What would you do if someone walked up to you today and said, “I want to start following Jesus!”?

Most of us would practically trip over ourselves in excitement. We’d rush to remove every barrier, soften every word, and smooth the path to make following Jesus as easy and accessible as possible. We'd say, “Just follow the Romans Road, agree with these truths, pray this prayer, and boom you’re in!”

But what does Jesus do when someone says that to Him?

Let’s look together at Luke 9:57–62.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

It’s shocking, isn’t it? Three people approach Jesus. Three people seem ready to commit. And what does Jesus do? He appears to talk them out of following Him.

Now, hear me clearly: we absolutely should do everything we can to bring as many people to Christ as the Father is calling. But what we’ve often done in modern evangelicalism is reduce the call of Christ to a formula—an agreement to a few truths, a quick prayer, and a lifetime membership card to heaven.

But Jesus never did that.
Following Jesus is not merely agreeing with Jesus.
Following Jesus means surrendering everything—our wants, our needs, our dreams, our identities, and our plans—for the sake of His will.

He tells us plainly: Count the cost.

1. Following Christ is Uncomfortable

Jesus begins with what seems like an extreme statement:
“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

He’s saying, “Even animals have a home. But if you follow Me, you may not.” Jesus, the Lord of Heaven, became homeless on Earth. The Christian life is not cushioned. It is not custom-tailored to your preferences. It is not easy, clean, or always cozy.

As John Stott wrote:
“The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers—the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish… People have covered themselves with a thin veneer of Christianity. Enough to be respectable. Not enough to be uncomfortable… Their religion is a great soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its shape to suit their convenience.”

Let me ask you:
When was the last time you followed Christ into an uncomfortable situation?
When was the last time you obeyed even when it cost you ease or comfort?

2. Following Christ is Ultimate

The second man offers a seemingly reasonable request:
“Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

It’s important to understand that this likely wasn’t about a funeral already underway. In Jewish tradition, this phrase could mean “Let me care for my father until he passes”—perhaps years down the road. Jesus replies with stunning urgency: “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Was Jesus being harsh? No. He was being honest. Following Him is not just important, it’s ultimate.

He must come before even the most sacred duties, before family traditions, before cultural expectations.

We often want Jesus as a life coach or consultant—someone we can loop in when convenient.

But as Tim Keller once said:
“Most people want Jesus as a consultant rather than a King. But He doesn’t come that way.”

So I’m not asking you, “Is Jesus important to you?”
I’m asking: Is He ultimate?
When was the last time you chose Christ over something else?
Not something bad, but something good. Something important. But not ultimate.

3. Following Christ is Urgent

A third person says:
“I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

This echoes the call of Elisha in 1 Kings 19. When Elijah called him, Elisha asked to say goodbye to his family first. Elijah permitted it.

So why doesn’t Jesus?
Because Jesus is greater than Elijah. And His call is more urgent.

This man may have even been trying to use Scripture to justify delaying obedience.

Have you ever done that?
“God wants me to take care of this first.”
“There’s always time to serve later.”
Or the classic: “The Bible says we’ll always have the poor among us…”

But Christ says, “No. The kingdom of God is not something you fit into your schedule. It is the schedule.”

When was the last time you were too busy following Jesus to do anything else?
Not fitting Him into the margins, but giving Him the center?

Following Christ Costs Everything

Let me give you a picture.
Would you pay $5,000 for a cheeseburger?
Of course not.
Would you pay $5,000 for a brand-new 5,000 sq. ft. house?
Absolutely because you know its value.

Would you pay $100 for a candy bar?
No.
But would you pay $100 for a 3-karat diamond ring?
In a heartbeat.

You see, we intuitively understand what something is worth. And yet, when it comes to Jesus, we often try to haggle. We say, “I’ll follow You… as long as I don’t have to give up that relationship.” “I’ll serve You… but don’t touch my time.” “I’ll obey… unless it makes me look weird.”

