A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith

Several years ago, as a few staff from Special Gathering were driving to lunch, we saw a man with a broken leg.  His cast extended from his toe to his hip.  With great difficulty, he was loading a lawnmower into a trailer.  There was a edger on the sidewalk, patiently waiting to be reloaded on to the trailer.  A couple of people in the car said, “That man is a small business owner.”  We all agreed.

I’m not sure how many folks are willing to do the kind of work demanded by the entrepeneur.  In many ways a pastor is an entrepeneur.  Our primary goal is always spiritual.  We are hoping to make an impact on lives, educating them about the most important thing in the world.  Nevertheless, we deal with staffing, volunteers, raising expenses, balancing and making a budget and many other financial and business matters.

Each of us who are building a ministry need some wiggle room.  Recently, at Special Gathering, we’ve been working with a new staff person.  She is wonderful and one of the most teachable people I’ve ever met.  There are so many things that a person who desires to excell in ministry must learn.

Perhaps the first is where is the wiggle room.  At Special Gathering, it was a great adjustment for me to learn where there was NO wiggle room.  I am the kind of person who has 17 irons plugged in ready to utilize.  My personality lends itself to having many projects going all at the same time.  The first year I was at Special Gathering, I maintained my positions in our church as Missions Director.  For twenty years before that time, I had at least one new book that I was authoring while planning magazine articles.  Music was a priority.  My list can go on and on.  One day, our executive director took me out to lunch.  After we had eaten, he folded his napkin and placed it on the table and folded his hands in front of me.  ”You need to decide if your priority will be Special Gathering or the 15 other things that are important to you.”

In short, he was saying that my life goal must not have wiggle room.  I must decide–and decide quickly–what my first priority will be and stick with it.  If God has called me to ministry to people with special needs, then I must continue on the path that leads me to that goal.  There are so many scriptures that teach this principle that my mind was immediately filled with pictures of men going to battle with an adequate army.

I could see my husband drawing detailed plans before we started an addition to our home.  I could remember negotiating with the bank to be sure that we had enough money to complete a project we were beginning.  I saw our family sending off our first son to college confident that we had the financial reserve needed to complete his education expenses.

While wiggle room is vital to maintain a healthy outlook,  a life’s goal cannot have wiggle room.  When did you discover your life’s goal?  How easy is it for you to keep your life’s goal paramount in your life?

There are two stories in the Bible that have fascinated me all my life.  The first is a parable that Jesus told.  It is the story of a merchant who found an extremely valuable pearl.  After finding this magnificent pearl, he went and sold everything he had to purchase it. I was always taught that the pearl was the kingdom for God and that when we find this great pearl, we must give up everything to purchase this great pearl.  I wanted to be like that wise merchant and give everything to the Lord.

Then many years later, during my prayer time, the Lord spoke to my heart in a still small voice and said, “Linda, you are that pearl and I gave up everything to purchase you.”  During the past week, each time I think about Grace Renee, the Lord reminds me of the pearl of great price.  Again, the Lord has spoken to me, “I’ve brought my magnificent pearl, Grace Renee, home.

When Cindy, an ARC staff person, came into Special Gathering last Saturday, she pulled me aside.  At first, I was hesitant to be drawn away from eye and ear contact of the group, even though there was another volunteer in the room.  However, when it became apparent that something really bad had happened, we walked a distance away from the room and Cindy tearfully shared that “something is wrong with Renee.”  She didn’t know what had happened but she felt that perhaps, as Renee’s pastor, I could find out.

“Renee is very special to me,” she said.  Over the past two weeks, as I spoke with people who knew Renee they repeated often, “Renee was very special to me.”

Until you’ve been drawn into our community, it might be confusing to understand how an individual like Renee can steal your heart.  How can Renee’s suffering wrench your heart until you believe it will break?  Yet, Renee’s love and joy was a magnet for those of us who knew and loved her.  Joanne Semenuck knew her when she was in school.  She said, “She was the happiest young woman I ever met.”

Lorraine, one of the five residents in her home, said, “I love Renee.  I didn’t want her to go away and leave us.”  Everyone in the home said, “We are a family.  Renee is our family.”

Bessie Mariner, her support coordinatior, told me, “Almost every time I met with Renee she blessed me by praying for me.  She loved to pray.  I know that she knew the Lord in a powerful way.”

Small things about Renee were most endearing, like the quirky way she could sneak to get her way.  You didn’t know whether to scold her or hug her.  When one trick no longer worked, she would devise a different tactic to snare you into getting her way.

Renee also reminded me of a second story from the Bible.  This story is true.  In the last week of Jesus’ life, a woman came and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them dry with her hair.  Because of the dry, dirty conditions in Judea; and because everyone wore sandals, it was a custom to wash everyone’s feet as they entered a home.  But the host had neglected to do that for Jesus.  When this woman washed Jesus’ feet, it was a blessing that she could uniquely give him.  It was a splendid and deeply personal gift of love.  I believe that Renee often showed her love for the Lord in deeply personal ways and that love spilled out onto us.

