A Word from our Pastor
February 2013
For as long as I can remember I have celebrated Valentine’s Day in the middle of February. From grade school recollections when you had a Valentine’s card for each of the 30 pupils in the classroom and you were clever enough to spell out your name in numbers to mask your true identity (my encrypted identity was 10-5-6-6 16-1-12-13-5-18), to celebrating 40 years now of marriage to my true Valentine 12-15-18-18-1-9-14-5, that’s a hefty outlay to Hallmark, that is, when I wasn’twriting my own romantic verse.
For my first 21 years I did not know my true Valentine, even as we were growing up in adjoining towns in N.J. And then it happened, I looked upon her face with the eyes of romance and she agreed to become my wife. No more looking for adate on February 14. In preaching through the first chapter of the book of I Peter, I am struck by Peter’s words to believers in Asia Minor who are persecuted and suffering under the Roman Empire:
“You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him,
You trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”(I Peter 1:8-9 NLT)
What inspired and romantic words from the salty fisherman. Yet he didn’t borrow them from Hallmark; they were a direct revelation from the Spirit. And they had to do with the Master, 10-5-19-21-19, who asked him directly, not once, but three times: “Peter, do you love me?” Have you received your Valentine from the One you have never seen, yet who asks you, like Peter, “Do you love me?” And in case you are popular enough to receive many Valentines this year, He asks, “Do you love memore than these?”
Sandy Ridge Alliance Church will host a Valentine’s event for all singles in our area on Thursday, February 14. You are invited to a wonderful evening of dessert, fellowship and music. Contact us on our website or by calling the church at 617-0588 so we can help brighten your Valentine’s Day.
Pastor 10-5-6-6