But Jesus never barters. He never lowers the price.
The cost of following Jesus is your life.
And that’s exactly what He paid for you.

There’s no such thing as a crossless Christianity.
Jesus wasn’t speaking metaphorically when He told His disciples to “take up your cross and follow Me.”
They knew what that meant. It was a death sentence.
And yet, they followed anyway.
Why?

Because He’s worth it.

Always.
Forever.

Our friend "M" said some things Sunday we should chew on for a little while. Here are a few that grabbed my attention and captured my imagination.

• "Imagine living in Marion and the closest church was in Mobile."
  • We take the blessing of church fellowship for granted. How much more would we value it if we had to drive 3-4 hours just to worship with other believers? Dietrich Bonhoeffer affirmed this saying,
    • "The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer...It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God's grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we  are allowed to live in commuity with Christian brethren." Life Together
• "Felt needs lead to open doors." (As she shared about the physical needs of a lady and her daughters.)
  • We are surrounded by individual facing challenges which we can help to meet. Each of those moments are opportunities to be a gospel bearing presence in the lives of those with whom we engage. Do not underestimate the power of entering into other's challenges with them. We have seen this lived out in real time as our Disaster Relief team has responded both locally and in distant places. Showing up to help in a moment of need creates openness to the gospel that may have not been present before.
    
    • Begin taking note of the opportunities around you and prayerfully watch for whether or not God may be at work in those situations to provide you an opportuinity to speak.
• "God's timing is not our timing." (As she shared about William Carey translating the Scriptures into this people's language in 1870 and there are just now children being raised in Christian homes.)
  • Our task is to faithfully plant the seeds of the gospel in the confidence God will bless faithfulness. We always pray to see the fruit of our labors, but we leave the result in the hands of God. It may be that the result of the faithful ways we follow God in the day-to-day of our lives will only be seen long after we are asleep in Jesus. The urgency to live with clarity about God's calling is sharpened by this realization. Let us not become weary in doing good!

She closed her remarks with these challenges.

• Seek intimacy with God. It is not what we might do for God that is on our Heavenly Father's mind, but how closely are we walking with Him each day. 
• Let us make the scope of our prayers reflect the scope of God's heart. As Paul prays in Epehsians 3:20 he reminds us God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." Are our prayers too small? Quite likely!

Let us faithfully hold the rope in prayer for our friend "M" with the sure confidence that our Heavenly Father has invited us into His good plans through her faithful life. 

I had the privelege and responsibility of giving the 2025 Commencement speech at Marion Academy. I'm posting my speech here for others to read, since I believe, it touched on something others have been feeling. I pray it encourages you to be more truly human.

Good evening, Marion Academy faculty, staff, board members, parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, pets, aunts twice removed (if that’s even a thing) and, of course, Laura Beth…

When Laura Beth asked me to speak at her graduation, I first felt excitement. I have known LB for the past 11 years and have watched her blossom into one of the most remarkable young ladies I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. To be asked to speak at one of the most important moments of her life up to this point is truly an honor and a blessing. But then I felt intimidation. I mean, she’s just asked me to speak at one of the most important moments of her life up to this point!

What in the world do you say at a time like this? Well, since I’m a preacher, the question I ask myself more often is what do I NOT say? I could say a lot. An earlier draft of this speech covered every topic I decided to NOT speak about. I cut it. Because I decided to not tell you about what I didn’t want to talk to you about…

But eventually I settled on something I believe is one of the greatest spiritual challenges your generation will face. And that something is captured in the title of this speech:
“Being the Image of God in an Image of Machine World.”

We are living in an age where machines shape us rather than serve us. The smartphone in your pocket is not just a tool; it’s a teacher. Every swipe, every scroll, every click isn’t just collecting data, it’s forming a soul. It’s not just that we use machines. If we’re not careful, we become like them: efficient, productive, optimized… but not loving, not patient, not human.

We are being shaped into products of efficiency who are just as empty as the machines themselves.

