’s never met a stranger. Some of my actions comes from my training and background in law enforcement, but I believe God draws me to intervene and get involved in stuff that quite frankly the average person would think is none of my business. You see police officers, firefighters, emergency service workers like EMT’s, doctors and nurses are trained to get involved and respond when everyone else is just standing around. While that “get involved” mindset was enhanced with my police training, God has wanted that from me long before McAllen PD got their hands on me. As a college freshman, I was driving home from Liberty on the weekend and saw black smoke off in the distance. The cloud got larger and more intense as I kept driving and I’ll never forget rounding the curve and seeing a small truck next to a house that was engulfed in flames. The engine was on fire and the front tires had already begun to burn. I slung gravel as I sped up the driveway and ran to bang on the door to get someone’s attention. A man met me and I hollered his truck was on fire. He shared a few expletives at my news but I didn’t stand there waiting. I ran looking for a hose and only found two 5 gallon buckets and I became a one man bucket brigade. I’m not sure how, but I single handedly put out that fire with those two buckets while the man, his friend and his family stood watching. They never got involved to help even though it was their home that was in great jeopardy if that truck were to explode. Their fear paralyzed them from action and all they did the whole time was holler at me “you gonna get yourself blowed up boy…” I was thinking, “not if you’d get your rear in gear and help me!”

I share that story because in the last several days and weeks, God has given me the opportunity to get involved in people’s lives. A couple headed for divorce court, a young man at the end of his rope with no hope, a family experiencing the tragic death of a son, a woman trying to put the pieces of her life back together and looking for encouragement in the Lord. Honestly, fear of what might happen could paralyze this normally shy preacher, but by the grace of God, I got involved and the Lord is working in each of those situations. It had nothing to do with me, but is the grace of God and I’ve been merely a tool, an instrument in my Redeemer’s hands, a conduit of the grace of God. You might say – “good for you preacher, that’s your job” and then in your heart you’re thinking “boy I’m glad I don’t have to do any of that!” I hate to break it to you, but if God has saved you, He’s called you to get involved in people’s lives. The New Testament demonstrates that Jesus got involved in people’s lives, ordinary people going about their business, and Jesus got involved. Then he taught those He invested in to do the same with others. I love the passage in John 4:4 that says “But He (Jesus) needed to go through Samaria.” On the surface, that innocent little statement doesn’t mean much except that Jesus was a Jew and the Samaritans were half-breed Jews and the two groups hated each other more than feuding Hatfield’s & McCoy’s. No Jew went through Samaria even though it was the most direct route from Jerusalem in the south up to Galilee in the north. The Jews would go miles out of their way to avoid going through Samaria but Jesus needed to go there according to the Apostle John. Once you read the whole story, you learn why Jesus needed to go there. It was because He needed to meet a certain woman at the well and introduce Himself as the Messiah, the source of living water. Her life was gloriously transformed because Jesus got involved and went out of His way in order to do it. She in turn got her whole town worked up to come meet this Jesus – she got involved with others too!

The Apostle Peter, got involved in people’s lives. Paul, same thing – the Philippian jailer was about to commit suicide, the very man who beat Paul & Silas unjustly and put their feet in stocks, and Paul intervened by calling out to him before he fell on his sword. That jailer was gloriously saved and baptized that night as well as his entire family. The point is, God wants us to engage people. Two members here at Calvary told me stories  this week of how they were involving themselves in the lives of others. There are many other stories like that yet to be told as we live in a world of hurting people. Each Bible Study class should be investing in a family with our “boxes of love” efforts. We saw some of the fruit of that last week when 5 people were baptized & 3 members of one family were baptized who are a direct result of our church family getting involved in their lives. For those at Calvary who are intentionally getting involved in the lives of others, I want you to know how proud I am of you for being like Christ; taking “church” outside the walls of the building. I know “the people business” can be dirty, nasty work at times because of the sin in peoples’ lives, but when we involve ourselves and invest in others, God uses that to draw people to Him. Keep at it, keep investing and get involved in someone’s life, let God use you to be a conduit of God’s grace to that person who desperately needs for you to come their way. A couple of thousand years ago, Jesus needed to go through Samaria on a particular day, I wonder who God wants you to encounter today, tomorrow or next week? As you are passing through on the journey of life, your primary calling as a Christian is to share the good news and be a conduit of grace to others. As you do that, you honor your Savior who did that exact thing with you. Worship should not be something we do once a week on Sunday. Worship is walking with Jesus daily in obedience & as we go, dispensing grace to others.  I can tell you Satan doesn’t want you to get involved – he’ll be hollering at you the whole time “you gonna get yourself blowed up” – don’t listen to him. Obey your Lord and reach out to the people that God puts in your path and watch God literally perform miracles before your eyes. I’m looking forward to hearing your story of how you got involved in someone’s life for Jesus, how God used you to be a conduit of grace, from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

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Posted via email from Pastor Ralph