March 30, 2010

Number 13

VIEWPOINT

 What a pleasant celebration we enjoyed to honor Onice Fields on her “39^th” birthday!  It was a well deserved honor – not only is she one of our most “seasoned” saints, but her loyalty to our Cedar Grove family is unflagging as well. 

One of the youngsters asked why Miss Fields had achieved such a milestone in age.  The answer is obvious, of course:  She has never married, thus no husband to worry her and no children to harass her!  Seriously, we congratulate Onice and look forward to her next milestone!

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Alan Henderson sent me these devotional thoughts recently.  They are from Richard Anderson (no relation that we know of).

“Within a week’s time I visited with two men — and heard of a third — who are all about “preaching the Word . . . in season . . . out of season” (1 Tim. 4:2).

“Paul Mbithi was in Nashville from Nairobi, Kenya.  Paul and his wife Grace were both employees of KLM Airlines.  Paul was in charge of shipping for KLM; Grace was a meteorologist. They felt called to ministry, however, and resigned their jobs with KLM.  They began ministering in the Kibera slums — the area of Nairobi that is one of the worst slums in the world.  Paul and Grace operate a Christian school and orphanage in Kibera.  They have over 300 students in the day school and another 30 or so who live in the orphanage.  Cindy and I visited New Life Restoration Education Center this past summer.  Their conditions would make most educators’ heads spin. And yet they have such joy as they minister.

“Anatoly Kaluhzny was in Nashville from Kiev, Ukraine.  Anatoly was the keynote speaker for our missions conference.  Paul Thorson and I first met Anatoly in Kiev in March, 1994 as part of the CoMission project.  At the time, Anatoly needed an interpreter — today his English is such that he preached “solo” last Sunday.  Anatoly ministered to an underground church of 150 for many years.  He was well-known and stayed on the run from the KGB.  Today that church has over 1,500 members.  Anatoly has been named to a national commission on education.  Their task is to teach Christian morals and ethics in public schools — all with the government’s permission.  Anatoly’s vision is to hold conferences in fifty cities in Ukraine — with American Christian teachers leading the conferences.

“At an administrators’ luncheon this week, Lipscomb University president Dr. Randy Lowry told of being on a SACS visiting team to Ave Maria University in Naples, FL.  The Chancellor is a man named Tom Monaghan.  You may know him as the owner of Domino’s Pizza. A former Marine, Tom and his brother parlayed a $900 loan to purchase a pizza shop called Dominick’s into multi-millions.  You may also know him as former owner of the Detroit Tigers major league baseball team.   Monaghan says, “I want to go to Heaven — and I want to take as many people with me as possible.”  Though he owns his own plane, Monaghan flies commercial.  In fact, he flies “coach.”  In fact, he always asks for the middle seat.  His rationale?  “That way, I can tell TWO people about the university and its Godly mission.”  (Sounds like the Apostle Paul and the Praetorian Guard . . . every “shift change” was “new meat” to whom Paul could talk about Jesus.)  Tom Monaghan is all about preaching the Word . . . in season . . . out of season.

“How about you?  How about me?  Does the Gospel burn within us in such a manner?   Are we ‘all about preaching the Word . . . in season . . . out of season?’  Do we want to ‘take as many people to Heaven with us as possible?’  May it be so among us.”  

I look forward to seeing you Sunday with a Bible, a smile, and a positive word!  RA