So I want to offer six ways technology is quietly, slowly, but powerfully, shaping us into its image. And six ways we can resist. Six ways we can fight to remain truly human. Six ways we can reflect the image of our Maker in a world that wants to remake us.

1. We value speed over patience.
“I am speed.” Who said it?

That’s Lightning McQueen’s mantra. But it might as well be Silicon Valley’s slogan.

Everything today is built to be faster: fast food, fast delivery, fast replies. If it takes more than 5 seconds to load, we’re already annoyed. And if Amazon takes more than two days to bring me my new book, I’m calling Frank, “Hey man, where you at?”

But God… is not in a hurry.

Peter tells us, “With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” The Lord is not slow… He is patient.

He waited thousands of years before sending His Son. Jesus decided to come at a time when a horse was as fast as you could travel. Jesus didn’t begin preaching until He was 30. And He told us He was coming “soon”... 2,000 years ago.

To be human is to slow down. To wait on the Lord. To move at the pace of love. You cannot microwave sanctification. In a machine world, patience feels like weakness. But in God’s kingdom, patience is strength.

Choose holy slowness. Practice patience with people, with prayers, with plans, with yourself. Because speed may get you ahead but patience will make you like Christ.

2. We value efficiency over love.
Machines exist to be efficient. If a toaster breaks, we toss it. If a phone slows down, we upgrade. No hard feelings. Just utility.

And slowly, we begin to treat people the same way. When a relationship becomes inconvenient, inefficient, or emotionally costly, we ghost, block, unfollow.

We say things like “I don’t have the bandwidth for this.” Like people are apps to be deleted off the cluttered homescreen of your life.

But love isn’t efficient.
Jesus did not come to earth because it was easy. He came because He loves. And He stayed. Through betrayal, misunderstanding, beatings, and death. Jesus did not die efficiently. He died sacrificially.

Love lingers. It listens. It weeps. It makes mistakes. It costs.

He did not heal crowds by waving a wand from afar. He stopped. He touched. He called people by name.

If you want to be the image of God in this machine world, love even when it doesn’t make sense. Love the difficult. Love your enemy.

3. We value applause over authenticity.
Social media is not just a window into our lives, it’s a mirror we decorate. We curate, we filter, we perform. Only the best angles, the wittiest words, the happiest highlights.

The fig leaves of Eden have become Instagram filters in our pockets. God saw through them then and he sees through them now. We hide from God and everyone because we’re terrified that if they truly knew us, they wouldn’t love us.

But God doesn’t love your curated, filtered image. He loves you—the real you. The one you hide.

And He proved it: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The algorithm calls us to go viral. Jesus calls us to be vulnerable.

So be real with yourself, others, and God, even if it’s raw. The truth will set you free, not the algorithm.

4. We value consumption over creation.
Machines have trained us to consume. Every tv show, social media site, and device has been acutely designed to keep your attention for the longest possible time.

We binge-watch, scroll endlessly, consume content like calories. We live on a steady diet of distraction.

But your God is a Creator. And to bear His image is to make. The very first thing God tells humans to do in Genesis is “Be fruitful and multiply… fill the earth and subdue it.” Create! Build! Compose! Restore!

J.R.R. Tolkien called us “sub-creators,” invited to participate in the creative glory of God.

You were not made to just watch. You were made to work. To shape. To imagine. You bear the image of the Creator. So get your hands dirty. Leave something behind that didn’t exist before you showed up.

5. We value escape over incarnation.
Technology promises connection but often delivers isolation. We escape into screens, games, videos, distractions. We avoid conflict. We hide from pain.

But Jesus didn’t escape.

He entered.

He took on flesh. He moved into the neighborhood, to quote Eugene Peterson. He sat at tables with sinners. He touched lepers. He wept at graves. He didn’t run from suffering; He ran straight into it.

And so must we. No app will hug a hurting friend. No screen will wipe away real tears. Be present. Be interruptible. Be local. Be human.

