Dear Fellow Children of God,
This has been a week of illness in the Rockey
family. My dad had successful surgery in
Florida. My uncle in Massachusetts, who is my godfather, was placed on hospice
in the past week. My grand children have
also had some normal childhood illnesses.
This has been a week of illness!
However, the illness that has kept my primary attention
is the illness my wife, Kathy, is fighting.
She came home from work on April 26 with a children’s illness called,
“Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease”.
Unfortunately I have never seen Kathy so miserable. The rash has turned to blisters on her hands
and feet, her elbows and nose. She has
experienced a terrible itching that has made it difficult to sleep. She suffered from a fever and chills. The swelling from the blisters has prevented Kathy
from closing her hands so that it was even difficult to read a book for a time. When Kathy can’t sew you know she’s
sick! We have learned that when adults
contract a children’s disease the symptoms are worse for the adult.
I have also learned again that when someone you love is
ill or suffering you suffer along with them.
I didn’t have the itching or the blisters or the chills, but I wanted to
take care of my wife. And I was not
alone in wanting to care for Kathy. In
church last Sunday 8 different individuals offered help. We have had 3 meals delivered and one batch
of “medicinal cinnamon rolls.” Kathy has
received phone calls and wishes from many.
On Wednesday night after I had brought home some more care packages
Kathy said something that will stick with me, “I feel loved.”
That is actually God’s plan for His church. God wants us to know His love for us and then
to share His love with someone else. 2
Corinthians 1 says, 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that
we can comfort those in any
trouble with the comfort we
ourselves have received from God.
According to what God is saying, the care Kathy has
received is more than just one person sharing concern for another. The care Kathy received from other Christians
was a sharing of the compassion and comfort and love God has shown us in Jesus. In fact, God’s compassion and comfort for us
gives us a reason and gives us resources to care for others. So, when the fellow children of God shared
their care for Jesus, God was working through them to give this care.
It is one thing to read or hear that God
loves us. It is another thing to be
loved. This week my wife said, “I feel
loved” because others shared with Kathy the love God had given them.
A Fellow Child of God,
blessed by the love of other Christians,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. On Wednesday night David Grosz was
commissioned as a licensed deacon in our Wednesday worship. The St. John Stephen Ministers helped to
provide a reception for fellow Stephen Minister, David. I am including two pictures from this event. https://picasaweb.google.com/jonrock53/May22012DavidGroszCommissioningAsLicencedDeacon?authuser=0&feat=directlink
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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS
FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully
weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have. (I am
always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving
this e-mail for the first time.) However, if you don’t want to receive
this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list
for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one
of these e-mails, please send me their
e-mail address.
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