Do we take Jesus Christ for granted?
September 21, 2008 (Sunday)
This is the second Sunday our church buildings have been without electric power, as are the homes of nearly all the members of Timbergrove Baptist Church. The last time this happened was in 2005, after Hurricane Rita, when we missed one Sunday. We have chosen not to try and have services, which would have to be held out of doors. In past years, I have led many worship services out of doors, in revival meetings, and other special meetings. The First Baptist Church of Rockport met on its lawn after Hurricane Celia, because we were not sure if our damaged building was safe. Once we determined that it was safe, we put a huge tarpaulin on the roof, worshiped inside and waited for the arrival of lumber from Oregon to repair it. Costs for total repairs to the church buildings in 1970 exceeded the original construction costs eleven years earlier.
The Timbergrove Baptist Church is intact today; we are just not meeting together for worship. We will meet again soon, hopefully Wednesday evening or next Sunday. As far as I know, the church buildings sustained no serious damage. Not every building in Ike’s path was as fortunate. Some of them are gone completely, never to be found again, having become part of the rubble piled up on the beaches, streets and now vacant lots of area cities. Sadly, there have been some deaths. These kinds of storms are deadly, nothing to joke about and their approach is certainly no occasion for a party.
We wait. When the power is reconnected, we’ll feel like we’re on the way back to normalcy. Isn’t it amazing how we rarely take time to think about electric power when it’s readily available. We flip a switch, and light shines, coffee brews, radios blare, and television sets entertain. We take electricity for granted.
Do we take Jesus Christ for granted? Hear again the wonderful verses of God’s Holy Word: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:15-20 NIV).