My wife and I have been marveling over our plants. We planted a few dozen different plants (some are actually trees) in our yard last year. We had to feed them and water them and care for them diligently last summer and fall. And this spring they are blooming beautifully. What happiness we feel every time we look at the fruit of our labor! We served those plants the best we could, and know they have survived the winter and bless us every day with their beauty and the beauty of the butterflies and different insects they attract.

Seeing our plants reminds me how every one of God’s creations was created to serve. Everything has a purpose associated with service. Even mosquitos, which most of us in Mississippi would rather do without, have a purpose of service. They serve by cleaning the Earth. They eat decaying leaves and organic debris. They also serve by pollinating plants.

If mosquitos were created to serve, we were certainly created to serve. I am excited about the thought that when we serve God looks at us and is as happy about us growing and serving as I am about my plants beginning to bloom and starting to serve the Earth for another year. It feels great to know we can make God that happy, doesn’t it?

Happy Resurrection Sunday! During the cantata practice, I have been repeatedly reminded of the focus of this week. You hear a lot of sermons say, “it’s all about God and not about me.” Actually, this week, this most special holy day of the Christian calendar is all about me. God sent His son for me. Jesus died for me. And when I think about that I’m overwhelmed with awe and humility.

 I am speechless and even breathless sometimes when I remember that the God who knows and owns everything and can do anything loved me enough to sacrifice his only son for me. I am beyond grateful to God for making a way for me to have a direct relationship with Him. The resurrection of Jesus provided us with relationship, not only the ability to have a direct relationship with God but the necessary bonus of having a relationship with other believers. I am so glad that our journeys to the foot of the cross have led us together. Today, I celebrate God for his love and Jesus for his sacrifice. And I celebrate you, my fellow servants. I am glad the resurrection made it possible for us to serve each other along this Christian journey. Happy Easter, my brothers and sisters!

We had another wonderful, blessed experience at the community Easter service at Pearl United Methodist Church this past Wednesday. I wish those of you who come and give to the benevolent offering could see the faces and hear the stories of the people we help with that offering. The city does a great service by giving to people from that offering.

 We also do “service” to each other by coming and ministering to each other in the community services. In the type of English that was spoken centuries ago when the Bible was first written in English the term “worshipful service” means “honorable work.” It is an honorable work to come together as we do for singing and preaching and giving and to serve each other for God’s glory in those ways every week.

 It is such a wonderful experience to worship with so many different types of people from different areas of our community, from different backgrounds and with different Christian traditions. I am grateful to observe the way people at the service witnessed to each other with their faces and gestures and words during the singing and preaching and with their greetings and fellowship after the service. I am grateful that we were part of such service and that we will have another opportunity to serve each other today.

While I was in Washington, DC this past week for a conference, my wife and I went to a restaurant named Filomena. We sat for dinner, and our server Gino came to the table. I asked Gino how he was doing. I’ve had some servers reply “tired.” Most reply “ok” or “fine.” When I asked Gino how he was doing he replied “excellent!” Throughout our dinner, Gino laughed and talked with us and made us feel important and comfortable. He told us interesting facts about the presidents who had eaten there and what dishes they favored. He knew in great detail how all the dishes were prepared and what they consisted of. When there was a question about what meal to select, he asked a few questions about food preferences and created a most delicious meal that was not on the menu

Gino was a great server. He appeared to really enjoy serving. He was engaging. He was knowledgable about the restaurant and the menu. He was creative and didn’t mind thinking of unconventional ways to meet our needs. Because Gino was a great server we readily received our meal expecting eating to be as good an experience as our time being served. People, especially unbelievers, have an expectation that their experience with God will be like their experience with us. How many of us would have people eager to experience God after they encounter us, His servants? My encounter with Gino certainly gave me food for thought.

We have been studying a book titled “I Am a Church Member” on Wednesdays in Bible Fellowship. The last chapter we studied explained that church members are at church to serve and not to have things the way we prefer it. There are questions at the end of every chapter that we discuss. We took a lot of time this past Wednesday to let everyone answer the question of who in the church best has the mind of Christ and a servant attitude. Answering this question resulted in members making presentations to each other, giving gifts, and a big appreciation fest. It was a wonderful time.

 I am so grateful for the servant attitudes. I have seen One of our members remarked that to be such a small church we do incredible things when someone, inside or outside the church, needs us to come to their aid. I have seen members serving in association with programs, events and outreach efforts in order to build the community. Do we have more developing to do as servants? Absolutely! Am I proud of the service that we have done and am doing? I am so proud. Thank you for stepping up to the plate as God leads us to serve.

I preached a three-night revival this week. Thank you so much to everyone who attended for your support. The theme was “A Do It Generation.” As I prayed about and studied the topic in preparation for revival, I was led to preach about the Nike slogan “Just Do It” and realized the slogan’s relevance to our focus on service at United.

