Connecting All People To Christ

In II Kings 21 we have the story of Manasseh who reigns over Judah for 43 years.  He begins his kingly rule at the ripe old age of 12 and by the age of 55 Judah is dominated by evil.  The Word of the Lord says that Manasseh did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.  He was a career King who would not listen.  Now let’s skip ahead to a Jacob’s Well in John 4 when Jesus encounters a woman coming for water in the middle of day.  We discover that she comes alone in the middle of the day because the women of her small Samaritan town knows that she has been sleeping around with the men folk and they have ostracized her.  She too was a career sinner! 

The Good News of her life is however, that she meets someone who can change all of our careers in sin.  She wants to gather a jar full of water to quench her thirst and finds Jesus who quenches the thirst of her soul.  He becomes the answer for everything that she has ever longed for, everything and so much more, more than miracleous, more than wonderful, more than her sin.  She finds a new beginning and a new ministry.  She no longer will be influencing men with her body and turning women off by her evil, but now she will be demonstrating the love of God that she has discovered in Jesus Christ. 

Demonstrating our faith is the big issue isn’t it?  She returned to Sychar and gave witness to what had happened and many of those town folk believed in Christ as a result of her testimony.  Demonstrating our faith is the next big step to take in our discipleship.  In response to God’s love and acceptance it is my privilege to invite others to come and see the Christ.  And i hope against hope that my life will be a witness of God’s love. 

How will you and i choose to demonstrate God’s love today?

Shalom,

Chuck

I remember all too well September 11.  September 11, 2000 Vickie and I were at home in Charleston when the phone rang.  It was a Monday morning and we were running in low gear until the voice on the other end said this is Detective Johns from the Asheville NC police.  “Do you have a son named Chad?”  The answer was “yes, what is wrong”.  “Sir, your son has been taken to the Asheville Hospital by paramedics but you need to know that he wasbarely breathing when he was loaded in the Ambulance and his friend is dead”.  “What happened”?  was my first question, as my heart began to feel the Detectives words resinating in my mind.  Overdose was the word I remember most.  “It appears that he and his friend accidentally overdosed on drugs and alcohol”.  Not Chad, that could not be true, he is smarter than that and besides that he is our son; Chuck and Vickie Pullins.  Yet it was true and for four and one half agonizing hours of driving to Asheville we did not know what we would encounter once we arrived.

ICU they told us which indicated that he was alive.  Ventilater, tubes, charcoal, alive was what I first saw.  To make a long story short the amazing grace of God was a work for good in spite of all the tragedy.  I have often wondered if I would have thought the same thing if my son was the one that was removed from a cabin in the mountains in a body bag?  It was Monday in ICU, but by Friday Chad and I were in Anahiem, California in the Oasis Rehab center on a road to recovery.   That recovery was possible because of gracious people, a gracious God, and a willing son.  This Sunday, September 14, 2008 Chad will launch a new church start in Fayetteville, NC with weekly worship services at Jack Britt High School.  It is a remarkable story of human triumph over a disease that destroys, decays, demeans, defeats, and degrades people of all ages and stations in life.  I remember daily the journey that began onSeptember 11, 2000.

I remember September 11, 2001.  I had taken the day off and was standing at a driving range in Tornado, WV hitting some golf balls with Chad and a close friend Ron Stover.  The owner came out the door to tell us of the attack on the World Trade Center Twin Towers.  My mind quickly went to my daughter who was a resident of New York City at that time.  She was married and 8 1/2 months pregnant with their first child and our first grandchild.  I knew she was in Manhatten, but did not know where.  I tried to reach her by cell phone but all the circuits were busy.  Frantic and selfishly searching for Adrienne’s location was my highest priority.  She finally got through to us to let us know that she was safe. Her day ended by walking almost 9 miles to meet her husband and to go home to their apartment safely.  As we all know 3500 plus people lost their lives that day.  I remember that two weeks later I was in New York City to experience the birth of that first Grandchid.  I remember walking into a hospital in Manhatten that had every glass window at its entrance covered with photoes of lost loved ones.  I remember the stunned look on peoples faces and the weariness of people looking for loved ones.  On the eve of September 11, I remember and I reflect over the experiences that filled this particular day in history with the amazing grace of God at work for good in all humankind. 

I do not understand it all today, I just Remember the journey and thank God for God’s deliverance.

Shalom,

Chuck