ANDREW, THE INTRODUCER

   RAYMOND WILBANKS and I met again after many years. During the 1950s, we attended Mountain View Elementary School together from first through fifth grades. His family attended Faith Temple, too. After our fifth-grade year, my family moved to Greer. 

Our first meet-up happened months ago. My wife Barbara’s middle child, Jack, works on cars on Saturdays behind our house. Raymond came to see Jack about his son-in-law’s truck, or something like that, and we renewed friendship.

Raymond played football at Blue Ridge High and then worked for Duke Power. He became a Sunday school teacher and served in churches they attended. I remember him as a quiet, kind, studious, tall fellow who could hit a softball a long way during recess at school. 

On another visit, Raymond brought a book he thought I’d like: Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur. The book’s subtitle is “How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You.” It’s a good book.

Of the 12 disciples, MacArthur calls Andrew “the Apostle of Small Things.” Peter is the best-known of the four disciples in Jesus’ inner circle. Andrew is the least-known, overshadowed by Peter, James, and John.  

Andrew first followed John who baptized Jesus. The day after that famous baptism, this happened:

“John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’”

John pointed to Jesus as the Messiah, so Andrew started following Jesus.

“He [Andrew] first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter)” (John 1:41-42 ESV). 

“Andrew lived his life in the shadow of his better-known brother,” MacArthur says. “Many of the verses that name him add that he was Peter’s brother … where one brother overshadows another to such a degree, it is common to find resentment, strong sibling rivalry, or even estrangement. But in Andrew’s case, there is no evidence that he begrudged Peter’s dominance.” 

Later, Jesus called Peter and Andrew as they fished. 

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matt. 4:18-20 ESV). 

MacArthur compares Edward Kimball to Andrew. Kimball was a young Sunday School teacher who made it a habit to personally give each student in his class an opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior. On April 21, 1855, Kimball went to a Boston shoe store where Dwight L. Moody (born in 1837) worked, according to moody.edu. Kimball, a timid and soft-spoken man, talked with Moody in the store’s stockroom. At the time, Moody was “crude and obviously illiterate … untaught and ignorant about the Bible.” 

Kimball said, “I decided to speak to Moody about Christ and about his soul. I started down town to Holton’s shoe store. When I was nearly there I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then during business hours. And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when they learned might taunt Moody and ask if I was trying to make a good boy out of him. While I was pondering over it all I passed the store without noticing it. Then, when if found I had gone by the door, I determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once.”

“Shortly thereafter, Moody accepted the love of God, devoted his life to serving Him, and eventually left the shoe business to become a great evangelist. 

Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus. Kimball introduced Moody to the Lord.

The Bible doesn’t record what happened to Andrew after Pentecost, but tradition says he was eventually crucified — after he introduced many people to Jesus.

FORGIVENESS: WE'RE DESIGNED TO FORGIVE

  “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you,” Lewis B. Smedes said.

People we know slightly may criticize us and stir us to ask What’s wrong with me?, but people we know intimately hold more potential to hurt us — think of the song “Only Love Can Break a Heart.”

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend,” William Blake said. 

Dr. Fred Luskin, author of Forgive for Good, says that to forgive is to let go of bad feelings or the desire for revenge after you’ve been harmed. He says that most of the reasons to forgive are for your own welfare. “When you’re remembering a hurt or a wound that you haven’t resolved in your mind and heart, that remembrance triggers stress chemicals. It triggers physical distress. When you remember it often, you are stressing your body on a chronic basis. That has a physical cost.”

Luskin says forgiveness doesn’t necessarily mean reconciling with the person who hurt you, but reconciling is important in the relationships you want to keep — marriages, families, business relationships, friendships, and between siblings.

During a recent Faith Temple (Taylors, SC) Tuesday Morning Bible Study, Pastor Raymond D. Burrows talked about Mark 11:25-26: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (ESV). Verse 26 adds, “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

(Dr. John Oakes says verse 26 was probably added by a scribe copying the best manuscripts he had but that verse 26 is not in earlier manuscripts. Verse 25, however, tells us what we need to know about forgiveness.)

Pastor Burrows indicated that God is not “out to get us,” but if we do not forgive someone, we stop the process by which we receive God’s forgiveness. We shut off the Divine flow and clog up the spiritual pipeline. Someone said that God designed us to forgive. You may never forget an offense, but Jesus helps you forgive and heal.

Gordon MacDonald, in Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, writes, “One memory that burns deep within is that of a plane flight on which I was headed toward a meeting that would determine a major decision in my ministry. I knew I was in desperate need of a spiritual passion that would provide wisdom and submission to God’s purposes. But the passion was missing because I was steeped in resentment toward a colleague. 