To be human is to be present. Embodied. Accountable. Don’t run from the mess. Run into it. Whether it is yours or someone else’s.

6. We value information over wisdom.
We live in the Information Age. The total sum of human knowledge is in your pocket (plus cat videos). Any time one of your kids asks you what slug eggs look like, you can find out in less than ten seconds. You can Google anything. AI can write your papers. But none of it makes you wise.

Even most educational systems focus primarily on information transfer rather than wisdom cultivation. This is to our detriment. Information forms in us the world’s values. Christ transforms us into wise bearers of God’s image.

Proverbs tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

You can know a thousand facts and still wreck your life.
You can master every subject and still lose your soul.

True godly wisdom cannot be downloaded, it must be formed. Slowly.
It’s Scripture. Prayer. Silence. Suffering. Obedience. Sharing. Waiting.
So if you want to be wise, learn from Jesus. Follow Him. Listen to Him more than the noise of the world.

Conclusion
Laura Beth, Class of 2025… the world you are entering is fast, efficient, optimized, digitized, sanitized, and mechanized.

But you were made in the image of a God who weeps, waits, laughs, lingers, breathes, bleeds, and creates.

This is your mission: to live as the Image of God in an Image of Machine World.

To be slow in a world of speed.
To be loving in a world of utility.
To be real in a world of performance.
To be creative in a world of consumption.
To be incarnational in a world of escape.
To be wise in a world of mere information.

This is not an easy life. But it is full of truth, beauty, and goodness.

So don’t become a machine. Become more human than ever—because you’ve been united to the truest human who ever lived: Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God.

Now go and shine.
Not like a screen.
But like the light of the world.

(Photo Credit: Tamara Brewer)

Psalm 46 opens in absolute chaos. Mountains are hurled into the sea; waters roar and foam (Ps 46:2). The land dissolves. The mountains tremble. It’s a vivid picture of de-creation—a reversal of the order God established in Genesis 1–2.

Absolute chaos.

Even the mountains—symbols of stability—tremble at the swelling sea (Ps 46:3). The chaos waters threaten to swallow everything. What once seemed immovable is now afraid.

In the midst of the chaos, God commands, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10).

Fast forward a few hundred years. Another storm forms and fear takes over. Let's look at this story:

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:37–41).

Jesus was still.

I mean, he was dead-asleep type of still!

The disciples on the other hand were shaking in their boots, terrified the wind and waves would take over.

They were not still. They did not know He was God.

The waves obeyed.

Will we?

We know how a 9th century artist would answer that question.

You may have never heard of the Utrecht Psalter. I had not until about 9:30 last night, then I spent nearly an hour down that rabbit trail. Let me take you down it as well.

The Utrecht Psalter was commissioned by the archbishop of Reims, Ebbo, around AD 820-835. It includes 166 illustrations of the 150 psalms. The style was the foundation of Anglo-Saxon art for the rest of the Middle Ages. This illustrated psalter was truly one of the most influential pieces of art for centuries in the West. Needless to say, it is worthy of us taking a brief look at it's drawing of Psalm 16. We will look at the illustrations in order of the text of Psalm 16.

The depiction of the first part of the psalm shows the saints of the land being protected by Christ. I cannot determine, nor have I found other interpretters say, if Christ is protecting the saints from the angels or if the angels are aiding in the protecting. I would lean toward Christ and his angels protecting the saints. What a beautiful thought that we have a God who loves us and actively preserves us against all attacks.

The group of saints seem to be exchanging gifts, conversing, and laying hands on one another. This shows the family of Christ as brothers and sisters who live life together and take care of one another. I believe this illustration is to show that God also preserves his saints through other saints, too!

Verse 4 promises "The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply..." These three characters depict a sorrow, sickness, infirmity, loss that is crippling. Those who worship a false god, whether it's an idol in the traditional sense or an idol in the modern sense, will end in despair and hopelessness. Their god cannot preserve them, and they simply have no good. Two of the characters are looking to the left toward something of seeming significance, which we will explore below.

