Be Careful of Pride

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As you have heard in the past, I pastor an incredible church. I try not to say that too often because they will get big heads and start thinking that I like them. Then they would expect me to keep saying nice things about them. Anyway, this weekend was great. We are very blessed to have a place where our folks can feel good about bringing their friends who don’t go to church. Every week we have new faces in the crowd because someone is bringing friends. As a pastor, this is both refreshing and humbling.
This Sunday we were privileged to get to baptize 5 people. For a church our size, about 150, it is unusual to see so many baptized at once, but we do this quite often. So far this year we have baptized over 25 people. We had a few others who were scheduled to be dunked but they did not make it due to sickness in the family. I was disappointed.
I am not sure of why I let it bother me but it did. I am thrilled that 5 people were there, but was strangely bothered by those who did not make it. I understood that there was reason they did not come, but it still bothered me. I would like to explain that I have a competitive nature and somehow felt like I was winning a race or something. Even though I still won, I could have done better, if that makes sense.
You see, baptizing people means that people are getting to know Jesus. When people get to know Jesus they accept Him as Savior. When they accept Him as Savior, they no longer go to hell and Satan loses. Take that! Punk! When Satan loses, God gets the glory and when God gets the glory, I like it. But there is still something in me that likes to think I had a part in it. I like to think God has used our church as a small part of His plan. I struggle with the prideful side of this, but I guess it is okay to be proud to be on the winning team.
When God allows us to be part of what He is doing, we must be careful to never forget that without Him there is nothing that really matters. If there is no God, then baptized people just got wet and our church is a place where strange delusions cause people to act weird. But because there is a God, we act weird and dunk people in water because they are professing to know Jesus. Either way I guess it can sound a bit strange.
Pride can take you in ways that you shouldn’t go. It can cause you to think about self and feel pitiful if you don’t get what you want or it can motivate you to do more so that others get what they need. My feeling blah about the folks that did not make it this Sunday was a little of both. I guess I should be careful not to let the negative side of pride get the best of me. There are many churches out there would be thrilled to baptize 5 people in a whole year, and I got to do it in one Sunday morning. WOOHOO!

Mega Dream 448 0834

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It can happen to you! Winning the Mega million lottery is the dream that everyone is talking about today. 500 million dollars and growing. I have not been into a store yet today that sold lottery tickets and there has not been a line of people buying their tickets. I heard one guy saying that if he won, he would be sure to find a church to give some money to so that God would be happy. I gave him my card. I did not tell him that God could not be bought off.
All of us have fantasized at one time or another about what we would do with millions of dollars being given to us. New cars, new houses, dream vacations, and God all top the list. Many Christians make deals with God in order to increase their odds of winning. They say stuff like, I would pay off the church debt, or I would help missionaries around the world, or, and this is my favorite, I would make sure my pastor gets a million or two. I tell my congregation all the time that if they win, tithe. Giving 10% of $500 million would be $50 million for those who are wondering. With that, we could accomplish all the for mentioned prayers.
If I won, I am sure that I would give a lot to the church and to missionaries, and of course, I am the pastor, so I would make sure I have a couple of million. I write this just in case God reads my blog and it helps increase my odds of winning. But in reality I am not counting on becoming a multimillionaire any time soon.
So many times we think that money is the key to happiness. Sure it can help, but I know of lots of rich people who died miserable. I have never been rich but I have been very happy for most of my adult life. One thing I have found is that rarely money has had much to do with my true happiness. That has come from family and friends and my faith in God. Rarely has there ever been a bad situation that depended on money to restore my happiness. Don’t misunderstand, I like money and it can be a tool to reach happiness, but in no way is it the source of happiness.
Matthew 16:26 What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? When Jesus spoke these words, he was challenging us to think past what this world has to offer. In 18 years as a pastor I have never been by someone on their death-bed who wished that they had worked more or made more money. Most say they wished they had done more to make a difference in others lives. Most say that they are anxious about what they might face after they die and hope that God is merciful because in contrast to what they know the Bible teaches, they have fallen a bit short.
No one can say for sure what happens after we die. But here is a fact that no one can deny. Money will mean nothing after we are gone. So while we are here, perhaps we should look into what we can do to gain happiness in things that money can’t but rather the things that relationships offer, and yes, I will try to find our happiness in something eternal, Jesus Christ.
So if you win the lottery, take care of others, especially us poor pastors. But don’t rely totally on it to give you joy and beware of the friends and family that you will meet that you never knew you had.
Sincerely, your friend and brother… if you win.
If you don’t win…Sincerely, just some dude writing a blog.

