Friday

“I sought the Lord, and He heard me.”

~Psalm 34:4a~

Pray for Alice Faye Lee.  She fell yesterday.  She now has a sling for a broken bone near her shoulder.  Pray the arm heals properly and no other problems develop.

Pray for VBS (Vacation Bible School).  Thank God for the workers who are planning, studying, and decorating for next week.  VBS will be held in several churches, including Kentwood and Spring Creek, next week.  Contact you local church to learn when your children, grandchildren can attend.  Volunteer to help. Good help is always appreciated. Especially pray for children who will be in attendance at VBS. Say a special word of thanks to the person who coordinates VBS. Without them, VBS would not happen each year.

INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS PRAYERLINE

IMB
Friday, June 4, 2010

“As they were going along the road,

they came to a place where there was some water.

The official said, ‘Look! Here is some water.

Why can’t I be baptized?’”

~Acts 8:36-37, CEV~

Dear Intercessors, this is Eleanor Witcher of the Office of Global Prayer Strategy, expressing joy with you in the baptism of many around the world.

T planned a baptism for a small group in South Asia of about 10. He was going to baptize them very near where they live, but they all complained that the water was “dirty.” T asked them where they would like to go. They agreed that a not-too-far-away temple would be best. T told them that if they were not afraid to go there and be baptized, then he surely was not afraid. They went there and took baptism at the temple’s lake/bathing area as many looked on. Pray that many more in South Asia will obediently follow the Master.

A worker among a Last Frontier people group writes: “I had an opportunity to meet a middle school teacher who is the mother of two children. One day she told me that her older daughter, who had studied overseas, asked for her blessing to believe our Lord. She said that she gave a nod. So I asked her whether she wanted to hear more about Him. She wasn’t interested at that time. That was a year ago. Throughout on and off contact and at our Christmas gathering, she began to open her heart. Finally she decided to follow our Father. It wasn’t only her, though. Her younger daughter also committed herself. They both got baptized on the same day. Who do you think I will turn my attention to next? Yes, you are right–her husband.”

* Please pray for this school teacher’s family so that all of them will have the same heavenly Father.

* Give thanks for bold believers who are willing to proclaim their testimonies of salvation before everyone in their community.

* Intercede for those in your congregation who are currently resisting the Lord’s call to be baptized.

THE NAME WE WEAR

When the 1960s ended, many hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz.  They got married and had children.  But they didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett.  People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing with little Time Warp or Spring Fever.  And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school.

That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand.  Every fall, parents applied name tags to their children, kissed them good-bye and sent them off to school on the bus.  So it was for Fruit Stand.  The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.

“Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?” they offered.

And later, “Fruit Stand, how about a snack?”  He accepted hesitantly.  By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem much odder than Heather’s or Sun Ray’s.

At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses.

“Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?”  He didn’t answer.  That wasn’t strange.  He hadn’t answered them all day.  Lots of children are shy on the first day of school.  It didn’t matter.  The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stop on the reverse side of their name tags.  The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word “Anthony.”

We often hear folks say, “There’s nothing in a name!”  But there is very much something in a name.  Our name identifies who we are and where we came from (and sometimes where we’re going).  That’s why Abram’s name was changed to Abraham (“father of a multitude”), and Simon’s to Peter (“the rock”).

As Christians, we are proud to wear the name of the one who is our Lord, our Savior and our head.

“If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.” (1 Peter 4:14-16)

It truly does make a difference what name we wear.  If you don’t believe me, just ask Fruit Stand.

Have a great day!

Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina