Good morning,
A couple of years ago I borrowed a high jack from my brother-in-law to take out a small bush that was slowly dying in one of our mulch beds. By wrapping a chain around the base of the bush and using the leverage power of the jack, the bush came out without any digging or all that much effort on my part.
Our one neighbor noticed me working and quickly walked over to see the jack. When I explained how it worked, she asked if I would be willing to help her take some bushes out over at her place. Without really thinking about it, I quickly said “yes.” She is a single mom and ripping out bushes is one of the few “handyman” skills that I can offer her.
Yeah…about that.
Turns out the trunks of the bushes were WAY bigger than I thought they would be. I cut one bush down to the stump and started the jacking process. I cranked and cranked on the jack until I thought it would break and that stump just wouldn’t budge. So, I started digging…and digging…and digging. I must have cut through a dozen small roots, but that stump still refused to move an inch. Defeated, I talked with her about our options, and she decided that we’ll just cut the stump off at ground level and let it rot out.
Offering to help a neighbor can sometimes mean much more than we bargained for, but it is something that we should be doing as followers of Jesus. Throughout Scripture we are told that the second greatest commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
This Sunday we will be studying the Parable of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10. It is perhaps the most famous parable of them all. Because of this popularity, there are many different interpretations of this parable and many of the modern ones suggest that Jesus is teaching on either racism or some aspect of social justice. However, the parable is told in response to a single question – “Who is my neighbor?”. We’ll be looking at what the Scriptures have to say about who our neighbor is and what loving our neighbor looks like.
The springtime is often the best time to reconnect with our neighbors, simply because they are outside more! I encourage you to look for opportunities to be a great neighbor in the coming months.
Switching gears a bit – This coming Wednesday night (3/13) is our next Lenten Prayer Meeting at 6:30 pm at the church. Our focus for the night will be praying for the next generation and one of our prayer activities will be praying for the kids connected to the Bridge by name. Parents, if you have something specific that we can be praying about for one (or all) of your children please let me know by Monday!
Here’s what’s happening:
- Senior High Youth meet this Sunday.
- We will be observing Holy Communion this Sunday as well.
- Mark your calendars – Spring Clean Up/Work Day at the church on Saturday, 3/23 starting at 9am. See Gary Barrett if you’d like to help with inside work and Gerald Rohrer you are more of an outside work kind of person.
- Because of Easter, Men’s Breakfast will also be on the 23rd, starting at 7:45. Come eat some eggs and then head to church.
- The youth activities for March are attending the musical production of “The Wizard of Oz” at Oxford High School on 3/8 at 7pm and/or the production of “Newsies Jr.” at West Fallowfield Christian School on 3/16 at 3 pm. See the youth leaders for more details.
- This Saturday night we turn our clocks ahead one hour. Yay for more daylight in the evenings…boo for losing an hour of sleep.
- Save the Date – VBS will be from 6/10 through 6/14 in the evenings.