Wednesday, September 28, 2011

MY FATHER'S PRAYER

Pastor-Winston Watson on Monday, September 26, 2011 at 3:52am.

My Dear Child:

You may not know me, but I know everything about you (Psalm 139:1)
I know when you sit down and when you rise up (Psalm 139:2)
I know your thoughts and I am acquainted with all your ways (Psalm 139:2-3)
I know the number of the very hairs on your head (Matthew 10:30)
For you were made in my own image (Genesis 1:27)

In me you live and move and have your being (Acts 17:28)
For you are my offspring (Acts 17:28)
I knew you before you were conceived (Jeremiah 1:5)
I chose you when I planned creation (Ephesians 1:11-12)

You were not a mistake I carefully formed you and made you (Psalm 139:15)
For all your days are written in my book (Psalm 139:16)
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live (Acts 17:26)

You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)
I knit you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13)
And I brought your forth from your mother’s womb (Psalm 71:6)
I have been misrepresented by those who don’t know me (John 8:41-44)
But I am not distant and angry, I am the complete expression of Love (1 John 4:15)
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you (1 John 3:1)

Simply because you are my child and I am your Father (1 John 3:1)
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could (Matthew 7:11)
For I am the perfect Father (Matthew 5:48)
Every good gift you receive comes from my hand (James 1:17)
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs (Matthew 6:31-33)

I love you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3)
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore (Psalm 139:17-18)
And I rejoice over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17)
I will never stop doing good to you (Jeremiah 32:40)
For you are my treasured possession (Exodus 19:5)

If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me (Deuteronomy 4:19)
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4)
For it is I who give you those desires (Philippians 2:13)
I am able to do more than you could imagine (Ephesians 3:20)
For I am your greatest encourager (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)
I am also the Father who comforts you in all of your troubles (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

When you are broken hearted I am close to you (Psalm 34:18)
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart (Isaiah 40:11)
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes (Revelation 21:4)
And I will take away all the pain you have suffered on the earth (Revelation 21:4)
I am your Father, and I love you, even as I love my son, Jesus (John 17:23)
For in Jesus my love for you is revealed (John 17:26)
He is the exact representation of my being (Hebrews 1:3)
He came to show you that I am for you, not against you (Romans 8:31)
And he came to tell you that I am not counting your sins (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you (1 John 4:10)
I gave up everything that I love, that I might gain your love (Romans 8:31-32)
Come home and I will throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen (Luke 15:7)
I am waiting for you to come home to me (Luke 15:11-32)
I love you (John 3:16)

Friday, September 23, 2011

LESSONS OF FAITH (St. Mary's Infirmary Part 4)

On another of my visits to the Infirmary I just experienced another first. My time in serving was more focused on the men but on this day, because we were a smaller group, I had to stop and serve in the women's area also.

I went down to a corner and there was a woman there that could not be more than mid thirties or younger. I had to wake her and ask if she wanted some of the soup we were serving and she nodded in the affirmative. I did not realize that she could not help herself at all.

Her arms were contorted and unusable, her face appeared as someone that was mentally handicapped and she was lying in a fetal position. I had to help her move into a comfortable position to have the soup I offered. As I helped her move into a good position to be fed it was apparent that I would have to feed her if she was to have soup that afternoon.

I had to get a spoon and patiently feed her with each spoonfull. After each one, I asked if she was ready for the other and she would nod with what I interpreted as a faint smile. After a few minutes of doing this, I had the sense, as she kept staring into my eyes that she must have been thinking who I was.

I had never sat with her before, never really noticed her before and I am sure she had not ever seen me come in that area before. As I sat and looked at her, diapered, incapable of helping herself - my thoughts ran into eternity and our meeting in heaven one day.

I could hear her say, although now unable to speak, "thank you for feeding me on that day!"

I am experiencing an inner change that no money, no building, no man or woman to bring about - ONLY THE LORD AND HIS HEART FOR THE LOST AND DYING OF OUR WORLD.

I finally finished with the young lady and moved on to the mens dormitory but this memory will last for my natural life, those eyes that stared into mine and the depth of thought that must have accompanied the stare. I may never what her complete thoughts were, but I do believe I heard a resounding "thank you" coming from that focused stare from my sister.

Lord help us to see as you do...

Monday, September 12, 2011

LESSONS OF FAITH (St. Mary's Infirmary Part 3)

The same day that I had the conversation with Mr. Hanson I had another encounter that was personally challenging. I had just finished helping the team in the ladies dorm and moved to the men's dorm when I saw, vividly, how some people were unable to feed themselves.

I had never thought about it, but I didn't know how - either comfortable, or willing I would be to sit patiently and feed someone in the situation that was unfolding before me. I do believe that the Lord provides us with such opportunities and challenges to let us see our own mettle.

As I walked through the men's dorm I came upon a man that could not, it seemed, steady himself enough to sit upright. As I came close to him, in my heart I really wished someone else would go over and serve him. I thought to myself, "I have never done this before and I am not comfortable." 

