Baseball Cards and God

Years ago a friend of mine gave me hundreds of baseball cards. In the sixties everyone had cards. I had the entire starting lineups of many teams. We played games with the cards. We used the cards a "noise makers" on our bicycles. We used them for anything - they were just baseball cards.

But a funny thing happened. Years later my friend wanted his cards back. All of them. I didn't know where they were or what even happened to them. Years had passed and useless things get discarded.

The sad thing is that they were not useless, but on the other hand they were valuable - real valuable . Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford and the list could go on - all gone - discarded, abandoned, foolishly thrown away. They were just baseball cards! Or so we thought.

Unfortunately, that is what we do with the grace of God. It is handled by many of us like useless baseball cards. Only later do we find out and hopefully not too late, that the grace is priceless. More valuable than a Roger Maris or a Mickey Mantle.

May we never use the grace of God as I used those baseball cards. May God forgive us if we do. Handle this grace with responsibility, but do like my friend - sharing it with someone else. Only tell them what they have is priceless.

Sid

Grace

A husband and his wife were dining at a four-star hotel. Nestled neatly in his wife’s stir-fry was the tip of a finger from a latex glove. He called the waitress and the dish was taken away in haste. The waitress returned with the maitre d’. Madame, we have made a dreadful mistake and apologize sincerely. Let’s start all over. The maitre d’ instructed his staff to remove all the items from the table and to start over. The table was reset, menus presented and new food ordered. They were on their way once again to a fantastic meal.

The maitre d’ took a bad service impression and replaced it with an outstanding one. No denial that the bad experience happened, but substituted a higher, richer one in its place.
That is what God does for us. We make a mistake, sin, fall short and God comes in, at our request and let’s us start over. He cleans the table and gives us the ability to begin again. Have you asked him to come in and let you begin again?

Sid

God Is Good

For the past eighteen months our church family has been in the wilderness. We have not had a church building, classrooms, and by the goodwill of one of our members we have had access to some office space and used old offices as classrooms on Wednesday night. I'm not complaining, but just stating our situation.

On March 19, by the grace of God, we will have our first service on Sundays in our new building. The past few months has seen an increase in our attendance and as we move into a full-scale Bible school program and be able to worship in our new building without setup and tear-down will be a blessing.

The wilderness is not fun. It is a time to be uncomfortable, a time of transition, a time to do self-evaluation. We have looked in the mirror and sometimes we have not liked what we have seen. But I want to say this. We may not always do, say or act like we should, but we have always been focused on getting this project done.

The true test for us will be when the dust settles and the reaction that the church takes. When Israel went into the Promise Land their work was just starting. As Southern Hills moves into our new building, our work is just starting. People are lost. Jesus is the answer and we are to share the answer and show Jesus to this world. God help us to be faithful. God is good!

Sid