Covenant Church

Keeping balance in an unbalanced world is not easy. Attractions are many, diverse, and often confusing. Yet, there is a key to balance: Give careful thought to circumstances or persons that you have experienced or known to teach life lessons. Contextualize these impressions with reality of time and eternity.

Impression #1: In a desert of the Dominican Republic my missionary sister pointed out a woman walking along the road. No house was in sight. As we approached the woman by car she was carrying what looked like a stick of wood in her hand.

"That wood is a root she has found in the desert," Phyllys said. "She may have had to dig it out. It is not common and very bitter. She lives over there in that cluster of bushes (Phyllys pointed). There is a little store nearby. Poor folks from this area will go to the store and buy just a handful of sugar or other needed items. They are so poor they buy each day. The root will be cooked with water until it is soft enough to chew. Though not good to eat, it has a little food value."

"The woman may have been looking for the root for hours. Her life is consumed with finding food and preparing it for her family. From early morning to after the evening meal it is her job to find food, prepare it, and clean the dishes."

I do not remember any other part of that day's missionary trip. I remember the woman and the bitter root from the desert. This impression reminds me to be grateful for plenty to eat.

Impression #2: She was old, broken in body and with a heart that had been broken by loss of children drowning, children sinning, and a husband who had deserted her after fathering ten children. She had known the truth of living in a lean-to hut with her children in the forest.....in America.

Yet, she lived to pray. Pray she did. She prayed for me. She prayed for me not to be discouraged. I heard her pray one day when she did not know I was listening. I never told her that she cured a preacher of self-pity. It was a lasting impression.

Impression #3: Our family of 9...seven children...sat at the evening dinner table. Dad had worked a very hard day. Three of his boys were at the table. Each person had had a piece of chicken. One piece was left. Dad and a son reached for the last piece of chicken at the same time. Dad insisted his son take the last piece of chicken. It was an impression of a Father that marked my life.

Impression #4: As a boy of 14 I knelt in an altar feeling terribly sorry for the sins I had committed not known by my earthly parents. I asked forgiveness. I prayed to God who knew about the sins I had committed. I asked for forgiveness. I prayed to God who knew the sins I was planning to commit. I asked for forgiveness. I prayed about the sins that were in my heart to commit that I was yet too young to comprehend. I asked for forgiveness. August of my 14th Year, Jesus made an impression on my life that is eternal!

Impression #5: Our high school journalism teacher was brilliant, but suffered from alcoholism. One Friday evening I went to his home. My high school classmates were at a party. Mr. Davenport came outside his home. It was reputed that his marriage was not good. He sat down beside me on stone steps and talked until dark. During that time he said: "Harold, you have writing ability. Do not give up. Work at it." Those were my first words of encouragement to write. Harold Davenport indelibly impressed my life . I am grateful.

Impression #6: Mom and dad served a church as the pastor's family. A leading member of the congregation did Dad terribly wrong. The bishop over Dad refused to help. Dad and Mom moved a family of 7 children in the middle of a bitter cold winter. The new church was only about 20 people. The financial support was pitifully low. I do not remember Mom and Dad ever blaming God. In time they forgave the people who did them wrong and restored friendship. I remember this lesson. It made an impression.

Impression #7: The first church congregation that Laila and I served as pastor provided a parsonage for our family of four. Just across the street was an elderly lady. She liked us. Mrs. McAllister would talk to us. But her health was not good enough for her to come to church 100 feet away. Yet, no leaf could lay in her yard. Laila and I would laugh about Mrs. McAllister running out her door as a leaf would leave a high limb. She would try to catch the leaf before it landed. Her job in life was to keep leaves out of her yard. It was a neat yard. She never came to church once in the five years we were there. She died suddenly with no leaves in the yard—but then the leaves came and no one picked them up. I think about this often as an example of how wasted are many of the indulgences of our time. An impression.

Impression #8: I knew about a dear sister but never met her. Her husband, David Yone Mo, a friend to me and many others, was a great man of God with a ministry in Burma. He traveled internationally. She stayed home with the rehabilitation center for drug addicts and alcoholics and the Bible school cooking rice, et al. She was cheerful. She was faithful. She knew that cooking rice was her ministry. Can you imagine reporting to Jesus on Judgment Day and being asked: "What was one of your greatest contributions to Jesus?" Sister Yone Mo will answer: "I cooked 3,000,000 pounds of rice for your servants." I am impressed by people who humbly serve.

Godly people around me who have done godly deeds have left impressions that help me to balance a godly life. What are your experiences that help you not to get lost in the "I" and "Me"? What have you seen in others that help you to anchor your soul in times of challenge or distress? What Impressions have other believers given to you to make your faith steadfast? Why do you think God gave you a list of heroes in Hebrews 11?

Pastor Bare

Hebrews 6:19