Pastor Steve's Recent Weekly Letter
Pastor Steve's Weekly Letter for Wednesday, August 15, 2019
We’re home! We arrived home safely yesterday at 6:30 p.m. after a 3-day drive of 1800 miles from Idaho. Priscilla and I took a small detour on the way back. On Monday, we left Interstate 90 at Livingston, Montana and drove south through Paradise Valley (where we lived for a year in 1986) in into Yellowstone National Park (YNP). At dusk, we watched—and drove through—hundreds of buffalo in the Lamar Valley on the northeast side of the YNP. We stayed in the small mountain town of Cooke City, Montana. On Tuesday morning, we drove over the Beartooth Highway on our way back to Interstate 90. It is, perhaps, the most stunning drive in the United States. Yes, I think it’s even more majestic than Trail Ridge Drive in Colorado or Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park. We ended up driving 5800 miles since we left home in mid-July. We thank the Lord for protecting us as we drove.
The most sobering sight we saw on the trip was the wreckage of a small plane crash in the mountains near Kookia, Idaho—just seven miles from where Priscilla’s family lives. It happened on Sunday morning, August, 8, during a brief but ferocious storm. We took a drive in the mountains on Sunday afternoon, and since we were in the area, we drive up the ridge where the crash took place. Five hours later, the crash site was still smoldering. We saw the remains of a door and the tail. Otherwise, everything had burned up in a fiery scene on the steep ridge. We learned yesterday that a husband and wife from California were on their way home from Idaho when they crashed into the mountainside and lost their lives. FAA officials were trying to determine if there were any additional passengers on the plane.
One of the beneficial parts of my sabbatical was extended time reading and praying through Books 3 and 4 of the Psalms (73-106). Perhaps the most stirring psalm—one that God’s Spirit impressed upon my heart—was Psalm 86. I happened to read it a couple days before Pastor Brad preached on it! It begins:
Hear me, LORD, and answer me
For I am poor and needy.
I was intrigued by the way that the words “I” and “needy” in verse 1 sound alike in Hebrew—even though they are spelled differently. That feature subtly says that “I” and “needy” go together. That is certainly true in my life. Even in the best of times, I am poor and needy. I need all that God provides, and this psalm stuns me with its listing of all that God provides for the faithful who trust him. Psalm 86 speaks of God’s protection (2), grace (3, 15), joy (4), kindness (5), forgiveness (5), loyal love (5, 13, 15), mercy (6), truth (11, 15), compassion (15), patience (15), strength (16), goodness (17), help (17), and comfort (17). Oh my! What a God! As the song says, “I need you, oh, I need you. Every hour I need you.”
This Sunday, August 18, I plan to preach 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. The title of the sermon is “Standing Firm in the Gospel.” It is the first of three messages in a brief series on Priorities. We’ll be looking at priorities to which our church needs to keep returning. As a church, our mission is to build a loving community of Christ-followers to reach a culture in need of God's presence. In short, we exist to make disciples who make disciples. We've spent several weeks this summer focusing on two key priorities: hospitality and worship. As summer draws to a close, we will focus on three more priorities that are vital to our mission. We cannot show hospitality or offer worship without them.