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Weekly Devotional Message from David Jones June 16, 2006 Dear family and friends of WCPC: My car had to be worked on this week. It didn’t break down. The headlights wouldn’t go off, no matter what I did. So, since I didn’t want my battery to run down, I had it fixed. The mechanic said it was a new one for them. They had never worked on a car whose highlights wouldn’t go off. They worked on plenty of cars whose highlights wouldn’t go on, but off was a new experience. I told him that since this would be a learning experience for them I should get a little discount. I didn’t. I was amazed at how much it cost to turn my headlights off. Of course if I hadn’t, I would have probably had to buy another battery, and who knows what else might have broken along the way. A number of years ago while I was driving to Richmond, Virginia my “Check Engine Light” came on. It was the middle of the night and I decided to ignore it. A little later I was walking Interstate 95. My car was running low on oil. In fact the engine locked up. It was a total loss. It was an old car, but never-the-less my avoidance of what was a mirror issue caused a far greater one. Any “warning lights” going off in your life right now? I’ve asked that question before because it’s such an important one. Maybe your devotional life is being neglected. Maybe your fuse is short and you find yourself blowing up at people at work or at home. Maybe you are drinking more than usual. A “warning light” can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and we ignore them at our peril. The story of Saul, the first King of Israel, is very instructive. At first he began his reign with a great sense of dependency on God. After all it was God who anointed him through the prophet Samuel to be King. But as Saul grew in power, in prestige, in wealth, he started to ignore the God of Israel. It didn’t happen over night, but gradually, ignoring the “warning lights” in his life he slipped further and further away from his first love—God. Finally it climaxes in Saul taking matters into his own hands and offering up sacrifice and worship that should have been provided by Samuel. Saul had intentionally ignored God’s command. The rest is history, as they say. (I Samuel chapters 9–31) Don’t wait until it’s too late to pull yourself in for a checkup. That’s important to do physically. It’s also important to do spiritually. If you’re interested I have some great questions you might like to use or you can certainly come up with your own. My point. The problem might look at first like it’s not that big a deal. It probably isn’t if you work on it now. But if you wait, the costs may be more than you could ever have imagined. Your pastor, David Jones
We continue this Sunday our summer series on “God’s Top Ten.” We break the order of the Ten Commandments so we can look at Commandment Number Five: Honor Your Father and Mother. I thought that would be appropriate for Father’s Day. Also, don’t forget about this Sunday’s Swim and Cookout at Creekwood Pool (across from McCullough High School) from 6:00 p.m. till 8:00 p.m. It’s part of our continuing anniversary celebrations. Meat, buns, condiments and drinks will be provided. Families with the last name A – G are asked to bring chips, pretzels or other snack food. Families with the last name H – Q are asked to bring salad (fruit, vegetable, Cole slaw, macaroni or potato). Families with last name R – Z are asked to bring bite size, hand-held desserts.
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