Justice

According to dictionary.com, this is the definition of Justice: the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. It does not mean do what you think is right. It does infer that there is a higher authority that determines what is right. I believe that higher authority is God. Otherwise that leaves the whole idea of right and wrong in the hands of mankind, who has the tendency of injecting feelings over facts. I have written about right and wrong and where we get the idea of what they are. It has little to do with feelings, but few will admit it. Justice is a word being tossed around by many in cases like I wrote about yesterday. Justice in America is accomplished through a system of laws and courts and civil authority, not random groups who feel like they have a better way.
Before I go any further I want to respond to one comment from a reader about yesterday’s blog. I said that clergy needed to speak out about the threats of taking the law into your own hands and this person said that there are no black pastors or churches that were not racist or had the guts to speak out. This is one of those times that I would like to slap someone who reads my blog. You could not be more wrong. The only reason I feel that I can speak out on such a sensitive subject and be as bold as I am is because my friends know my heart and know me. They know that the truth sets us free and not our opinions. Many of my friends are black and pastor churches full of people who love God and other people, regardless of race. While I appreciate your opinion, I take offense at your racist comment about my friends and brothers in Christ.
Now back to justice. The goal of justice is to make things just, or right. Right and wrong were never meant to be subject to feelings. They were never meant to be gray areas or ambiguous. There is a difference between and law and right and wrong. A law can be something that is totally based on feelings. For instance, the current health care law is a feeling that everyone has a right to health insurance. I can find no place that ever gives us a clear-cut right or wrong concerning this. If the law remains, it will be wrong not to follow the details of the law, but it is still based on a feeling.
Right and wrong is where there is a clear-cut determination, regardless of feelings. Murder is wrong. Stealing is wrong. Sexual abuse is wrong. These are things that almost every civil society in the world agree on. It is something that comes from the very moral fiber of humanity, which I believe comes from God. It is right to help the poor, but how, is left open for interpretation. It is right to work for what you have and to provide for your family. It is right to love and protect one another.
But justice is the process of taking a wrong and to the best of the ability of the legal system, making it right. That may mean to those who have stolen, that they give back. To those who have hurt another that they lose the ability to hurt again. The process most often takes time, and because of the human element, can sometimes make mistakes. That still does not give anyone the authority to take this into there own hands. We must first give the justice system time to work. In America we are innocent until proven guilty. We are protected from those who would take vengeance into there own hands and given a method to defend ourselves against all accusers.
The bottom line to this whole idea of justice comes down to God. He is the only righteous judge. He is the only one who knows the hearts of man and has promised that no sin will go unpunished. He did not limit those sins to the ones that we feel are worst, but to all sin that has separated us from Him. He made a way for the punishment for sin to be given to another. One who would be our sacrifice and take the wrath of God so that we may receive total forgiveness. Not based on who we are or how good we say we are, but totally based on His love for us and His hatred of sin that causes us to be separated from Him. God can do this because only a righteous judge can bring true justice with no influence from human imperfections. God has done this and will do this for those who repent.
Although His justice is firm and final, He has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, our advocate, the Savior of humanity. Vengeance is Mine says the Lord. His judgment is true and His mercy is greater. Justice will prevail.