The “Just Do It” campaign was Nike’s attempt to use advertisements to help you believe that if you have Nike’s   product, you can face any challenge with a “just do it” attitude. God’s word is full of stories, true story advertisements of a sort, to help us believe that if we have God’s word, we can face any challenge. We can fight battles like Joshua and David. We can calm storms like Jesus. We can praise God in prison like Paul. We can find the strength within God’s word to endure, to persevere, to train, to fight, to love, to give, and even to wait. With God’s word we can overcome any challenge we run into while we serve God. As we study more about being ready to serve, I hope we hear God’s instructions for service, grab hold of God’s Word and “just do it.”

We probably all experienced effects of the winter storm that swept through our area this week. Monday night, Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning our power went out for a while. My wife and I are accustomed to being able to spend our evenings at home working, searching the internet or doing whatever we want on our devices knowing we can recharge them at any time. And in the mornings we check emails, listen to music and check the weather. We enjoy being able to turn on the TV any time we want. It was different to be without electricity. We missed having the connection that allows us to do the things we normally do and really enjoy. We were so glad when the workers restored our service!

We Christians are like workers for the power company. There are people around us who have never been connected to God or who have become disconnected from God. God calls us to be His service representatives and service restorers. He expects us to locate the people around us with no connection and help them connect to Him, the power source. This is why we are focusing on being ready to serve this year. The power outage this week reminded me how important our service can be to others and how important it is for us to be ready to serve.

While my wife and I were on the coast for work last weekend we attended service at one of my Board member’s church. There was a portion of the service called “piano meditation.” The pianist played beautifully. Her passion for playing came through, and my wife and I both talked about how her playing heightened our awareness that God was present.

 We met the pianist and one of her daughters after church. The pianist’s daughter plays several instruments. She told us that she loves music and that you couldn’t grow up in her mother’s house and not play something. The daughter participates in a weekly service for the homeless at a church in Jackson in the community where she lives while attending college. I was impressed with the family. Not only are they particularly musically gifted but the mother has instilled in all the children the importance of developing their gifts and using them for God’s service.

How are we uniquely and masterfully equipped to serve God, United? Are we developing our gifts and using them to serve God? Are we training our children and grandchildren to develop their gifts and use them for God’s service? I hope so. Whatever your gift – serving, music, faith, leadership, preaching, or something else, I hope that we, like the pianist, develop our gifts and serve God with such passion and excellence that when we serve we too leave someone with a heightened awareness that God is present.

United States Representative Alan Nunalee died earlier this month. He represented North Mississippi. President Obama commented about Nunalee:

 Alan represented the people of his beloved Mississippi for two decades, first as a state senator and then in Congress. A proud son of Tupelo, Alan never wavered in his determination to serve the men and women who placed their trust in him, even as he bravely battled the illness that ultimately took his life.

The President’s statement suggests Nunalee was a true servant. When you love people, as Nunalee loved the people of Mississippi and Jesus loved us, you want to serve them. When you have a servant heart you continue to serve while enduring hardship and suffering as Nunalee did and as Jesus did.

Speaker of the House and leader of the United States representatives, John Boehner said of Nunalee:

“at the end of his life, all Alan asked of us was whether he made a difference”. Indeed he did, very much so. But there is more to it than that. Because when you think about all the good Alan did and all the lives he touched, it is plain that he will continue to make a difference.

I knew Alan Nunalee, and I know that he was the kind of servant President Obama and Speaker Boehner described. At the end of my life I want to know like Nunalee that my service made a difference, that I did good and that I touched lives. What a great man and what a great legacy. We should all strive to leave a legacy of service.

During Super Bowl XLIX the New England Patriots won an amazing victory over the Seattle Seahawks. In the fourth quarter the Patriots substituted Kyle Arrington, a seasoned NFL cornerback, for Malcolm Butler, an undrafted, free agent, rookie cornerback from Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Patriots were up 28-24 with about two minutes left in the game, and it was the Seahawks possession. Malcolm Butler made an attempt to intercept the football during a pass to Jermaine Kearse. Malcolm deflected the ball up in the air and Kearse caught the ball on the five yard line. Kearse’s incredible catch off of the deflection by Malcolm Butler seemed destined to go down in history as the game’s signature play that would ultimately lead the Seahawks to a victory. The Seahawks were now on the one yard line preparing to take the victory. Just when the Patriots thought all hope was lost, Malcolm Butler, stepped in front of the Patriots player who was about to catch the ball in the end zone and intercepted the ball. What a turn of events! It was now the Patriot’s ball, and the Patriot’s game. The New England Patriots were off to a Super Bowl celebration.

After Malcolm’s awesome play, the media stated he had been in trouble at times during his life, but he always managed to persevere. What if Malcolm had given up early in life? What if he had given up after the deflected pass in the game? Had he given up, he would not have received a victory. God wants us to persevere in spite of our circumstances. It doesn’t matter if you’ve made mistakes or even feel that you’re not worthy of the best things in life. God says you can make the big score, and you can be a winner. You must never give up, and never give in.  God wants each of us to know He designed us for greatness, but we must stay the course.