ON THE OTHER SIDE

Charlie at the Door, JUMC, NC

 I took this photo of our security guard Glenn’s dog Charlie as Glenn had stepped inside our Fellowship Hall to secure the doors after this morning’s services.  Charlie was quietly laying down outside the hall, but quickly rose to wait outside the doors for his master.  He didn’t move a muscle until Glenn opened the doors to exit.

That image immediately called to mind a story I had read years ago and it perfectly illustrated that story.  As I recall, a sick man was inside an examination room with his doctor who had just revealed that the man had a terminal illness.  The patient remarked that he hadn’t spent much of his life trying to understand God or even contemplating what is on the other side of this mortal life.  So, he asked the doctor for his opinion.

The doctor put his hand on the room’s door handle and they heard a whining and scratching on the other side.  When the doctor opened the door, his dog jumped up to greet him.  Then the doctor remarked, “I don’t know a lot about what’s on the other side, but I have faith that my Master is there with open arms and that is enough.”   

Join us at JUMC every Sunday morning behind the outside doors to learn more about the Master on the other side!

SERVING OTHERS

Washing Feet & Serving Others in a Pandemic

I recently read a short and sweet phrase on “serving” while facilitating an adult class on How Happiness Happens by Max Lucado.  He summarized the process of serving others this way: “Doing good does the doer good!”  In fact, if we’re serving others that have no hope of repaying us, we’re doing God’s work.  If we’re expecting something in return, we’re doing business!

My wife Karen and I volunteered to participate in a community mission effort a number of years ago. We gathered as a group in our JUMC Fellowship Hall and were given an assignment for the day to make a difference in our community. And before we all departed, our Bishop gave us a rather daunting instruction. We were challenged to “see Jesus along the way”.

We ended up working with a retired law officer who was trying to offer after school assistance to elementary school children. He had received a large number of books from a major school supply company that desperately needed to be organized. In the course of spending the day with this man, we got to know him better and understand that his heart was in the right place, but his resources were woefully lacking. After the kids arrived later, he slipped outside and grilled dinner for all of us on a small charcoal grill.

When we returned to JUMC for a debriefing, I was able to confirm that we had indeed seen Jesus that day in the form of a man that had seen too much suffering and pain in his community and sought to do something positive about it at its core.

Later, our church was able to initiate an Agape initiative at an elementary school in that community which funded and staffed after school care.

I had been helping a young second grade boy with reading a Christmas book and another about a pig that outfoxed a fox in our after-school mission.  He actually didn’t need much assistance except for just a few foreign words. When a woman with similar features appeared to pick up one of the children, I noticed that the boy was gathering his backpack and putting on his winter coat. So, I approached her and mentioned that he had done a very good job of reading two books to me today. She asked if I was from the church and I acknowledged that I was.

She then thanked me for helping her family have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas with the donations that had been sent home with every child before the school break. Her eyes revealed a true sincerity. Without giving my response much thought I mentioned that it was all in the spirit of Christmas and it was a two-way street. I had experienced a much better holiday season this year because we were able to provide the interaction, presents and food. And it was especially gratifying to observe that this woman was able to see Jesus through the efforts of the people at our church.