Rev. Ray and Pat Amos
Romans 1:11-12
DEVOTION FOR TODAY, September 16, 2020
“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”
She attended church regularly, and always had notebook and pin. Obra collected information about what was happening in people’s lives. Then on each Thursday the local newspaper would print her article, “From the Hearthside.” It was probably the most read article in the paper. There was plenty of news about the personal life of the community; and there was usually a summary of my sermon. She had the gift of dressing up a “not so good sermon” and transforming it into a piece of literature.
I loved visiting her home; it was a stone cottage where ferns and wildflowers danced in her yard; it was like stepping into the pages of a storybook. We would sit by that hearthside (from which she wrote) and share in boundless conversation.
I believe that God has a reason for every time his children meet new and everlasting friends. As is famously written, “No man is an island entire of itself.” We really are a part of the whole, and a part of each other. The most valuable gold nuggets of life are found in friendships.
At that time in my life I would never have believed that writing would be something that God had for me to do. How many seeds are sown in hearts that do not sprout until years later? I had taken a Creative Writing class at college and she was most interested. She taught me that in creative writing you do not just write an article to be read, but a story to be seen, heard, and felt.
At her death, an article about her appeared in the local news; this is a quote (it starts in the middle of a sentence): “…unless you were visiting the one house in Keen Mountain where Frost and Shakespeare and PTA meetings were always on the agenda. You might have to push aside some student essays, and a pile of magazines and books to find a seat, but the warmth of the heart made the home a palace of knowledge.”
Our life is not a book, but a chapter in a book from many volumes. We are a product of one another. I have never written anything new; only what has been given to me by someone along life’s way. We give and we take; and hopefully we leave the world a better place because we walked and talked together, friend with friends, and Jesus.
Who helped make you who you are today? We cannot forget or take for granted even the simplest deeds of Love. None of us got here by ourselves, and no one enters Heaven alone.
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
“Link to YouTube Video – Beautiful Inspirational Songs”
