On my first Sunday as...
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On my first Sunday as pastor in Myrtle Point, Oregon, Casey and Louise Jones drove
twenty miles past other churches to worship with us for the first time. They joined the
church and served as faithful church members until they moved away years later.
They believed that God had given me to them as pastor. The coincidence of our arriving the same Sunday in a small-town church was too obvious to ignore. Who else could have taught an elderly couple Greek and Hebrew?
However, I discovered as the years went by, that God sent them as a gift to me. A smart aleck young pastor needed guidance and support. We found that the Holy Spirit operates the same way Jesus did one evening in ancient Palestine. We give Jesus what we have and find out that, like our Lord, we and what we bring are broken and given to others and there's always more than we expected.
They believed that God had given me to them as pastor. The coincidence of our arriving the same Sunday in a small-town church was too obvious to ignore. Who else could have taught an elderly couple Greek and Hebrew?
However, I discovered as the years went by, that God sent them as a gift to me. A smart aleck young pastor needed guidance and support. We found that the Holy Spirit operates the same way Jesus did one evening in ancient Palestine. We give Jesus what we have and find out that, like our Lord, we and what we bring are broken and given to others and there's always more than we expected.
