Remembrances

              I retired and headed South from Parkersburg, West Virginia to settle in the Roanoke Valley where our children were located. Our homes are like the three tips on a triangle so we are fairly close together. Soon, however, I took a part time job as a pastoral counselor at a local retirement community. I worked there for nine years under about five different administrators. As was the case in any job, there was a lot of “politics” involved having to do what each administrator asked and not to be antagonistic towards their form of leadership. I guess it comes with most jobs in some form or another. There were the other things that made it all worthwhile which were the people to whom I was able to minister. One of them was brought to mind yesterday as I recalled Etholene Wills. I spent most mornings stopping at her table during the breakfast period, where she would ask, “What gem do you have for me from God's word today?” I sat and held her hand one day waiting for the nitro glycerin to kick in and the ambulance to come during a period of heart pains and one day, I sang at her funeral. I was thankful for the stairwells in the building as most residents were never in them. It was a place to where I would retreat now and then just to weep for the loss of another resident/ So, while the politics of the job were aggravating, the blessing far out numbered them. Philippians 1:3-5 says, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;”

          Paul had a lot more difficulties than I have ever encountered in a ministry. He lists them in a couple of places in the New Testament. He was beaten several times and stoned by some of the audience at some locations. He was shipwrecked, and had a host of other thins happen to him as a result of his ministry to reach people with the message of the gospel. There were those rewards that came later when people believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They would then become believers, but that didn't stop the Apostle from thinking about them and praying for them. Paul thanked God for the memories as he would think about all of them and not just the ones from Philippi, but also Thessalonica and Corinth and Asia Minor, and Berea, and Ephesus and Colosse. They were all important to him and when the trials came, they couldn't extinguish the memories of the ministry with which God had blessed him. As Paul remembered them, he prayed for them. God has given us all ministries right here on planet earth in our own locations. You and I are living epistles of the Gospel. Are we praying for those that have been placed in our circle of acquaintances? The Apostle Paul must have had a long prayer list and we should also. Praise God for the ministries that He has given to each of us.