“For days I had tried everything to rid myself of vindictive thoughts toward that person. But, try as I might, I would even wake in the night, thinking of ways to subtly get back at him. I wanted to embarrass him for what he had done, to damage his credibility before his peers. My resentment was beginning to dominate me, and on that plane trip I came to a realization of how bad things really were. …

“As the plane entered the landing pattern, I found myself crying silently to God for power both to forgive and to experience liberation from my poisoned spirit. Suddenly it was as if an invisible knife cut a hole in my chest, and I literally felt a thick substance oozing from within. Moments later I felt as if I’d been flushed out. I’d lost negative spiritual weight, the kind I needed to lose: I was free. I fairly bounced off that plane and soon entered a meeting that did in fact change the entire direction of my life.”

Craig B. Larson says, “Spiritual passion cannot coexist with resentments. The Scriptures are clear. The unforgiving spirit saps the energy that causes Christian growth and effectiveness.” 

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive”
(Colossians 3:12-13).

Babies: Conception, Heartbeat ... Personhood?

  The Supreme Court legalized abortion in a Jan. 22, 1973, ruling (7-2) on Roe v. Wade, establishing a national right to abortion.  

“The Supreme Court made up a constitutional right to abortion out of thin air, only citing a constitutional right to privacy, which was also made up out of thin air,” says Stephen Strang, Charisma magazine founder. “Instead of interpreting the law already found in the Constitution, they replaced the law with their own opinion.”On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned (5-4) Roe v. Wade, after 49 years and more than 63 million abortions.

Abortion has not been outlawed. Decisions on abortion laws simply go back to individual states. The Constitution says most laws should be decided by states, Strang notes.

 

HOW DID THIS PLAY OUT?

   

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States — including former enslaved people — and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” The Roe v. Wade case began in 1970 when “Jane Roe” — a fictional name used to protect the identity of the plaintiff, Norma McCorvey (1947–2017) — began federal action against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, where Roe resided, sources say. “Jane Roe” sued the state of Texas because under that state’s laws, she was unable to get an abortion. The case went to the Supreme Court.

   

The Supreme Court disagreed with Roe’s claim of an absolute right to terminate pregnancy in any way and at any time, and the Court tried to balance a woman’s right of privacy with a state’s interest in regulating abortion.

 

In 1973, Supreme Court judges said the state had a “compelling interest” in protecting fetal life, but that the compelling interest had to be balanced with a woman’s right to privacy. That ruling struck down most U.S. state laws that restricted abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.

 

Writing for the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, Justice Harry Blackmun said that the court held that a woman’s right to an abortion was part of the right to privacy protected under the 14th Amendment. The state of Texas argued that “the fetus is a ‘person’ within the language and meaning of the 14th Amendment.” 

 

Justice Harry Blackmun responded, “If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.” However, Justice Blackmun concluded “that the word ‘person,’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn.”

   

The 1973 Supreme Court set forth a “trimester” framework for legal abortions. First Trimester (up to 12 weeks): absolute right to an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy. Second Trimester (up to 28 weeks): allowed the government to regulate abortion in order to protect the mother’s health, but could not ban it. Third Trimester (up to 40 weeks): Because the fetus is considered “viable” (can survive on its own outside the womb — about 24 weeks of pregnancy), the Court said states could prohibit abortion except in cases when the mother's life was at risk.

   

S.C. law in 2022 outlaws abortion after the point at which a fetal heartbeat is detected. A fetal heartbeat may first be detected by a vaginal ultrasound as early as 5.5 to 6 weeks after gestation (the womb-carry process between conception and birth), sources say. 

 

“Those providing abortions will be required to give the mother an opportunity to view an ultrasound, hear the child’s heartbeat, and receive information about her child’s development,” according to The Greenville News (July 1, 2022). The law allows abortion in a case of rape or incest or to save the mother’s life if the baby is fewer than 20 weeks along.

     

The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision was based on the argument that fetal life does not have constitutional protection. Many people believe life begins at conception and deserves constitutional protection at conception. Banning abortion after conception is the goal of many pro-life groups.

 

“For you [God] formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13 ESV).

FEELINGS: SHOULD YOU TRUST THEM?

   Feelings are natural responses to how we see things. Should you trust your feelings?

“Feelings provide us with signals for what is going on in the world,” someone said. “When these signals are accurate, we can trust our feelings; when feelings are not proper signals, we cannot trust them.”

What is “intuition”?

Women are said to posses a superior intuition (women’s intuition) — a knack for knowing what others are feeling and thinking, sources say. (Experts say this intuition is based on an ability to read facial expressions and body language. Are women perhaps better at that than men?)

Intuition is feelings-based and is a thing that a person knows or considers likely because they have an instinctive feeling about a situation or a thing.

