I am writing this on Monday afternoon from my office. Tomorrow morning I will get on a plane and head to Florida to visit with Mom and Dad for a few days. By the time you read this (unless of course you are reading this blog) I will be on a different plane headed back to Spartanburg. What can I say to you but "Thank you." You are the most wonderful people to pastor and I love you so much. You have done a wonderful thing by allowing me some time with my parents. No, I will not be suffering unless Mom has some "outside" projects for me to do while I am there. Otherwise I will be sitting by the pool reading or running in the old neighborhood I used to terrorize. I am quite sure that many of those neighbors in Brandon, Florida never imagined that the "Linnerud Kids" would end up loving God with their whole hearts, but we did. This brings back a memory I want to share with you this week.
My brother, Jack, and I ended up at the same sixth grade campus in Riverview, Florida. We both spent our respective year there, and by the good hand of God's providence we had the same teacher only a year apart from each other. Now I couldn't tell you the name of all the teachers I had over the years, but I could never forget this one (and that was 37 years ago!). Her name was Mrs. Deangelo. Neither of us boys would know of the spiritual impact this woman would have on our lives until we were in Bible College many years later. Let me explain...
While Jack and I were home for Christmas break in 1981 we went to the mall one afternoon. As were were walking through one of the stores we both recognized this sixth grade teacher and she recognized us. If I remember correctly she asked us what we were up to and we said that we were in Bible College. That may not shock you now, but you didn't know us in 1973, and she did. Just let me say that we were not believers then and we were not her best-behaved students. What she did tell us that day is that she was a Christian and prayed for her students almost every day!
God answered her prayers years later by moving in the hearts of two young men. In time both Jack and I trusted Christ and followed His sovereign plan for our lives.
The effective prayer of a righteous person has great power! (James 5:16)
For whom are you praying? Have you given up? Please don't quit, because you never know when or how God will answer.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
I think one of the reasons we have some difficulty talking or teaching or preaching about money is because we have a skewed perspective. What I mean is that we are not looking at it from the right point of view nor with the right end in mind. That main thing I want us to focus on when it comes to money is how we honor God with it. Paul wrote,
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
In other words, magnifying God must be the priority in all that we do, and that definitely includes our money. Money can become a touchy subject because we wrongly see all we can get from it...power and control, and we don't want to give those up very easily. I think this is wrong because after all, money is just money, and it really can't accomplish very much on its own. It is also wrong because it shows that we value money more than God. I like what the "wise guy" in Proverbs wrote:
Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce (3:9).
Solomon is teaching that the way we show that God is more valuable to us than wealth is by giving to Him off the top, not the bottom. We honor God with our paycheck when we look at the entire amount and give to Him first. I believe that by giving to God before buying even the necessities of life shows that my appetites don't run my life, but God does, and then I am going to trust Him to take care of the "necessities."
But Solomon doesn't end with just an encouragement to show the worth of God by giving to Him first, he follows with a precious promise:
Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine (3:10).
This is not a promise to make us rich, or to give us a Cadillac. I don't believe that just because we give to God first that we will live in a nice house or retire on the beach someday. That type of theology is self-defeating. The promise is that God will continue to meet the needs we have in life. And when we find that our "barns are full" or our "vats are bursting" then we will have all the more reason to be generous to those in need.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
It was a pretty uneventful day as Saturdays go, until...
After cleaning the eves with a borrowed pressure washer (thanks Keith) I wanted to get to the hospital at a specific time to check on a prospective church member who landed in CCU a couple of days ago. After checking on Jimmy's progress, which was good, and praying with him and his sweet wife, Gwen, I went back to the waiting room to say good-bye to the rest of the family. To my surprise all I saw were butts. Yes, I did write that. Almost everyone in the room was staring out the window just trying to get a glimps of somebody famous who was going to be visiting the hospital. No, none of us knew who that would be but we were all curious. After a cup of really bad coffee and some fun conversation I decided it was time to go home. Exit Scott. When the elevator opened on the ground floor I was greeted by a throng of police, hospital personnel, TV cameras, secret police, and all the other "what have you's."
I didn't get off, I just asked who all the fuss was over. The answer: Laura Bush. They said she was here to do a special promotion, or something like that, on the hospital. Kuddos to Spartanburg Regional Hospital. You are an awesome institution that takes excellent care of its patients. I hope Mrs. Bush does you proud.
I guess I was in the right place at the right time. And no, I didn't get to see her, but on my way out I did hear her voice as they were interviewing her.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
I am writing this on Monday afternoon from my office. Tomorrow morning I will get on a plane and head to Florida to visit with Mom and Dad for a few days. By the time you read this (unless of course you are reading this blog) I will be on a different plane headed back to Spartanburg. What can I say to you but "Thank you." You are the most wonderful people to pastor and I love you so much. You have done a wonderful thing by allowing me some time with my parents. No, I will not be suffering unless Mom has some "outside" projects for me to do while I am there. Otherwise I will be sitting by the pool reading or running in the old neighborhood I used to terrorize. I am quite sure that many of those neighbors in Brandon, Florida never imagined that the "Linnerud Kids" would end up loving God with their whole hearts, but we did. This brings back a memory I want to share with you this week.
