October 30, 2007
On October 30, 1997 I wrote my first “Thought For The Day.” That was Ten years ago today! It is very hard to believe but it is true. Ten years! Yes, there have been some days along the way and over this past summer and fall I have written sparingly. But I have given you my best. I never considered the idea of writing for ten years! We don’t always know what God has in mind but thankfully, He does!
I want to share some recent events in my life and where we are going from here with the ChurchMouse Chronicles.
First, on October 18th I received a phone call about 11:45 AM that my forty four year old brother Michael was taken to the hospital by ambulance. About an hour later I arrived at the hospital and he was dead. He died instantly from a massive hearty attack, aneurism or blood clot. Medics where actually at the scene and could not bring him back nor could the ambulance medics or when he arrived at the emergency room. Witnesses said that he just dropped over and never breathed again. I officiated his funeral on the 22nd. I walked past my mother and step father’s grave to my bother’s grave. He is buried next to my mother in a small rural cemetery.
Over the past ten years I have officiated the funeral of my mother, grandmother, great aunt, step father and now my brother. A few years prior to that I officiated the funeral of my 15 year old second cousin who choked to death in his sleep. Standing over loved ones graves is a difficult thing to do. When my mother died someone asked me, “How could you do your mother’s funeral?” I answered, “How could I let anyone else do it.”
Remember, it is not a matter of if we die but when we die. The statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of one people die!
In regard to the “Thought For The Day,” I will still write periodically but for the next 14 months I am going to write a book that I have been wanting to start for several months. You are going to get the opportunity to read it as it is being written. So, not everyday but often I will email you the new unedited section of the book. Have you ever had the opportunity to read a manuscript as it was being written? Probably not. When the final version is done it will be for sale to the public. In the mean time, you get to have some fun with me.
What is the book called and what is it about? Well, it will be a book of wisdom for teenagers and adults who never grew up. You will find it interesting, enlightening, challenging and thought provoking. It is my prayer that you will learn and grow close to God through the book. And for young people who one day read it I pray that it will help to keep them from making those mistakes that cost them so dearly for the rest of their lives. The book is written from a grandfather’s heart and it is entitled, “FOR BOMPA’S BABIES.”
You see, I may not live long enough to see my grandchildren grow up and I would like to leave them with my perspective and lessons I have learned on many things in life. Of course, it will have a spiritual flavor. In a few days you will begin to receive the first writings of the book.
-Lyn Sahr
-John 14:1-4 NIV
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Monday, October 7, 2007
The last time someone told me a secret, I didn’t even make it home before someone else called to tell me the secret! Too bad we don’t spread the gospel with such urgency!
-Lyn Sahr
-Prov 11:13 NIV
A gossip betrays a confidence,
but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Loving those with power, wealth or position seeks to be easier than loving those who have no power, wealth or position. Maybe that is why people work so hard to gain these things, to be loved. Strangely enough none of these gives one an wedge into eternity.
-Lyn Sahr
-Prov 11:4 NIV
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Today would have been my grandmother’s 96th birthday. She went home to be with the Lord seven years ago at age 89. She continued to lead a Bible study in her home up until about six months before her death. I have a problem hearing people in their 60’s and 70’s saying, “It’s time for others to work in the church. I have done my share.” The problem is it is not up to us to say when we have done our share!
-Lyn Sahr
-Acts 20:24 NIV
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
A lonely, empty life can never be permanently filled with things or other people to find contentment, fulfillment and happiness. This condition I call “spiritual fraud,” trying to use the physical things to fill spiritual needs.
-Lyn Sahr
-Prov 20:17 NIV
Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man,
but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel.
Monday, October 1, 2007
On October 30, 1997 I wrote my first “Thought for the Day” and emailed it out to twelve close friends and family members. Since the number has increased a hundredfold in English and Spanish with the website hits often numbering over 20,000 in a month.
Over these almost ten years I have tried to write thoughts to lift people’s spirits, challenged their faith and given them hope. For the purpose of ministry, I have never charged anything for these emails or website availability. All of my writing is still available on our website free of charge, all ten years worth!
How successful has this ministry been? Certainly we have not prospered from it financially. Even though we have from time to time asked for donations, very few have ever been received. Some years, I am embarrassed to say, no donations were received. Some years there were as little as $50, not even covering the cost of web hosting fees and domain registration. But ministry cannot be measured by what is deposited in the bank but rather what is deposited in heaven. I have no idea but I look forward to the possibility of meeting people in eternity who may have accepted Christ through something God gave me to say on an especially needy day in their life.
I am going to discontinue the “Thought for the Day” the end of this month, completing the ten years. I am seeking God for some direction for my run on the “Home Stretch” of life. I still want to go out in a “Blaze of Glory” of His doing. I would sum up the message I have given over the years in this; faith without passion… is not faith!
-Lyn Sahr
-Ps 37:28 NIV
For the LORD loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