But, I was challenged to do so myself - it is so easy to minister from the pulpit, or speak into lives from the comfort of our ivory towers - but there are times when we have to get into the trenches and do what the Lord has commissioned. After the fact I was speaking to several of our young men and mentioned how easy it is to stay far and be a blessing, or serve from a distance - the challenge is when we come close, face to face, with the problems of others, and personal issues with which we are uncomfortable - WHAT DO WE DO? 

Run we may, but we are called to be all things to all men.

This man needed help not just to eat but to even barely sit upright. I had to get a pillow, stand behind him with the pillow on my legs and keep him up while I spoon fed each portion of the soup we had brought. My days in New York as a Vice President at Chemical Bank NA flashed before my eyes, then as a Senior Manager at Memorex Telex, then my own company as CEO, I thought of my time of ministry in the pulpit and I realized that none of those endeavors provided the sense of fulfillment and satisfaction as taking a small plastic spoon and feeding someone who could not feed himself.

Several times he gasped for air and was obviously short of breath, so I bent close and asked him how he was feeling ... his words in a low, slow crawl "I am feeling weak." I kept on feeding him until the soup was done, but he really fed me with a sense of God's compassion that I have not had before.

O Lord, that we would care for the hopeless and dying.



.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

LESSONS OF FAITH (Saint Mary Infirmary, Part 2)

Mr. Hanson was talkative and as I took water over to him he engaged me in a coneversation about where I was from and if I was a pastor. As he we spoke about the Kingston area we work in he became more excited and shared how he knew the area well and began to speak of some of the landmarks of the THREE MILE corner and its vicinity.

As we spoke further he mentioned how he had worked for many years and he even spoke fondly of his employer. But he started down a vein of dissapointment that made me stop, almost in thought, and focus on the words that were coming from his lips.

Mr Hanson spoke about his stroke, how he had been in the University Hospital for a couple of months and came out none the better. I had not noticed before, but just under the sheet that covered his left arm was what would have been a viable member except that the stroke had left it completely paralyzed and fixed right next to his chest.

For what seemed like an eternity I gazed a this hand that was frozen in its position and clearly atrophied from lack of use. I reflected on my mom and others whom God had so blessed to not go through a situation such as this. Those that have loved ones that care about them and have the means and heart to help them.

But Mr. Hanson was not unhappy in his talk, he told me how he left the University Hospital and then spent a long time in a nursing home in Havendale (Kingston). But, it was obvious, although he didn't say it - that he ran out of financial resources to care for himself. Now he was in the home for the indigent.

We spoke of him being in that state for fifteen years, unable to engage the world as he had as a young man. Now lying there and waiting for ?? I thought long and hard about him, what would I do in such a situation? How would I survive with this for fifteen years?

My friends, it is Christ that died for us and we must find our place to give hope to lost souls such as this. Since coming to Jamaica I have tried to give to our community as much as we can, fasted and prayed and went without many things so that we could sow into others that had a greater need.

Let us be a people of sacrifice, wholly giving ourselves over to the God that we serve so that we can serve our fellow man.

Next time, I will share a little about Richard, Mr. Davis and Norris, three men that need the compassion of Christ to always be displayed in their world.

LESSONS OF FAITH (The St. Mary Infirmary, Part 1)

I haven't written about much in the last few months but the lessons that I have been learning are some of the most profound of my life.

It seems that each event, each email, each person brings to bear such profound revelation from the Lord about the state of being - I sometimes wonder if we are all really in tune with the Holy Spirit. We say we are, we sometimes even speak of His inspiration, but I do perceive another that is inspiring a great portion of the body of Christ.

WHAT MINISTRY IS
Just this past week, totally unplanned, I had the opportunity to visit the local infirmary with Teri Barhorst who led the group to provide a meal to the residents. When we arrived on the compound we were greeted with the usual smiles and excitement that seems to just flow effortlessly from some of the residents.

Two young women in particular, obviously challenged in speech and mental ability seem to always have an enormous smile and warmth of presence as the ministry teams arrive. The recognition of Teri and others further brings more laughter, hugs and smiles.

HEART WARMING GRATITUDE
But as you walk beyond this first wave of residents you begin to see a bit more. We provided soup and water to the ladies - one woman so bitter in her heart it was palpable - but the Lord told me to smile and greet her each time I passed by her wheelchair. Another so sweet, said in such a soft tone to me, "don't waste the cup you can use it again." Others with eyes aflame with a heart of gratitude.

A PROFOUND ENCOUNTER
At the end of our time with them, I spoke with a man who said his name was Hanson. Now, he was articulate, knew where I was from in Kingston as I shared with him. My heart was drawn to hear, even a brief few words of his life's story and he told me of his fifteen years of being in bed recovering from a heart attack. I will tell more later, but the few minutes I spent with Mr. Hanson were profound ... May God bless him and keep him.