Croft State Park, Spartanburg, South Carolina
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. Psalm 107:1
Worship today was at the Philadelphia Baptist Church in Pauline, South Carolina. Seems appropriate since Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love – brotherly love in the church – visiting Blaine’s brother today . . .
There’s a lot of brother stuff going on here today. 😊
This church is over 200 years old, although this particular building was built in 1993. We found them to be a very warm and inviting congregation. And that’s always a great thing!
There was one sister mentioned. They were requesting donations for Lottie Moon. It’s actually a mission organization, but one we’d never heard of.
Time to research!
Lottie Moon was born on December 12, 1840 and given the name Charlotte Diggs Moon. She grew up in an affluent family who owned a thriving tobacco plantation in Virginia. Her father died in a riverboat accident when she was 13. She became a Christian at the age of 18 while attending a revival meeting, and shortly thereafter was called to the mission field, serving as a missionary to China. She spent more than 40 years there before dying on December 24, 1912 from voluntary starvation as she gave her food to others she felt were more in need. She was 4’3” and by all reports was only about 50# when she died. Because of her faithful and selfless work on behalf of our Lord, she’s recognized in the Southern Baptist community as a hero.
The message today was given by an interim pastor, “Prepare for Christmas – Give the Lord Thanks”.
We all need to spend our lives – every day of our lives – in Thanks-living. Being grateful and thankful for the abundance of blessings the Lord chooses to give us. Due to various circumstance, some may believe that there’s not much to be thankful for. But there’s always something.
What if we woke one morning and discovered that we no longer had the blessings God has given us because we didn’t give Him thanks? Think of it – everything we have and see and do and feel – it all comes from God, whether we acknowledge Him or not. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45)
The lesson today is from Luke 17:11-19. It’s about the ten leprous men Jesus healed. Back in the day, lepers were considered ‘unclean’, which meant they weren’t allowed within a good distance of healthy people (I can’t remember how far, but it was something like 20 yards) and consequently, they lived in colonies apart from everyone else. But these guys had heard of Jesus somehow, and they cried out to Him and He had compassion for them and sent the men to present themselves to the local priest so he could confirm they were healthy again.
They took of in faith, because they weren’t healed until they were on their way.
Of the ten, one who realized that he was now healed, came back to Jesus, threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. (It’s also mentioned that this one was a Samaritan, a sort of half-breed Jew that the Jews had contempt for. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan?) Anyway, because of the man’s faith-filled thankfulness, he now receives complete healing – body and soul.
The other nine missed out. Wherever they were, they weren’t with Jesus. And scholars believe that they were most likely Jews. Jews were raised from birth to be thankful to God. They should’ve been thankful, but they weren’t.
Much like us.
In the Good Samaritan, the first two men were Jews and knew what they were supposed to do, but they chose not to. Too often Christians do the same. We know what we’re supposed to do, but we choose not to. Why? Because we’re ‘too busy’ or too self-righteous or a host of other excuses.
The nine lepers knew of Jesus and they exercised faith (belief in what He could do) in Him, but they failed to be in His presence. They failed to know Him fully. The one who returned was healed physically and spiritually.
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow. Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good. His Love endures forever!
Church started at 8:30 this morning, so we were home by 10. By 11:30, there was virtually no one left at the campground! Just us and the host! And one other 5th-wheel that we couldn’t see from our site. Kinda weird to be all alone when it was so packed up until now!
We returned to Bruce and Donna’s this afternoon. I don’t have much to report on that. The guys watched football all afternoon and Donna and I sat in the kitchen yakking, preparing BBQ pork sliders and reheating mac and cheese, and just generally piecing (they seem to always have stuff to snack on sitting out for company!). Then Donna cleaned up while I finished my laundry.
Oh! And Gage and Morgan were there for a little while, but they announced they weren’t feeling well when they arrived and scooted out a couple of hours later when things didn’t get better. We didn’t hug them goodbye this time . . .
Donna raves over her washer, but I determined today that there should be a height requirement on it. I could barely reach the bottom to get my clothes out! But hey, at least I got a good couple of really good stretches out of the task. 😊
You can’t tell from the picture, but I’m on the very tops of my toes, and if I didn’t have my hand bracing the edge, I’m pretty sure I’dve tumbled in!
Once again, we had a wonderful day! Even though Leo still doesn’t particularly care for me . . . ☹