Announcements
SYMPATHY: to Bill & Kathy McKeel at the passing of Kathy’s sister, Sue Schuiling, on Monday, May 5. A graveside service will be held on Tuesday, May 13, at 10:00 a.m. at Cedar Hill Cemetery. A Memorial Service will follow at 11:30 a.m. at Bishop Cummins Reformed Episcopal Church in Catonsville.
IN MEMORY: The rose on the organ was placed by Walt Ritter & Family in memory of Joanne Ritter.
RECOGNIZING OUR GRADUATES: 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 1, to be included in our special handout.
GUEST MISSIONARY: Brother Craig Ledbetter, Missionary to Ireland, will be preaching our morning and evening services Sunday, May 18. Make plans to be here for each service and invite someone to come with you!
From My Heart
Happy Mother’s Day! If there is ever a day that brings out the best in all of us, it is Mother’s Day. Every child remembers how his/her mother was such a strong influence, a towering presence, and a Godly example. Abraham Lincoln said, “I remember my mother’s prayers, and they have followed me; they have clung to me all my life. All that I am and hope to be, I owe to my angel mother!” That is a wonderful testimony from a son who realized what those prayers did in his life.
One of the greatest examples of a Godly mother is the story of Susanna Wesley, who was the mother of John and Charles Wesley. This lady had 19 children, with only 10 of those children surviving infancy. One of her sons, her 15th-born, John, became the most famous preacher of the Gospel of his time. Her 18th-born child, Charles, joined his older brother to become the founders of the Methodist Church. Charles was also a prolific hymn writer, with over 6,500 hymns written in his lifetime. Both were greatly used of God, and both give the influence of their mother as the dominating force in their upbringing.
A preacher of the past used to say regularly, “The world would never have had the ministry of John and Charles Wesley had it not been for their praying, faithful mother Susanna.” John Wesley said, “When I recall the joys of my 56 years of public ministry, I often shudder at the thought of how near I came to losing them. For many months, my mind was balancing between the pulpit and the attraction of a legal career. Behind it all, a mother’s prayers were moving the poised balance; she made souls outweigh silver, and eternity outweigh time.”
I still remember the prayers I heard from my mother’s lips and heart as she prayed for me to get saved, and then to serve the Lord. I hardened my heart to those prayers for the longest time, but then yielded one day on October 25th, 1970, when I trusted Christ as my Savior. The following July, I surrendered my life to full-time service, wherever the Lord would use me. Looking back on that period in my life, I see how the Lord used my mother’s influence to call me to preach His Word.
Mother’s Day is not a Bible holiday, or even a Jewish holiday, and some would say it is just mere sentiment! Well, it probably is sentiment, but it is a good sentiment, and one the world should place a little more focus on - as a way of bringing out something in us that should not be held within. As time passes, I keep thinking of the day when I will see my mother again in Heaven. I cannot wait to hug her neck and thank her for all she did for me, which at the time I certainly did not appreciate, as I do now!
Happy Mother’s Day, and may God bless all our Moms!
Pastor Norris