Before we look at the climax of Psalm 16, we cannot overlook this guy. I think he is meant to be you and me. The artist wanted us to see ourselves in him. He's holding his left hand up to his mouth to not take the names of the other gods on his lips. Sometimes, you just have to put your hand over your mouth to keep yourself from saying things you don't need to!

"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup..." We know the Yahweh is not actually a cup, but the artist draws a literal cup here to juxtapose the sacrificial cup of blood that David had said he would not pour out. The Lord is an overflowing cup that provides all we need.

The rope wrapped around him and going down the hill is depicting the lines that have fallen in pleasant places. I don't want to make too much of this, though I'm tempted, so I'll just say that he is praising God for the land beneath his feet.

This one is my favorite.

What a picture. What a savior.

He will NOT abandon me to Sheol! He will pull me out by his nail-scarred hands!

There is debate over who Jesus is standing on: death, Satan, Hades? I like to think it personifies all three. I like to think that the reason the artist chose to expose the buttocks of this conquered foe is in direct reversal of Jesus' naked and shameful crucifixion. Death, Hades, and Satan has been and will be exposed and shamed for the frauds they are.

Most interpretters understand the two being pulled out of the pit as Adam and Eve. This would add complexity to the fact that Satan is under Jesus' feet here. We have not only Psalm 16:10 illustrated here then; we also have Genesis 3:15. What adoration and worship Adam and Eve must have felt when Jesus showed up and declared that his promise had been kept!

The last picture to discuss is this one: resurrection morning.

The first thing you might notice is that Jesus' body is still in the tomb. I'll be honest and say I'm sure why the aritst did this. Maybe the body is meant to be a part of the "sorrows of those who run after another god..." illustration. I don't know.

But it does seem intentional that the previously mentioned illustration has three characters looking over at the three women at the tomb.

It's as if they're saying, "Could it be true? Is there really hope?"

Our answer for them is a resounding "YES! In his right hand are pleasures forevermore!"

To check out the Utrecht Psalm for yourself, check out this interactive website.

Have you ever had someone say to you, "Just leave me alone!"

My youngest has said that to me, more than once, as I am trying to help him do something that he wants to do on his own. There's your parable.

Job says something similar to God. As a reminder, Job lost his entirely livelihood and family, minus his nagging wife that has counseled him to commit suicide (Job 2:9).

In Job 7, we have Job coming close to fulfilling his wife's wishes. He's arguably at his lowest point of his life. We hear his prayer of complaint in verses 13-19:

When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
      my couch will ease my complaint,’
then you scare me with dreams
      and terrify me with visions,
so that I would choose strangling
      and death rather than my bones.
I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
      Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
What is man, that you make so much of him,
      and that you set your heart on him,
visit him every morning
      and test him every moment?
How long will you not look away from me,
      nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

Notice the part of Job's complaint that asks, "What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?"

If we stripped this verse of its context, you may be tempted to hang it on your wall or stitch it into a pillow case! But it's clear this is a complaint from Job that God is paying him so much attention that he is tired of it!

What is man? God's punching bag.

"Just leave me alone!"

Later in the book, one of Job's friends, Bildad, gives Job his two cents into the matter (Job 25:1-6). Unhelpfully, Bildad says:

“Dominion and fear are with God;
      he makes peace in his high heaven.
Is there any number to his armies?
      Upon whom does his light not arise?
How then can man be in the right before God?
      How can he who is born of woman be pure?
Behold, even the moon is not bright,
      and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
how much less man, who is a maggot,
      and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Bildad's view of humanity is that there is no hope for humanity in the eyes of God. If the moon and stars don't stand a chance, how much less of a chance do we have? Our standing before God is utterly hopeless, and we should simply give up. There is zero value or care God gives to His image.

What is man? A grotesque worm.

