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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion January 4, 2008 United in Spirit |
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Frontline Devotion for Friday, January 4, 2008 by Mike Martine
Reprinted from January 16, 2004
Bible text: Acts 2: 1-47
My youngest child, Eric, faced a daunting prospect upon his return to school after our recent Christmas break. His school (the children, not the building) moved into a new structure with the New Year. Originally, the move was to be made in the fall, with the start of class. But problems occurred in the process of construction and so…the change of building was pushed back to January.
It’s always a bit frightening for a child to move to a new school. This move seemed all the more scary because it meant more than just moving from a small building to a much larger one, it also meant joining students from another school down the street. Moving in together, seeing many new faces in the already strange surroundings.
Being a reasonably good parent, I worried all day about how the move went for Eric. Did he find his classroom right away? Did he get his lunch without any problems? Was he scared? How would he feel about going back tomorrow?
I expected him to be OK, but I have to admit I was surprised at the end of the day with how “OK” he was. He came through the door, laughing. “It was hysterical, Daddy,” he said. “It was hysterical!”
“What was?” I asked.
“I was looking for my class and then I looked up and there was Ben!” he said. “So we started walking together and just like that, we saw Dylan. Then we saw this girl from our class (he couldn’t - or wouldn’t - remember her name), and then Elijah came and pretty soon there were like eight of us, walking together and laughing and then, we saw him, Mr. Goodwill, our teacher! It was hysterical!”
This vision of little boys (and one girl) finding each other in the jungle of a new building, giggling at the discovery of one another and then their teacher says something to me about Pentecost and our walk as Christians.
We are in the world, and yet not of it. Like those first Christians who received the spirit, we recognize that we are unified by a force greater than us. (Much like my son’s friends were unified by the simple fact that they are classmates.) This gift from God comforts and unites us, and it also gives us the courage to walk together in a world that often does not recognize the importance of the gospel message. That life is to be lived with compassion, sharing what we have, sharing our hopes and disappointments, as we travel on together.
And at the end of the road, at the end of this life of compassion and sharing, we will see the smiling face of our teacher. The face of the one who will open his arms and take us in. The one who will be there when we really get “home.”
Be of good courage as you walk this earth. You are part of God’s people, united in spirit and guided in his blessing. And may we always walk with one eye searching for the teacher.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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