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Pastor’s Paragraphs: May 19, 2017

Once again this Sunday we come to the special recognition of our High School Graduates.  This is always a special moment for me as Pastor of these fine young people, most of whom I have known since their birth.  It has been our privilege as a church to share with their parents in their spiritual journey.  This is indeed a special moment in their lives as they begin the next chapter of their lives.  It is our prayer that they will make good choices and responsible decisions in their future.  We congratulate them on their accomplishments.  They will be missed by their families and church as they move on to the path ahead.  I hope you will take a moment to visit with them personally and to see their display tables at the reception time on Sunday evening following the worship service.

It will be my privilege to bring a message to these students, as well as our church family Sunday morning, about the challenges we face in life from a Christian perspective.  It is their generation who will be the ones to make a difference in our world in the years to come.  Let us pray that they will take the things they have learned with them into their homes, further education and world in which they will live.

I am pleased to announce gifts to the Eastern Hills Baptist Foundation which have been received recently.  These include some given in memory, some from birthday celebrations and another special gift from the remainder of annuity.  Others have made provisions through life insurance or personal wills which one day will provide for God’s work until Jesus comes.  As of this week, the foundation will be valued in excess of $90,000.  For that we are grateful.  I share this information with you as a reminder that each of us has an opportunity to make provisions for God’s work after we are gone.  I urge you to talk with your family and contact the church office or the Baptist Foundation of Alabama if you would like more information on how you can make provisions to share in God’s work through a legacy gift.  Remember, you can choose how you want the proceeds to be used.

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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