June 2020  Pastor’s Meditation
 
Happy June to everybody.  The church is reopening, life is reopening, and evidence of God working and blessing us is all over the place. 
 
For the meditation this month, I want to talk about time.  To do this, I want to talk about Os Guinness.  Os Guinness is an author and social critic, he’s a strong Christian & has a doctorate of Philosophy.  Guinness has written or edited more than 30 books.  I’ve read a few of them, and Guinness is a very good writer. 
 
In 2016 Guinness published a book called “Impossible People.”  It’s a great read.  In it, Guinness argues that followers of Jesus must engage secularism and atheism in new ways, with a fresh articulation of the Christian faith. Followers of Jesus are called to be “Impossible People,” people that are full of courage and mercy when life is tough and challenging.  Very good book, and I would suggest checking it out. 
 
In “Impossible People,” Oz Guinness talks about telling time.  He quotes an African Proverb which says, “Westerners have watches.  Africans have time.”  How many times have we said to people that have a request for us, “I don’t have time.”  I thought about a phrase I like to use, “The tyranny of the urgent.”  I think about how schedules and deadlines dominate my life.  I’ve thought about how I’ve had a break from all that with the lock down, and I wonder how soon all those deadlines and schedules are going to come back, and dominate my life. 
 
Moses prayed in Psalm 90:12 “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:15-16 “Be very careful, then, how you live… making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.”
 
I’m guessing that Paul and Moses would agree that our wise use of time isn’t just a matter of clock-watching.  The situation may call for us to keep a tight schedule, or it may compel us to give someone an extended gift of our time. 
 
We sometimes have only brief moments to make a difference for Jesus in our world and we need to maximize those opportunities.  That might mean ignoring our watches, ignoring our calendars and planners for a while as we show Jesus’ patient love to those he brings into our lives.   Time management is not about clock watching.  It’s about making the most of the time we have. 

Dear Great Lakes Conference Churches,
Thank you for giving to COVID 19 world relief through Global Reach 9325.  You are helping to give food to people around the world who are struggling with the COVID 19 pandemic.  So far, you have given over $37,000 and more than $26,000 of that has been distributed in various parts of the world including Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil and other countries.  Continue to give as the need has not lessened and food and starvation issues increase in many areas.  Requests for help through our international churches continues to come in.  Below are pictures from Bangladesh and India of people receiving food and sanitation supplies.    
You may send funds to Churches of God, General Conference Global Reach, 700 East Melrose Avenue, Findlay, OH 45840.  Make sure you place GR 9325 on your check or indicate the monies are designated for Covid Relief. 
Thank you for your generosity.
Pastor Earl