Yes, we will miss Renee but mostly we will miss the times she washed away the concerns of the day with her antics and joy.  We will miss the way she reached down and personally knew what we needed; and without a word, her touch and smile helped to meet that need.

She was perhaps one of the weakest among us; but in so many ways, she was able to show us the Lord’s strength and power.

“But the people who trust the Lord will become strong again. They will rise up as an eagle in the sky; they will run and not need rest; they will walk and not become tired.”  Life is replaced with death.  Death is replaced by eternal life.

Aren’t we all walking a strict tight rope regarding kindness.  At some tipping point, kindness can be abused and we find our greatest tender mercies have gone bad.  Today, I took a member out to supper.  Bob was a member of the Special Gathering Melbourne program for more years than I’ve been involved.  Our members are intellectually disabled.  In the 22 years I’ve known him, he missed Special Gathering no more than five times.  When he was forced to move to another town almost 40 miles from my home, he has called often asking for me to take him out to eat.

This was our third time to go out for a meal since he moved almost a year ago. He has been plugged into a closer Special Gathering. Bob participates in the choir at his new program.  When is enough, enough?  Bob is beyond stingy and he would never offer to pay for his own meal. High-functioning, Bob is not beyond taking advantage of a situation.

Therein lies my question.  When is it worst for a person for us to continue to give?  Last night as I was listening to the Psalms, the Lord said that His people were constantly taking advantage of Him.  Then after He punished them, Israel would turn back to him.

As I drove to the Adult Living Facility where Bob is now living, I had at least an hour to mull over his situation.  Was it now time to let Bob know that I would not be making any more trips to his new home?   After all, he loves the people with whom he lives.  He is happy enough with his new life that he wants to go to the sheltered workshop only two days a week.

We had our meal at MacDonald’s.  As we were heading home, I told him that we would not be able to do this again because it’s too far from my home.  It takes a long time and uses a lot of gas.  Bob looked at me with one of the most whimsical stares I’ve ever seen.  ”Have you moved?” he asked.

“No, Bob,” I continued to explain.  ”I haven’t moved.  You moved.  Now you live farther from my house and office.”

Perhaps, my good friend, Bob, still may need another visit or two.  It’s apparent that kindness has not gone bad yet.

There is another case of Mad Cow disease found in the US.  The medical name for the disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.  As predicted, we have been told that the United States beef supply is more than safe and there is absolutely no danger to the public.

Yet, I understand from some folks from England that they were also assured that their meat was all right until the government officials could not longer ignore the people who were suffering with this maddening disease. The human form is known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).  The beginning stage is largely one of anxiety, depression and other psychiatric symptoms.

You may be questioning what causes this dread cattle malady.  It has been proven that the disease is caused from feeding cattle meat and body waste.  Some years ago, it was found that chicken by-products and manure could be added to cattle feed and the cow would eat it.  It also seemed to be good for them because they were able to gain more weight faster.  Then the dreaded disease began to appear in the herds.  In an article no longer available on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website, this excerpt was published as “Information for Consumers Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine entitled, The Use of Chicken Manure/Litter in Animal Feed.”  The sub-title of the article states “The following consumer information is provided by Daryl Fleming, Communications Staff, FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine.”  This is a small excerpt from the article.  

Recycled animal waste, such as processed chicken manure and litter, has been used as a feed ingredient for almost 40 years. This animal waste contains large amounts of protein, fiber, and minerals, and has been deliberately mixed into animal feed for these nutrients. Generally, animal waste is used within the State where it is produced because the bulk and weight of the product makes interstate shipment uneconomical. Normally, this animal waste is used by small farmers and owners of beef and dairy herds as a winter supplement for mother cows and weaned calves.

We have been assured that this deadly practice has been eliminated but how much oversight is given over the production of this cattle feed?  The FDA in the paper “Framework for the FDA Animal Feed Safety System” admits, “Animal feed ingredients and mixed feeds produced and used in the US have a good safety record.  However, because oversight of this industry is limited and focused on a few known safety issues, potential human and animal health problems remain hidden. “

There are often concerns regarding the foods we eat.  It is a fact that cows fed only grain will never have contract Mad Cow Disease. The Bible prescribed for us clean and unclean foods.  In simple words, scavenger animals, birds and sea foods should not be eaten.  Fruit and vegetables are all right.  However, the animal kingdom is divided clearly in the Old Testament.  Clean animals do not eat animal flesh or other by products, including manure.

I understand as Christians, we no longer live under the law of Moses.  Yet, the Old Testament prescribes stern warning regarding the foods we eat.  Of course, there is the vision given to Peter regarding the sheet that came from heaven.  God clearly said to him that everything that He had made was clean.  Christians have taken this as a proclamation to allow us to eat those unclean foods.  Never the less, there are reasons for God’s prohibition.  The Lord’s reasons weren’t arbitrary or even legalistic. We are finding that these laws contain clear concerns for our health.

After studying and reconsidering the foods we eat, you may want to begin to consider the foods you are eating out of concern for your own health.  Do you feel that the dietary laws make sense?  Have you ever considered what unclean scavenger foods might be doing to you?