Billionaires

I read today that there are now 1226 in the world. It pains me to report that I am not on that list. I remember when Mr and Mrs. Howell were considered extravagantly rich. I guess being stranded on a deserted island with only 5 other people makes a millionaire seem really rich. I miss Gilligan’s Island. This same report said that the richest of these billionaires can lose as much as 11 billion in one day. I wish they would lose a billion my way.
I would be lying if I said that I would not want to be rich. Being rich offers a lot of benefits. It lets you eat the food you want to eat. It lets you vacation in better hotels and locations. It allows you to pay your mortgage and power bill while filling your gas tank all on the same day. Being rich can even allow you to get season tickets to see your favorite team and not have to park a mile down the road where it only costs $20. If I were rich I would park in the $50 parking just because I could.
But I am not jealous of those super rich. I have been blessed with more than I ever deserve. First, I have a beautiful family. My wife and I have been happily married for over 30 years. Money had little to do with it. We have three grown children who all have children of their own. We have a home that we can afford and automobiles that will get us to the jobs that we have. We have a church family that loves us and loves other people. We have friends who like us because of who we are and could care less how much money we have; thankfully. We are in relatively good health and don’t have too many enemies. Most of all, we know Jesus Christ personally as our Lord and Savior.
Being rich is not the way to happiness. God wants to give us happiness and have it not depend on how much money we can make. Jesus says that He wants us to have the joy that He has and to look to Him for our blessings. We are told that the things we have on this earth like money and houses and cars will all fade away. But things like family and friends are eternal when they are built on faith in Him.
No, I did not get my name on the list of those 1226 billionaires in the world, but I do have my name written in the Lamb’s book of life. Yep, I am rich beyond measure!

Child Addiction

My wife is addicted to little children. Our own children are grown and cannot or will not produce babes fast enough for her. So she has a plan to have every baby and little kid at our church think that she is their Mimi too. I am pretty sure that this is not dangerous, but I do think it is an addiction.
Last night she went to help a couple with a baby that is only a month or so old. Both of them are sick and they are new parents and they were just worn out. My wife is a very compassionate woman. She will help almost anyone. But when she sees an opportunity to hold and spoil a baby she quickly jumps to feed her habit. I got the call that she was going to their house about an hour before she got off from work and was told that they were desperate and needed her help. I immediately knew that she just needed a baby fix.
Guess what she is doing tonight? Going to visit our son who lives a couple of hours from here so that she can “help” them. And guess what they have at their house? Yep. A baby. She is staying there for the weekend and my suspicion is that she is gonna be so wired up on baby that she won’t be able to drive home and that is why she is staying the weekend. She really does not know how to take babies in moderation. As an ex addict myself, not to babies, I know the signs. You always try to justify what you are doing, but no matter how much you try you always end up over indulging. There have been times when she would come home from “helping a friend” and she would smell like baby or small child.
Don’t misunderstand, she is not dangerous and I am not scared of her when she is using. Rarely has she ever missed work and she has never lost a job because of it. She has never threatened me seriously with violence and for the most part it does not interfere with our marriage. There are times when I will choose to sleep on the couch because she is so strung out on babies and children, but it has not approached the point to where it threatens our relationship. From time to time she will stretch the truth about her habit. The other week she said that she was only going to have one or two kids and it ended up being six kids at once. I can tell you that one kid will take the edge off, but she is not satisfied until she is totally loaded with kids.
She tries to limit getting children from only people that she knows. Family and friends are her biggest suppliers. But she will quickly run to anyone who comes into our church with a child and try to, as she likes to call it, “love on them”. I have seen her trying to talk to strangers about their children but for now, I feel she can restrain herself.
I have to watch her closely. We cannot have children anymore. I thought that doctor had fixed the problem, but occasionally she will mention adopting. I am strong for her and I remind her that she is an addict and does not need children in the house all the time. Sure, I should probably put my foot down and get her some help, but without children, she can be difficult to live with, so I turn a blind eye and just try to help manage her addiction.

