Announcements
SYMPATHY: is extended to the family and friends of Charles Page, who passed away on Wednesday, May 1. He was a member of the Good Shepherd Class.
CCS SENIOR TRIP: is planned for May 15 - May 22. Please keep them in prayer as they prepare to leave for Florida this week.
RECOGNIZING OUR GRADUATES: We will be putting together a special handout with the names of those who have graduated this year. If you are graduating from high school, college, graduate school, technical school, etc., please complete the form available at the Welcome Desk by Sunday, June 2.
From My Heart
Happy Mother’s Day! When I was in Middle School (we called it Jr. High) I had a paper route delivering the Charleston Daily Mail. It was a large route and I made about 60 dollars a week, which was huge money for a 12-14 year old kid! During that time, on the Saturday before Mother’s Day, I would take the bus into town and would buy my mother a good number of presents to celebrate her big day!
A month later was Father’s Day, but I never went shopping to buy a Father’s Day present! But I never missed Mother’s Day! The influence of a mother over her child is something that no man has ever been able to understand. In Ezekiel 16:44, we read, “As is the mother, so is her daughter.” There is no power like a mother’s power, and a mother’s influence upon her child is second to none.
She has the privilege of living closely to her children, inspiring them to grow up and be the very best they can be! I look back on my early days and remember my mother being the one who taught me and trained me in the things of handling life’s situations. That is one of the roles Mother has as her children are growing! She is a counselor, a teacher, a spiritual example, a friend, a nurse, a storyteller, she makes sure the homework is done, and she cooks our favorite foods.
That is quite a calling? Actually - that is a divine calling! My question today is this: “Mother, what kind of example are you setting before your children?” Charles Dickens said, “The virtues of the mothers shall be visited on their children as well as the sins of the fathers.” So mother, are you directing an inquiring mind into spiritual truth? Do you echo the words of the Apostle John when he said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” (III John 4)
In II Timothy 1:4-5, Paul spoke to Timothy, his son in the ministry, and commended his “unfeigned faith” taught to him by his mother and grandmother. Then in 3:14-15, Paul admonishes Timothy to continue in the things which those two ladies taught him from the Scriptures.
This shows us that believing mothers and grandmothers, like Lois and Eunice, produce believing and Godly young men like Timothy. The influence of mothers is often the most powerful and lasting influence in our lives.
I know in my own life, the influence of my mother upon my life was the most powerful influence I ever experienced. I still, all these years later, often reflect back to some lesson that my loving mother, with patience and care, taught me as she would come in to pray with me before going to sleep!
I wish my mother was still here, so I could go the extra mile to make her feel she was the greatest mother ever! If your mother is still living, you should make your mother feel like she is a queen on this Mother’s Day!
Pastor Norris