I’ve always loved the fall. It’s my favorite season.
Growing up on a farm, I found the fall to be especially beautiful and peaceful. The mountains surrounded us with an impressive array of colors, while the grassy fields provided a large playground once the last cutting of hay was in the barn loft. I remember lying in those fields looking up at the clear sky and wondering about faraway places I had never seen. While the spring was always busting with new life and short-lived blooms, it was also busy. It was the time of planting and cleaning. But the fall was slower…more peaceful. I still feel that way.
The fall took on new meaning to me because the first time I ever attended a worship service at a church was in early October of my sophomore year in high school. My life – and my future – were changed that Monday night. Each October I remember that year and give thanks to God for His grace that found me on that isolated farm and brought me into His family.
Rock Hill doesn’t look anything like that isolated farm I called home. It is a growing city filled with people whose lives are likely too busy for their own good. There are no hay fields and no mountains. Yet it is also filled with people who in many ways are more isolated than I was. Surrounded by people, they shut themselves inside their houses when the work day ends. Many of them are also isolated from God – and from His people…from us.
God sent people into my life to rescue me from a life without Him. I am thankful for those kind and loving disciples who obeyed Jesus’ command to make disciples. He used them to make me a disciple.
Who are those isolated people to whom God wants you to show kindness and love by invading their isolation? Are you praying for them? Are you inviting them participate in things like Trunk or Treat, Sunday worship services, or service projects planned by your Sunday School class? Are you getting to know them? Are you serving them? Are you being a friend to them?
This fall could be the season when their life – and their future – change. What are you waiting for?
Pastor Steve Hogg
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