Christmas Giving

Christmas is a strange time of year. It is the time when most people are the most joyful, and at the same time it can be a time when they are at their lowest. It is a time of giving and receiving and spending time with family and friends. This is the time when we celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. I would like to share what I get to be a part of every year at my church and I will try to remain as humble as possible, but at the same time I am running over with pride.
We are a medium-sized church of about 150 people and this number changes, lately it has been increasing. We reach a unique group of people, mostly young families and people who do not fit the typical “churchy” crowd. Like their pastor, many of these have been turned off by religion at one time or another and even hurt by the politics that often ruins what church should be. But for whatever reason, God has seen fit to bring us together under the roof of a building and in a church family called The Body, A Church for Anybody.
With the economy being as bad as it is, we find ourselves in fellowship with several families that are struggling to make ends meet and because these are families with kids, it is a difficult time to celebrate Christmas when some may not be able to give gifts to their kids. Giving gifts is a custom of the season that allows us to escape the reality of hard times and focus on putting a smile on the face of children, but when you lose a job or income gets cut, it can be difficult to make this happen on your own. Without a second thought, the people in our church have taken to the spirit of giving and made sure that these kids smile on Christmas morning. There are 5 families that will be blessed by receiving, but probably 20 more that will be blessed by Christmas giving.
One family told me today that they sacrificed giving their adult children gifts, with those adult children’s blessings, in order to provide for another family with children who still live at home. They took the $100 that they would normally spend for those gifts and bought for someone else. Today I was told that they received an unexpected bonus from work that doubled that amount. You just can’t help but think that God was showing how much He likes Christmas giving too.
On Christmas day, we will gather for a morning worship and after church several of us are going out to a restaurant that is open to sing a Christmas Carol and give a gift to those who are working. As grateful as they must be to have a job, it has to be tough to work on Christmas day. So we have been collecting “tips” for about two months now for the purpose of giving to those who are waiting tables and serving others on Christmas day a bit of Christmas cheer that will hopefully make their Christmas sacrifice well worth it. We have chosen a restaurant that only has 5 or 6 people who are working that day and because of the generosity of the people in my church, each person who is working will receive a Christmas card with over $100 in it.
Again, it is hard to be humble when you talk about something that you are involved in, but I am blown away by the love of the people who I serve at this church and it does truly humble me to know them. They love others and show it through their actions and the biggest action this time of year is in their Christmas giving. I love it!!!
Merry Christmas!

Christmas meal

Yesterday was our church’s annual Christmas meal and this has become one of my favorite things about our church. We take all the chairs that normally form a semi-circle seating pattern for worship and set up tables and chairs for a family style eating extravaganza. Extravaganza is one of my favorite, but least used words in my vocabulary. The men and women of the church cook turkey and ham and all the favorite holiday type foods that you can imagine and after a brief, yet wonderful sermon, we eat and laugh and hang out until most of the food is gone. Then those who are able, load people into wheelbarrows and take them out back to sleep it off.
Our church is my family. No, I am not dissing my wife and kids, but this is a special relationship that we all share and it is truly family. We share food, share laughter and share tears. No one is left alone and everyone does their part of making it all work. Like in most families, there is always the grumpy person and the weird aunt or uncle that everyone tries not to act like we are avoiding, but other than that we can’t get enough of this special fellowship.
God wants His people to have a closeness. We are told that people will know that we are His because of how we love each other. I don’t think that there would be much doubt of that if you were to have been there yesterday. And, I can proudly say that most anytime that you visit, you will find the same love among the people. None of us are “holier than thou” and many of us are as “messed up as thou” and that makes it easy to find common ground.
As in most churches, there are always a handful who work hard to manage the chaos and organize the efforts. Those who did it this time are amazing in how well it was done and the love at which they used to bring us all together. It was not just a list of things to do but an effort to think of how people’s needs would be met. I believe the biblical term would be ministry, which means serving, which Jesus says makes you great, and I can only say that there were some great people organizing this whole thing.
The day did not end when the meal was over. Lots of folks stayed to help with the clean up. After that, many of the guys and youth stayed to watch football as many of the moms took the younger kids to see Santa. They are the brave souls in the crowd.
Later that night our youth had their Christmas party and another group of servants showed their greatness to make that happen. With nearly twenty youth and a handful of adults, the music was loud, the games were wild and the family was happy. I was the smartest of all; I went home after welcoming them and opening the party in prayer.
Christmas is a special time and can be difficult to those who don’t have family. Some people are alone because they have moved, other because of hardship. Some have been shunned by family and friends and others have condemned themselves because of past experiences. My plea is that you not allow the past to ruin the future. God can and will forgive you for whatever the past holds. God will provide a place and people for you to celebrate if you chose to seek it. I would like to invite you to be a part of my family and our celebration of God’s great love. We don’t judge, we don’t condemn, we don’t exclude. We are The Body, A Church for Anybody, and especially you.
Merry Christmas!

