Mark Boone in Concert

Mark will also be singing and giving his testimony in the 11:00 a.m. service.

Rags

This was the answer to a clue in a crossword puzzle this past week. The clue was "a worn out cloth". I took immediate exception to this...that is...that it was "worn out".

Rags are very useful to us. Maybe even could be considered a neccesity. What would we do without them? A world without rags would be a poor one indeed.

In my youth for sure, rags were a necessity, and they were never thrown away. They were used for all kinds of cleaning chores, in and out of the house; for many medical needs - bandages, sore throats, slings, mustard plasters, boil and cut dressings; for strainers of all kinds; for paddings and cushions; and for absorbents of all kinds.

I have a small, fuzzy, yellow, was-at-one-time pajama top made by wife, Deloris, and worn by daughter, Trella, that has been in my shoe shine box for at least fifty years. Shoe polish smudges of all colors are evident, but there are still some unused places that will probably be useful as long as I live. I have already "willed" it to Trella. Just think of all the hundreds of shoes it has shined?

It has always been right where I last used and placed it. It has never complained or been unwilling to be pressed one more time into gooey, oily, smudgy shoe polish. It has never been washed, dried or ironed, and it has never been recognized or honored until this writing. I have never once thanked it!

IT'S PURPOSE HAS BEEN TO SERVE ME, AND IN THE PROCESS MAKE HUNDREDS OF SHOES LOOK NEW, AND SHINY, AND THEIR WEARERS LOOK GOOD. What would I do without a shoe polish rag?

Even lowly rags have a highly useful, significant purpose. Surely there are ways I can bless others.

In the Sea of Grace - Part 3

The significance of standing before God must not escape us. The more we consider the incongruity of this act, the more amazing it becomes. Angels bow before Him. Seraphim cover their faces and feet when they are in His presence. Cherubim will not look upon Him as they attend His glory. Living creatures ceaselessly describe His supremacy, His glory and His ascendancy. Demons and all the minions of Hell cringe before Him, and Satan constantly submits to His sovereignty and authority. The universe and all creatures who inhabit it bow in humble obeisance before their Creator and Sustainer.

But when a human being steps into redemption's room of saving grace, he stands! God's grace stands men up! It makes winners out of history's sorriest losers. It makes saints out of Hell-bound sinners. It lifts a sin-scourged soul from the pits of hoplessness and elevates him to the hghest heights of honor. GOD'S GRACE STANDS HUMAN SOULS UP!!!

This proclaims the supporting bouyancy of God's awesome grace. It emanates from His gracious nature. It is an effusion as big and generous as He is. It flows unendingly into our emptiness. We need to ponder this. The nature of the human soul is cavernous. We are by nature in constant need of filling. Our emptiness is spacious and exists without limit. Its appetite is a vast, astronomical openness by design.

When we are so very dry and bring our pitiful, little meauring cups to Him, He just lets His grace flow, and our cups run over. This is the kind of a Person He is, a "running over" God with oceans of grace and pity and mercy. What a contrast for contemplation: Our emptiness...His fullness.

Because of the grace of God revealed through the life and death of Jesus, persons stand in the presence of heaven's God. This act is without precedent in the order of God's relationships with other beings. We can only contemplate...not understand this grace.

God wanted to give something special to humankind. He wanted to share some of the greatness and love and depth of His being with other persons, so He reached out to us in the Person of His Son. We are innundated in His grace!