Blessings: Drinking From The Saucer

 I've never made a fortune,
and I'll never make one now.
But it really doesn't matter
'cause I'm happy anyhow.

As I go along my journey
I'm reaping better than I've sowed.
I'm drinking from the saucer
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

I don't have a lot of riches,

And sometimes the going's tough
But with kin and friends to love me
I think I'm rich enough.

I thank God for the blessings

That His mercy has bestowed.
I'm drinking from the saucer
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

He gives me strength and courage
When the way grows steep and rough.
I'll not ask for other blessings for
I'm already blessed enough.

May we never be too busy
To help bear another's load.
Then we'll all be drinking from the saucer
When our cups have overflowed.

By John Paul Moore

Overflow

1.25.19

One year ago today I had lunch at El Potrero in Owasso with a pastor friend, Walt Yomen. I got a call in the parking lot from Vicki. Water in the basement from the bottom of the water heater. That is not where it normally comes from. Of course it sets off a chain of events. Lowes, Home Depot and Menards. Replacement cost and plumbing work. Not my favorite. 

Thankful for a good support system. One of our deacons, Jim Crews, offers to help (a true God-send), worked out the fittings that would have to be purchased tomorrow and he would return. 

The next phone call would change our lives forever. My 38 year old son's ATV accidental death is still hard to fully understand. The overflow of emotion and pain that came from my heart that began that night has not been fixed as easily as the water heater. 

Before the year passed, more losses stung my soul. Grief cycles in our family stayed fresh as I stood by my daughter at the painful loss of her 43 year old husband. 

Like the twelve year old water heater, our bodies have a breaking point. How long they last is truly up to God. It is to be useful until the moment it breaks. But to truly learn what it means to have God whisper in your ear "fear not, I'm here!" ...as the river comes... is more marvelous than words can express.

We are more than a mechanical apparatus, we have a finite body and an immortal soul. It is the soul we must be most concerned with. It is soul care that we must entrust to God, for it is eternal. And what is a few years of difficulty compared to that?

Twenty-One Gun Salute

Louie was 93. Fought in the Big War. As I looked at the memorial display of a newspaper clipping from June 4, 1944, it all seems so long ago. There was an article by General Eisenhower sending a message to the soldiers to "accept nothing less than complete victory". Our nation has certainly come a long way since that day. I think of all the lives that have been affected because of that great leadership. Freedom has cost a great deal.. for those who died and for those who lived through it.

Then I think of another war. It is the war of God for the soul. At today's memorial there were stories told of children who were picked up on a bus and brought to church. Of a Christian mother and of a dad who came to know Christ as a result and then lived out the remainder of his days in a different war... reaching people with the life-changing Gospel of Christ.

Today we said goodbye to that soldier. From a grateful nation and a grateful church, it has been a privilege to have known such a man. My prayer is that we will see more soldiers get involved in this long war for God. I hope I can say when this time comes "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8)