Camping With The One I Love

Going camping is always more fun to plan that it is to get ready to go. Our church has been planning this upcoming trip for a few months now, thanks to my wife, whom I love. The excitement was building until I woke up this morning and realized that I have absolutely nothing ready. This will be our first outing where we will be tent camping since our kids were little. I did set up the tent in the back yard with one of the grandkids but it wasn’t quite the same.
My wife, whom I love, thought that we were going to borrow an RV from our daughter, but failed to tell me or them. I, somewhat out of spite, said no, we are using the tent. Either way, I don’t think that we fully thought this through. You see, it is now November, and the weather is turning cooler. Why last night, there was even a frost. In case you didn’t know, our tent does not have a heater and neither of us own a sleeping bag. I can see it now, every blanket in the house will be stuffed inside this tent.
As of this morning, Thursday, I don’t have a list of things that we are taking and my wife, whom I love, is working today and tomorrow. I have a busy day today and only a half day tomorrow that will be used for loading 300 blankets into my truck. I am not sure what she planned for us or what we have committed to provide for this community event. I know that I am taking my laptop, and our wifi thing so that Saturday, if I am still alive, I can follow the game. Yes, it is probably the biggest game of the year for the Gamecocks, and I am camping. But I have the support of a few of the other guys who are going and we have all agreed that we will blame it on someone else.
We are going to have church at the campground on Sunday morning. I thought about preaching on how Israel was led through the wilderness for 40 years, but decided that someone might expect free breakfast. So I am going to talk about how God made time stand still. I think by Sunday morning we will all feel as if time has stood still all weekend, especially my wife, whom I love.
In all fairness to her, she has really looked forward to this. We have a great bunch of folks who go to church with us. I don’t have the final count, but there are probably 20-30 who are camping with us. And my wife, whom I love, has not complained about using the tent, but I think I know what’s coming. She probably has stuff all planned out and I just don’t know or remember her telling me. She probably will be a great sport about it all, after we are home in our warm house.
Speaking of our warm house, we have held back on turning our heat on, trying to save a little money from not running AC or heat. The few times that we have, it was only been on enough to knock the chill off. How much you want to bet that when we get back from this camping trip that the heat gets turned up to about 85?
This should be fun. Really. There is a lake there, and I may try to catch a fish. There is a play ground and I will encourage the children to stay there. There is electricity at the camp site, so I think I will take a space heater to sleep on. Don’t give me any grief about fire hazards, at least I will die warm. A couple of folks are taking RVs, so we might even be able to watch the game Saturday while those who don’t like football sit out in the cold and watch the fire. There will be some great people to hang out with and a few of them know first aid so we can handle any frostbite cases that might come up.
I think this is going to be a blast!

Could It Get Better?

Incredible would be the best word I could use to describe this past weekend. Our church had its annual lady’s retreat and about 30 of our ladies spent the weekend in Tybee Island, Ga. From the pictures I saw on Facebook and the short conversations that I had with my wife, they had a great time and I am sure once I hear the details it will only get better.
Of course when I talk about 30 women being away for the weekend, that meant that they are away from our church too. On most Sunday mornings we will have about 140 people attending and that includes an average of about 30 kids also. So if you take 30 people away from our normal Sunday morning it is noticed simply by looking at the crowd size. But we notice it even more because many of these ladies serve in our church in vital areas. Children’s director, teachers, greeters, check in stations for kids, just to name a few. Add to the ladies being away the fact that we had our audio/video guy and his wife out and about 12 other folks who were away, and it was really noticed that people were missing.
I have to say that rarely do we have people who just lay out of church. The folks here have taken an ownership in what God is doing and for whatever weird reasons, they seem to enjoy coming. Mostly because people find God here, but secondly, they have real friends that come here. Not just people we see once a week, but people that we hang out with and have a real relationship with. So I am not the type of pastor who has to guilt people when they are away and usually when they are away it is for a good reason, not just laziness and lack of desire to come. Have I told you lately that I am a very blessed pastor? God has allowed me to serve a bunch of folks who are real and excited about knowing God.
With so many people away this Sunday I was expecting the worst. Although my wife assured me that things were well taken care of, I couldn’t help but be skeptical. All the other people who were gone had also assured me that they had things covered and that nothing would be missed. They were right. Although the people were missed, things went over without a hitch. I was so amazed, and I really shouldn’t be. That is just what kind of church I serve.
I also thought that because so many of the regular folks were out that the crowd would be rather puny, but it wasn’t. Sure those who are here regularly could tell that people were missing, but only because we knew who they were. We had plenty of folks and if those 40 plus people had shown up we would have been near capacity. Boy, listen to me whine.
My sermon this week was on using grace as the foundation to build your Christianity on. Grace is favor given, not earned. God just loves us and when we seek Him, He gives us grace and therefore we have favor in His sight. Being in His good grace is a special thing that anyone can experience, but sadly too many people don’t because they pervert who God is. God is love, not someone waiting to crush you like a bug when you screw up. Sure, if you continue to deny Him and never ask for His favor, He can and probably will prove He is able to squash you like a bug, but that is not His goal. His grace is an awesome thing that allows us a very personal relationship with the Creator of the universe.
Because of God’s grace, six people became God’s children this weekend. It is not uncommon for our church to see 3 or 4 people each week trust God, but this week with a lot of folks gone, God showed us that He never misses hanging out with people who welcome Him. As we were finishing our morning worship time I informed people that we would be filling the horse trough for baptisms next Sunday because there were 2 or 3 people who had asked about it. As the day progress and we came back for the evening Bible study, about 12 more people had contacted me about getting baptized next week. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see 20 people baptized next Sunday.
If you don’t consider yourself a Christian, maybe you find this hard to get excited about. But it is what God gets excited about. He is not excited about money or buildings or how important a person thinks they are. God is excited about people knowing about His great love and sharing it with others. So if you are not a Christian, first let me thank you for reading my blogs. Secondly, if you live in the Rock Hill SC area, come next week and see all these baptisms and meet some people who will be surprisingly a lot like you. Either way, the first visit is free and if you don’t like it you don’t have to come back.
But WOW!!! This was an incredible weekend. I will be so glad to get my wife home and all those ladies who serve all over our church. They should be really stoked for next weekend. Holy Kaw! Next weekend could be better than this one!

