Well I surely am not going to admit that I went to upper Michigan mushroom hunting and came back skunked, nor will I admit I am not out planting the last of the beans because the ground is still too damp, but I will take this opportunity to enjoy and share some pictures from my son showing my Pastor and my little Grand Daughters Brook and Haylee.
All of my grandchildren have captured my heart of course but this preacher has also.
It all started about twenty years ago I was making some hay and a friend Don Miller showed up to buy some out of the field and he said I brought our new pastor along as he has horses and wants some hay also...The preacher was a joy to meet and although not my preacher I felt I had not seen the last of this guy...
A land fill was attempting to go in not far from my house and in the Dayton area, most were against it of course, and a big meeting of the Area plan commission was held one night not long after at the Mars theater in Lafayette so as to hold the crowd that was expected. In line to speak against it was this Dayton preacher I had met...I am thinking, what is he going to say. His turn finally came, and although I think a lot of the APC members were for siteing the land fill in the county when he was done speaking to them and I can not even tell you what he said, but he did quote scripture a little, but mostly he just talked to them from the heart about doing the right thing. Anyway when the vote came about the first couple of them said jokingly, "well, I sure as heck ain't gonna be voting against GOD", and that seem to set the pace and I think the vote went unamamous to not allow the land fill in the area at all. I suggested to Linda driving home and she agreed maybe we should visit this church....
Not long after we did and I am a firm believer in the work of the HOLY SPIRIT in guiding us in what we are comfortable with and in telling us when things "ring true"...I firmly believe this when I hear preachers talk some things don't ring true, very much of that and I leave those pews empty and search for a new church with a preacher who does say what my heart and mind, thanks to you know who, tell me is ringing true. I also believe if allowed to do so that this same "HOLY SPIRT", the third person of the trinity can guide and lead a good man of GOD preacher...I think this is happening most of the time with Pastor John Walls of the Dayton Indiana Methodist Church...Linda told him once he preached like a Baptist some times...I think what she meant was you are not the norm of Methodist preachers and he is not.....Any way he is human of course some times I have not even liked him but not often and not for long.....He has a way of getting back on your "fond list", if you give him half a chance...
But in the pulpit when he is in his element, and relaying what GOD has placed on his heart he is 95+ some percent of the time dead on the money, and ringing as true as what I know true to be.....That feeds my soul and encourages me to go and do likewise when opportunity knocks....I wish all could hear the same in all churches each week... It could be why he has taken this church with the help of a lot of good Christians that make up this church from less than 100 to 650...
One more thing he did his first weeks in Dayton was to knock on every door in the town and invite all to attend the church...Now Linda liked to refer to it as the Church of "what's happening now", south of the tracks.....funny but true....
Any way a lot of time he heard no, we don't like getting dressed up and getting up early on Sunday...Guess what???? He started a late service on Sunday and made it casual dress and to make them comfortable he changes from the suit he preaches in at 8 am to blue jeans an cowboy boots....They get the same message and the service is by far the largest of the two....
One of the pictures to the right says "born 150 years late"...That may be true, he would have loved to have been a circut riding preacher that went from town to town on horse back delivering the gospel to early settlers....But for the people in this neck of the woods, the present day "settlers", were glad he was not....
That's my preacher...as long as that HOLY SPIRT keeps saying, Yes its ringing true.....
PS... Today would have been Linda's 61st birthday. In grieveing class they taught us to prepare for these days and to not get "blindsided" by not preparing...This post has helped me in that....JL
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