Heart of a Servant

When I think of the people that have made a life of serving other people, I think of people that had a true desire to put other people and their wishes ahead of their own.  They didn’t do it because they had been told that they ought to, or because it is the right thing to do, or because they might feel guilty if they didn’t.  They did it because they have a true servant heart like Jesus described in Mark 10:43-45.  That is the legacy left by a Christian servant named Nick Green.

I want to share a portion of his story that I was privileged to witness for 20 years.  This person would be embarrassed if he were still living, and he knew that I was going to write about him and all the times that I saw him or heard of his desire to serve others for his short life of 55 years.  I am not talking about serving others when it was convenient for him and his family, but actually putting the needs of other people ahead of his own, and doing it without any reservation or need of acknowledgement from anyone. 

People in the community where Nick lived told me about how he went to an older couple’s house for years and put a man to bed because the man’s wife was not physically able to do it.  I also heard about  how he adopted a young Hispanic boy named Ronnie, who was taken away from his parents and who became a good friend of  his own son.  Nick did it because he wanted that young man to have the same chances in life that his own son had.  This young man, after he was adopted by Nick, wanted to take Nick’s last name because of the influence Nick had been in his life.  I know at his father’s funeral, which Ronnie helped with, it was conveyed to Ronnie of how proud the people were in the town where he grew up, and the good Christian husband and father he had become.  He simply responded that “I had a great role model.”  Nick was always available to be a servant to any cause in his family, church family, or the community that he lived in.

He became ill with cancer in March of 1997,  went through chemotherapy, 3 bone marrow transplants, but he never allowed this illness to keep him from serving others.  His house with all his earthly belongings burned up when his family lost their home in December 2007.  His father died in the summer of 2008 from cancer, and his mother was killed in a tragic accident in April, 2009.  Every time I called to check on him and I asked him how he was doing, he would always respond by saying how blessed he was.  During his illness of 14 years, he never wanted to talk about his own struggles.  Instead he always swung the conversation toward other people and the challenges they were facing even though they were not as life threatening as his.  Every time I had the opportunity to be in his presence, he was always looking for opportunities to edify and encourage those around him though he physically did not feel like it.  I visited with him in September of 2010 and he conveyed to me that the one regret he had in his life was that he wished he could have done more for people that were in need. 

When he prayed, he asked for healing, but he asked that God’s will would be done and not his.  He asked me if I would lead congregational singing at his funeral.  He said he would not let me do it unless I led upbeat, encouraging songs of celebration.  He said, “That is how it will be for those who hear ‘Well done good and faithful Servant.’”  I feel confident that he will have the opportunity to hear those very words. 

I am sure that my heavenly father allows opportunities in my life to be a servant.  I need to ask myself daily, “Do I allow myself to be an instrument for the kingdom and be a servant, or do I step away from those opportunities? 

After having the privilege to be around Nick the last 20 years,  I wonder what kind of servant heart that I exemplify for those around me, and for those that look to me for an example.

Father, thank-you for loving us and for putting servants like your son in our lives to be an example.  Forgive us when we fail in those opportunities.  Forgive us of our pride and instill in us the desire to serve rather than to be served.  In Jesus Christ our Savior and the greatest servant of all we pray, Amen.   

Rusty Rose

Stephenville, Texas          

What a Magnificent View

There is something about standing in the middle of a majestic nature setting that has always moved me.  Whether it was sitting high atop one of the Rocky Mountains and looking from Colorado into Texas and New Mexico, or looking across the vastness of an ocean or simply sitting horseback in the Texas panhandle and looking across the springtime beauty of Texas Cap Rock, every experience has in some way refreshed and redefined my perspective of life.  They remind me that it’s good for the mind and heart to rise above domestic duties, paying bills, making decisions and the routine life moments that can become a grind and see them in the context of the magnificent. 

What’s true on a nature level is true on a spiritual level, too.  We need to see the magnificence of our life in the Spirit to appreciate the many pieces of our spiritual lives in the proper way.  Why?  We sometimes get lost in the minute-by-minute, the details, the minutia of ministry and church life because our memory of the larger spiritual picture grows dim.

I think that’s at least one thing Paul had in mind when he wrote Ephesians.  Ephesians is a spiritual mountain chain.  It is like looking across an ocean in the Spirit.  It’s conceptually vast.  It’s views are breathtaking.  The spiritual vista Paul sets before his readers (and us, too) is nothing short of majestic.  He wants us to see the whole stage of human experience and, more especially, the creation of the church in the larger context of God’s workings in the gospel.  We need that perspective because we can get lost in our lesser stories and their struggles at the expense of God’s larger story. 

Ephesians 2:19-22 is holy ground:

¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²²In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We need these words.  I think they remind us of something very important.  In the midst of routine tasks, countless meetings, conversations about ministry, and sorting through the occasional skirmishes that we believers can get into over this and that, there is a bigger view of our life together that we need to see.  Everyday we have the privilege of serving on an enormous stage.  We aren’t people who simply go to church.  We are more than a building and a pictorial directory.  We belong to God.  We are His household erected on a magnificent foundation that is coming together stone by stone as the Spirit works in our lives.  We are the greatest architectural project the world has ever known. 