Doing What We Are Told

I hate getting older, but considering the option, I think hate is too strong of a word. Last night our men’s Bible study group met over at one of our group member’s house and helped rip out flooring in order to put in new sub-flooring. I was working with a crow-bar and my back was yelling at me to stop. There was a time when that stuff didn’t bother me but now I hate to admit that it does.
My dad always told me to work hard at whatever I was doing. He said that the results that you get will be equal to the effort that you give. I wish he would have told that to some of those boards that were not coming up no matter how much effort I put into it. My siblings and I were raise in a very strict environment and were taught that when a grown-up told you to do something, you did it, no questions asked. I am thankful for that now that I am older and trying to be a better Christian by trying to do what God says do. I am not trying to be better to earn favor, because God already loves me as much as He can, but I want Him to be please with my faith.
Faith is a strange thing to some. Many people think that faith is the gauge of how great of miracles you can do, but I believe it is more about gauging anything that you do. The truest of faith comes when we do the things that we don’t even think about. I never think about sitting in a chair before I do it because I have faith in the chair. Faith is real belief, not wishful thinking that it will be okay. Often my faith is tested when I know what I am suppose to do but struggle with the actual task at hand because of my own personal desires being contradicting to it.
So, The Bible tells us to bear each others burdens. Sometimes that is being a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen. Sometimes it is answering the call in the middle of the night to help someone who is tempted or even has fallen to that temptation, and other times it means canceling a Bible study to go help someone tear up a floor. As a pastor I have faced each of these and the last was the hardest. My back hurts even before the work and I am not a construction or even destruction minded person. I get intimidated by those things and often feel in the way instead on helping. It would have been so much easier to have the Bible study for those who “couldn’t make it” to help and to send others to do what I was not willing to do. But if that happened, I would have never experienced the joy of seeing almost three fourths of the men in my Bible study show up to work hard for a few hours. I would have never had the prayer that I prayed answered and I love seeing God immediately answer prayers.
What was the prayer? I was in the middle of a great big grunt to pry off this stubborn piece of plywood and all of the sudden a felt a sharp pain in my lower back. The board did finally come up but my back began to have spasms and I said please Lord, don’t let me have to quit right now. What I didn’t notice was that this was the last piece that we had to get up and that we were finished for the night. BAM! God answered my prayer. My back still hurts and the spasms continued for a few minutes, but I didn’t have to quit, it was just time to quit.
We finished the night by thanking everyone for helping and reminding everyone of this verse: Galatians 6:2 ~ Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings.
We did not walk on water and we didn’t heal my back but, our faith was in action by doing what we were told.