David has a different answer, rooted in Genesis 1-2. He writes in Psalm 8:3-6:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
      the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
      and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
      and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
      you have put all things under his feet...

Can you spot the differences in David's outlook from Job's and Bildad's? Bildad looked to the moon and stars and saw hopelessness. David sees majesty. Bildad's comparison of us to the moon and stars was to showcase our curse of unrighteousness. David was reminded of our blessing of glory and honor.

Job sees God's attention on man as a vexing thing. David sees it as splendid. David knew hardship (see most of the other Psalms). But despair should be understood in the light of God's relationship to man. This relationship is one of crowning for dominion and blessing, not primarily of cursing.

What is man? God's Image that He is mindfully taking care of in ways we will never understand.

I won't ever forget the birth of both of my sons. There are so many details about those days I won't forget, but among the top of that list are their cries.

There should be a word for the two to three seconds between the baby's birth and their first cry. I bet the Germans have one for it, but there's certainly not one in English.

The anticipation.
The watching.
The wonder.
Then the excitement.

When I think of a baby's cry, I think of weakness. I think of need and lack. I think of going to get a bottle for the umpteenth hundred time. The one thing I don't think of is strength.

But that's exactly what David sings about in Psalm 8:2:

Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

Can we be honest and say that's an odd verse? It seems out of place in the rest of the chapter. The rest of Psalm 8 calls back to Genesis 1 and 2. The moon, stars, fish, birds, beasts of the field, and dominion language all point us back to those first chapters of creation.

Verse 2 seems to be the odd one out. Or is it?

Can you think of another passage close in proximity to Genesis 1-2 that talks about a child conquering an enemy of God?

You're right. Genesis 3:15:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

This is God talking to Satan. Satan's offspring, or children, are all those who opposed God and His people. So that's why David can use the plural word in Psalm 8 "foes." But David also uses the singular "the enemy" and "the avenger" because he is reflecting on Genesis 3:15 and how the story will unfold. The word "offspring" can be what's called a "collective singular," where a singular word conveys plurality. In English, we say sheep, fish, and deer for both the singular and plural. So "offspring" could mean either. However, Moses uses the singulars in the latter half of the first to describe that actual battle that will occur between the seed of the woman and the serpent himself.

Jim Hamilton writes, "[I]n the promise of Gen 3:15 God answered Satan’s triumphant roar with a baby’s cry." (Psalms, vol. 1, EBTC, 153)

One baby was to be born of a woman who will silence the Enemy by a head-crushing blow. This would establish God's strength, majesty, rule, and sovereignty over all the earth.

When a small cry rang out in Bethlehem one starry night, it wasn't one of weakness. It was strength.

May, 2024 .   Let me see if I can properly put the day into words.   First,  Tamara painted my crutches for me, since I would be “enjoying ” them for an undetermined amount of time.  Second , I stayed for church .  Normally i would leave after Sunday School and come home to watch church online .  I would get tired,  quickly.  But that day I stayed .  We were singing hymns and worship songs, standing for any length of time  was difficult , so  I decided I would sit ….  That is until I saw Janette Sturgis , standing strong .  I said to myself, Janice , if Ms Janette can stand to worship, then so can you .  

Then.. Pastor John’s  sermon stepped all over my toes.  I can’t repeat the whole sermon memory wise, but he talked about our life being a triumphal procession.   I struggled with this .  My life is a witness , good or bad.  Every step I take, every word I speak, every post I make, it’s a witness.  We are the aroma of Christ to those around us.  Let it out . Do we look like Jesus ?

