{"id":14451,"date":"2017-03-24T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=14451"},"modified":"2017-03-21T10:54:53","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T14:54:53","slug":"pastors-ponderings-running-into-a-burning-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=14451","title":{"rendered":"Pastors Ponderings: Running into a Burning House!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Pastor Jim submitted the following thoughts on 3\/18\/17&#8230;<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Greetings Friends:<\/p>\n<p> PLEASE READ: Matthew 9:35-38<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n &#8220;<em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, \u201cThe harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.<\/span><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Matthew 9:35-38<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> Let&#8217;s consider a question which is appropriate during Lent:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle;\">\n<li><em><span style=\"color: #800080;\">When was the last time any of us intentionally invited someone to church? <\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"color: #800080;\">When was the last time you or I shared our faith in Jesus Christ with someone?<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is a wonderful story about an event which took place many years ago in a small village in the<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_827\" style=\"width: 212px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/CrossOldChurch_Church-Fire-034.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-827\" class=\" wp-image-827\" src=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/CrossOldChurch_Church-Fire-034-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/CrossOldChurch_Church-Fire-034-300x239.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/CrossOldChurch_Church-Fire-034.jpg 513w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-827\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steeple cross atop our old church building days after the fire (Dec. 2013)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Midwest. A 12-year old girl named Terri was baby-sitting her little brother. Terri walked outside to check the mail box and see if the mail had been delivered. As she turned back from the mailbox she couldn&#8217;t believe her eyes, the house was on fire! Very quickly the fire spread and the little house was soon engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n<p>Terri ran as fast as she could into the flaming house only to find her baby brother trapped by a burning rafter which had fallen and pinned him to the floor. Hurriedly, Terri worked to free her brother. She had trouble getting him loose even as the flames were dancing around their heads. Finally, she was able to free her younger brother. She picked him up and quickly took him outside just as the roof of the house caved in.<\/p>\n<p>By this time, firemen were on the scene and the neighbors had gathered outside the smoldering remains of the house. The neighbors had been too frightened to go inside or to do anything to help, so they simply stood by watching. They were, however, very impressed with the courage of the twelve-year old girl. They congratulated her for her heroic efforts and said, &#8220;<em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Terri, you are so very brave. Weren&#8217;t you scared? What were you thinking about when you ran into the burning house?<\/span><\/em>&#8221; You have to love Terri&#8217;s answer. She said, &#8220;<em><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">I wasn&#8217;t thinking about anything. I just heard my little brother crying.<\/span><\/em>&#8221; <\/p>\n<p> Jesus looked down from heaven and He saw the world &#8220;a blaze&#8221; with sin. He saw the human <a href=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Freedom-in-Christ-Cross-Shirt-_IMG_0559.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2411 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Freedom-in-Christ-Cross-Shirt-_IMG_0559-300x270.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Freedom-in-Christ-Cross-Shirt-_IMG_0559-300x270.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Freedom-in-Christ-Cross-Shirt-_IMG_0559.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a>family trapped, unable to free ourselves, and crying out for help and direction. Our faith reminds us that He came down from Heaven, rushed into the world, and offers to deliver us. Aren&#8217;t you as grateful as I am that He did that? Jesus wasn&#8217;t thinking about His own safety, He simply heard a sister or brother crying in need. <\/p>\n<p> God&#8217;s call for His modern day disciples is the same as it was in the days of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8a)&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">&#8220;Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, \u201cWhom shall I send? And who will go for us?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Jesus said (Matthew 9:37)&#8230;,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;<em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few<\/span><\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As we continue through the season of Lent, it is appropriate to remember that God is calling for a few more &#8220;Terri&#8217;s&#8221; to respond to the harvest. Remember Terri&#8217;s words in that story, she said,<\/p>\n\n\t\t<div class='author-shortcodes'>\n\t\t\t<div class='author-inner'>\n\t\t\t\t<div class='author-image'>\n\t\t\t<img src='https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/et_temp\/fire-294487__180-32391_60x60.png' alt='' \/>\n\t\t\t<div class='author-overlay'><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div> <!-- .author-image --> \n\t\t<div class='author-info'>\n\t\t\t<span style=\"color: #800000; font-size: 14pt;\">&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t thinking about anything. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0I just heard my little brother crying.&#8221;<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div> <!-- .author-info -->\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!-- .author-inner -->\n\t\t<\/div> <!-- .author-shortcodes -->\n<p>Do we hear the cries of those in the world?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000; font-size: 14pt;\">Shalom,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>Pastor Jim<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\">+\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For more Pastors Ponderings, try clicking this button:\u00a0 <a href='https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?cat=131' class='small-button smallgreen'><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pastors Ponderings<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pastor Jim submitted the following thoughts on 3\/18\/17&#8230; Greetings Friends: PLEASE READ: Matthew 9:35-38 &#8220;Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-14451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-ponderings","tag-witness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14451"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14459,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14451\/revisions\/14459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}