Over the weekend, a group of about 20 from Cornerstone Bible Church in Nescopeck, PA arrived. They will be here for a week to volunteer at the Mission. Their hometown is a rural community of about 1,500 on the Susquehanna River, southwest of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton in east-central Pennsylvania. I've met a few of them, but haven't heard much about their town, other than it's cold in the winter. They have jumped right in and are working on a number of construction, demolition, painting and clean-up projects we had started, but left for them to complete.
I wasn't any help to them, as I awoke to a familiar pain and spent all morning and part of the afternoon working to get a kidney stone through my system. I'll spare you the details, but like most little things that aren't immediately visible (like no-see-ums, salmonella, metal splinters or the dreaded chigger), the stone feels more like Stone Mountain than a grain of sand. In any event, the pain is gone, I've been set free and I do thank God for seeing me through the experience. And the work I would have been doing, has been done by enthusiastic, younger, stronger people. Tomorrow, I'll be back in the battle, thankful that much was accomplished today and we all had a beautiful weather day to do what each of us needed to do.
I've always marveled at the way God brings the people needed, the message needed and the conditions needed to accomplish what He has ordained to be done. We, as believers, are in reality a single body, regardless of our different denominations, styles of worship or the various ways we "do church". If we just step back, look at the Scriptures (regardless of the translation) as the inerrant, inspired Truth, we can find in its entirety, Old and New Testament, the way to navigate this life and be ready for the eternal life to come. Working together, many parts, one objective, One God in three Persons, reinforcing and encouraging each other, we can have joy, peace and the other fruit of the Spirit even in the throes of a kidney stone or any other trial. In all this, Thank You, Lord. Help us all to see the Light, and be the Light.
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