Ms Janette being in church every week, was such a great witness.   Today I was incredibly thankful for it .   Her presence reminded me that my life is also a witness.
Then followed by Pasfor John‘s sermon .

i struggled a lot during this chapter of my life, trying to figure out how to use it to glorify God And I struggled emotionally, mentally, and physically  .  That day I needed to be in church.  To have my toes stepped on.   Reminding me.

side note :  I would not have come out stronger that day, had I not decided to stay .  To be physically present during the service .  You don’t know what you’re missing when you miss the opportunity to attend , ❤️

I did not quite know what to make of the unusual visitors who quietly slipped into our sanctuary this morning. Frankly, the timing of their entrance disturbed me more than a little, and I was not alone. It was evident that the attention of our congregation was divided: seeking desperately to focus on the weighty and solemn thoughts I was sharing from the pulpit while attempting to ferret out what our furtive visitors were doing provided a dramatic script which demanded our utmost attention.

I felt compelled to begin our service by speaking to the unsettling and heartbreaking events which unfolded in Charlottesville, VA over the weekend. Even as I began to speak of the inherent evil which presents itself in every form of racism, quoting 1 John 4:19-2, “We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, whoever loves God must also love his brother” the back door slowly opened, revealing a young African-American girl and an African-American woman carrying a large, white plastic bag filled with something red.

Their entrance was uncertain as they sat first in a pew near the back only to quickly make their way to the front of our venerable sanctuary. All ears were on me as I spoke of the challenge of racial reconciliation, but all eyes were on these two strangers who had come among us. Why were they here and what were they doing?

Please understand, people of color are welcomed among us with regularity, so it was not their color which demanded our attention. There were people of color already present in our sanctuary this morning; African-Americans, Latinos, Phillipinos, and Asians. Serving a church in a community which boasts two colleges affords our church family an unusual opportunity to engage with, and love, individuals from every corner of the world. Our church does not have a “spotless record” when it comes to race relations, few do, but we are increasingly known as a place where all are welcomed. But these two were an evident anomaly and the evident purpose of their presence remained a demanding mystery.

I carried on my denunciation of the evils of racism in places near and far and shared my personal horror at seeing this evil so clearly on display in our country. To help our church understand that this evil exists right outside our doors, I made known to them the difficulty which one of our dearly loved African-American members regularly encounters in our community, from both black and white, for daring to join the “white church.”

As I was sharing these thoughts, the purpose of our guests became clear.
They had come unannounced, and unexpected, to bless us. Even as I stated that “racism is alive and well in Marion, and perhaps even among the hearts gathered here this morning,” these two beautiful saints began handing each person in our sanctuary a gorgeous rose.

I continued to speak while they completed their joyful task and as they finished I invited those gathered to “stand and greet one another, acknowledging the presence of Christ among us.” The stunned joy was palpable.

No living man, woman, or child has ever seen the incarnate Christ; we don’t know what He looks like. However, I know for a fact, on this Lord’s day at Siloam Baptist Church in Marion, AL, He looked like a black woman and a young black girl handing out roses.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12

Maranatha.

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and no to us." 2 Corinthians 4:7

Most people would put this treasure in a safe or something that would resist any type of force!

God chose to put His treasure into the believers!

This bowl was made from clay that came off of the property here. I chose this because it reminds me that God fashioned man from the dust of the earth. This bowl was made from a student at Judson, it was perhaps the most humble vessel made from the students. The bowls were made in 2016 for the purpose of getting food awareness to those going hungry. "Bowls for Hunger", I believe, was the name of the event, and a meal was served in the various bowls made by the students. The bowl purchases raised monies to be used to obtain food for the less fortunate. The lady that made the bowl was thrilled by the purchase.

This bowl, myself, was thrilled and joyous when I learned that I had been purchased by the precious blood of Christ.

Made of clay, shaped and formed by God, though heated, this clay vessel is still fragile and can be easily broken. Imperfect as one can see the flaws in the specs, dents and paint, it is still serviceable by the Creator.

Humble, yet open to reveal its content, which is the glorious gospel of our Lord, to the eternal life-giving mercy and grace of God, the salvation of one's soul, if the recipient will accept it.

Let's be faithful in our service to our Lord, to be willing to be used by Him, in obedience in presenting and living the gospel.

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