The great thing about majestic views is that long after you walk off the mountain, or drive away from the ocean or put the horse in the stall, you can still remember the colors, the sounds, the impressions and the emotion of the vast beauty that sat for a brief moment before your eyes.  In fact, you can still see it from your office chair, or sitting at a red light, or while mowing the backyard.  More importantly and, “one stone to another”, I think the majesty Paul speaks about in Ephesians can do the same for us.  So, grab your binoculars and share them with somebody this week.  Your relationships and congregation will be blessed

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Looking in the Right Places

Recently, the words of this song intrigued my thoughts:

"Blessings" BY LAURA STORY

"We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home,
It's not our home

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise"

As the days shorten, I long for the days of spring. The trees appear melancholy with their bare limbs of winter.In wisdom and power, You created the cycles of life. Your Spirit and Word guide us and teach us that You are always with us. Never, never will You leave us, but my feeble heart needs reminding.

Thank You, for the reassurance of Your goodness and Your presence, especially that lonely winter morning.

Often times when I’m alone, You are close and my mind is stayed on You.

But that day, You seemed far away. Sadness engulfed my heart.

Tenderly I was reminded of Your love;

a graceful red bird landed in the “naked” tree outside the window.

Your love washed over me like a fountain. You are with me, blessing me in

the lonely, “winter” days of life. You know each concern of the heart.

You desire faith in You alone.

Would the red bird have caught my eye in the fullness of spring,

possibly hidden beneath the foliage I dearly crave? How often do Your

blessings flow through the things we dread or fear?

Forgive me Father, for the short-sightedness of my heart’s longings. Shape my heart to be more like Jesus-looking to the eternal and not to momentary comforts and joys in this world. Thank You for the seasons of our lives where You teach us faith lessons over and over again.

Mischelle Oliver

Stephenville, Texas

Sizing Up

Over the piano was printed a notice: “Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.”

--Oscar Wilde


It happens to all of us.  And we, in turn, inflict it on others.  In contemporary vernacular it’s called “sizing up.”  We can’t help it.  Forming opinions about the world around us is an innate, God-given defense mechanism.   It steers us away from potential dangers and helps us avoid unsavory characters.


What are we encouraged to do when we dislike someone we barely know? Get to know them better, of course.  Familiarity usually breeds enjoyable acquaintances, but sometimes we take steps to walk in someone else’s shoes hoping to improve our attitude toward them, only to discover…we still don’t like them!  They punch our most vulnerable buttons and we want to flee when we see them coming.  Sadly, we probably affect others this way without even knowing it!  


It would be unrealistic to like everyone we meet and be liked in return, so we avoid most people with whom we have difficulty.  Here’s the rub:  How do we graciously worship our Father God and live kindly in Christian community with someone who unwittingly grates into shreds our last nerve?  I want to love them differently than I “love” my enemies.  Tolerance is an option, but there’s something sad about being only tolerated.     


When a critical spirit and a habit of negativity minimize the joy of Christian fellowship, it’s time to “size-up” our own hearts (kardia - everything we are).  What irritates us about someone else says more about us than it does about them.  It takes courage to figure out what that is.  


Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  (Colossians 3:12, 13).


We all have blisters and relish the salve of human kindness.  Let’s love each other better by remembering that.                    
      
Teach me to feel another’s woe, to hide the fault I see. That mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me (Alexander Pope, 1688-1744).

Sandra Milholland

Abilene, Texas

Spiritual Fitness - Plus!

I’ve always tried to eat healthy foods, exercise (a little), take vitamins, and watch my weight. I thought I was in pretty good physical condition, but had not implemented a regular exercise routine since my daughters were little girls. Now they are both grown. We went on a family vacation a few years ago and my youngest daughter, Kim, an exercise science major at that time suggested we go to the hotel’s exercise room. It was a well equipped room with lots of machines I had never seen or used before. Kim gave me a training routine to try for the hour we were there. I can ride an exercise bike with the best of them, but then she had me try sit-ups. I could not do even one sit-up (with my hands behind my head as required by my very personal trainer). Since that didn’t work, she got a large exercise ball for me to use for sit-ups because it would be easier. Still no luck; not even one sit-up. How could I no longer be able to do sit-ups that were so simple when I was young? When I was a teen-ager, in P.E. class, sit-ups were no problem for me. Needless to say, I have now joined a fitness center, implemented the exercise training program from my personal trainer, Kim, and can now easily do sit-ups. I am much stronger and more fit than I was three years ago. I even have a WII Fitness-Plus video program to do at home if I can’t get to the fitness center.

Our spiritual fitness needs continual exercise just like our physical bodies. Daily Bible reading will help keep us spiritually fit similar to the strength training that helps keep us physically fit. We may not realize we have become spiritually weakened by our busy lives. We may not find the time we used to put aside for daily Bible reading because other things take up our time; family, school, work, chores, yard work, hobbies, volunteering in community activities. These are all purposeful activities, worthy of our time. The Bible has been with us for close to 2000 years, it will be there tomorrow. It is easy to justify delaying Bible reading to a later date. One day we will wake up and find we aren’t as familiar with passages of scripture that used to be favorites. A bonus comes from daily Bible reading. I call it Spiritual Fitness-Plus! Daily Bible reading will make each day begin or end with the encouraging words of God.

Dear Lord, help me to make time each day to find the encouragement you have provided in Your word, and communicate that encouragement to others I meet.

Sherilyn Svien
Stephenville, Texas