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Greetings!
This is Sherry and I
am writing the devotional for Rex who is at a Pastor's Retreat at
Lake Nacimiento where he has no internet service. He will be back
home tomorrow. I thought I would write about something gleaned
from our service on Sunday morning when Bill Leveridge from
Sulphur, OK spoke. He used John 12:1-7 as his text. The last
point of the sermon challenged us to live a life that leaves a
sweet smelling savor. I want to tell you about some individuals in
my life who have left that "sweet smelling savor"
behind.
My mother had a small piece of paper
taped inside of a kitchen cabinet which I saw many many times. It
was an acrostic using the word joy: J--Jesus 1st, O--Others 2nd,
Y--Yourself last. She was one of the most unselfish persons I have
ever known. About 20 years ago, we made a trip to New Orleans. My
mother died not many months before that trip. While there, we
rode in a taxi which was driven by a man from West Africa. After a
few exchanges with the man, my husband had a suspicion which he
acted upon. He began to speak in Eve', the tribal language of the
area where we served in Togo. The man driving the taxi looked back
at us in total surprise. The Eve' language was his mother tongue!
It was so fun to converse with him and when we arrived at our
destination, Rex whispered to me that he wished he had a tract.
After my mother's death, I had taken a purse of hers and that day
had it with me. When I took the purse, I saw there was a tract
inside. I intended to keep the tract inside that purse simply
because it represented something very precious to me and that was
my Mother's desire to share her faith with others. It was that
sweet fragrance of her life. However, I knew that the day had come
for that tract to be in someone else's hands, which would have been
exactly what she would have wanted. I slipped the tract out of my
purse and gave it to Rex. Giving it away that day, brought me
JOY!
My dad was a quiet man, and I
obviously missed out on that gene! The fragrance of his life that
lives on are memories of seeing him sitting and reading his Bible
as he prepared to teach a class at church. I also loved his
generosity, whether in his actions of kindness or sharing of
material things. When our son John was a baby, we were on furlough
from our mission-field in Togo. During that time, John would often
ride around with his grand dad and by accident left a little toy
pig behind in the car right before our stateside departure. When
we returned home 2 1/2 years later, Daddy proudly pointed inside
his car to John's toy pig. He had never moved it from his car
during the 2 1/2 years that we had been gone. What that
communicated to me was the tenacity of Daddy's love for his
children and grandchildren. It is such a sweet fragrance of his
life to me that even after more than 25 years later, it brings
tears to my eyes.
I believe the source of that sweet
fragrance that is left behind by a life is Love, and notice how I
Corinthians 13 ends, "Three things will last forever---faith, hope,
and love---and the greatest of these is love"
Lovingly yours,
Sherry
Let's
continue to read 1 Corinthians 13 in our 30 days of love
project.
"If I
speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am
only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of
prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I
have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing. 3If I give all I possess to
the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I
gain nothing.
4Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs. 6Love does not delight in
evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never
fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there
are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it
will pass away. 9For we know in part and we
prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes,
the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I
talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a
child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we
see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to
face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am
fully known.
13And now
these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these
is love".
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Sunday, November 21, 2010
Worship Celebration
10:30 am
Sunday's message
Christian, do you know who
you are?
"Our identity in Christ"
(Meets at Newbury Park Academy Chapel 180 Academy Drive Newbury
Park, CA 91320 - Wendy exit
off 101, Near Target & Home Depot - Behind
Starbucks)
www.conejochurch.com | 805-624-9125
| rex@conejochurch.com
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