Putting On The Heart of Christ

A couple of weeks ago I completed a sermon series entitled, "Putting On the Heart of Christ". Throughout this series we looked at several key areas of our lives where we could be more like Christ including: Freedom (freedom of the heart to worship and follow Christ), Gratitude, Reverence, Generosity and Faith.

In the midst of this sermon series Brenda, Grace and I had to go to Kentucky to spend some time with her father who had been recently diagnosed with colon cancer. While we were there my father-in-law had unexpected open heart surgery instead of the scheduled colon surgery.

The heart surgery went well. The colon surgery pushed back several weeks. The evening following surgery, Brenda was driving to the hospital while Gracie and I were at the hotel room. She called me en-route. The front tire on my Saturn VUE was smoking! Do you ever get that sinking feeling in your stomach when you receive unexpected, bad news?

What was I supposed to do? I'm in the hotel room with Gracie (my four year old daughter). We've got no other vehicle. No one to call. Yipe!

Brenda pulled over in parking lot of a lawn care business. The owner of the business was just coming out, saw her standing there and went to see how he could help. He ended up taking a look at the tire; test drove the VUE, and then said his mechanic can look at it in the morning.

Here is the reflection of God’s generosity in the people around us at work. He drove Brenda back to the hotel. The next day had his mechanic call the auto places in town until he found all the needed parts. He had his mechanic do all the necessary work. He called me at the hotel the next afternoon (while the car was being worked on) to see if we needed a ride anywhere or if we needed lunch. That evening he sent a driver to pick me up – the car was fixed and he only charged us for the parts – no charge for labor.

He knew we were from out of town and that Brenda’s dad was in the hospital and wanted to do what ever he could to help. I am very grateful to the generosity of this man. He was "Putting On the Heart of Christ"

We strive, as a church and as followers of Christ, to put on the heart of Christ - to be more Christ-like. In a world where the negative, bad things are most often emphasized, it is wonderful to see someone living as Christ would have us live.

Thank you Robert Prichard.