“A gut-feeling or gut-instinct is an understanding or knowing of a situation without specific data or evidence at the time. … Instinct is an innate, hardwired tendency. For example, humans have biological, hardwired instincts for survival and reproduction. Some folk can feel when something ‘seems off’ or ‘not right.’”  

Eric Bonabeau, writing for Harvard Business Review, says, “Intuition has its place in decision making — you should not ignore your instincts any more than you should ignore your conscience — but anyone who thinks that intuition is a substitute for reason is indulging in a risky delusion.”

Do you go by your feelings about something, or do you trust your thinking? What about trusting God’s thinking?

Ms. Tempe Brown, a Greenville, SC, speaker, says, “We must get out of the realm of just operating within our five senses. The Lord is calling us to come up higher. To have HIS thoughts, so we can be living in greater wisdom, knowledge and understanding. Who doesn't want that? Especially in these last days.”

“Feelings about life can be deceiving. Being wrong feels the same as being right – until you know better. … If you have no basis for what truth is, your entire life will be spent making decisions based on feelings,” says Mrs. “Mary,” a minister’s wife who writes at healthychristianhome.com. “Our feelings cannot be trusted by themselves. In fact, Jeremiah 17:9 says, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’”

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” 

“If you don’t have a guidebook for life, how can you know what is true and what is not?” Mrs. Mary asks. “It is much easier to not let your feelings guide you when you trust God and are spending time in His Word, the ultimate truth.”

“Sanctify them by the truth. Your Word is truth” (John 17:17).

The Bible says some people will be terribly deceived.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-24).

Talk about being deceived! Wow!

The more we read, understand, know, and live out God’s Word, the more we CAN trust our thinking and feelings.

Mrs. Mary suggests that you start a journal.

She says, “This is my favorite way to process and understand my feelings and inform them with truth. For me, sometimes I don’t know what’s bothering me or what lies I’m believing until I write my feelings down. Prayer journaling really helps me see the big picture and what to pray/study about. I always write down my prayers, as if I’m writing a letter to God. Alternatively, you could also write journal entries of your thoughts.”

LET GOD'S PEOPLE SING OUT LOUD!

  On a Friday, I visited Aunt Frances. She will be 95 on April 26, 2022, and misses my Uncle Fred Crain, who passed on in 2018. Aunt lives in the memory-care wing of Spring Park, an assisted-living home in Travelers Rest, SC. 

Aunt sat in a wheelchair near her dining area. Ms. Lisa, introduced herself as the home’s assistant director and asked if I — holding my guitar case — had arrived to play for the group. I was there just to visit Aunt Frances, but Ms. Lisa invited me to sing and play for eight folk sitting near Aunt. Most memory-care residents (those who could walk easily) had gone on a bus trip, she said. 

“OK,” I said, getting out my guitar and finding a seat. I sang a few hymns and persuaded Ms. Lisa to sing a solo verse of “In the Garden.” 

“I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses … And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and he tells me I am His own,” she sang before hurrying back to work. 

Many older people remember the song “In the Garden.” A study reports that if songs spur personal memories, those songs can cause stronger positive emotions than even looking at photos of by-gone days. “Music represents who we are and how we feel, so it’s what we remember,” someone said.

“Music has a way of forcing itself upon our attention as no other art has,” someone said.  

Music can promote faith in God as we worship him in song. The Bible tells about people who sang: 

After the Israelis crossed the Red Sea (Exodus 15), they sang: “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord … saying, ‘I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.’ … And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.” 

Jesus and his disciples sang: “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matt. 26:30).

The Apostle Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God” (Col. 3:16). 

Does your singing have to be perfect? No. The Lord likes to hear all birds sing, even if they “can’t carry a tune in a bucket,” I think. “If only the best birds sang, the forest would be silent,” Henry Van Dyke said.

In 2017, Nielsen estimated that Americans spend  over 32 hours a week on average listening to music. Often it’s background music — muzak in stores, CDs, radio, or TV, says “Faithforward.” “Outside the church there are few opportunities … for people to sing together. Much of the popular music (including Christian music) composed today is for performance rather than for participation.”

Congregational singing is important. “Music unites the congregation so that God is worshipped with one voice,” someone said. 

Music is a gift of God and part of the created order, says Faithforward, adding, “The human voice has priority in praising God: Other instruments are to be used primarily in the service of the singing of God’s people. The congregation is always the primary choir. … While it is possible to be actively engaged in worship and in prayer while listening to an anthem or solo, a diet of worship which does not regularly include ample opportunity for all the members of the congregation to join in song will be impoverished worship, and the life of the church and the faith of its people will suffer.”

The main focus of congregational singing is to the Lord. “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth” (Psalm 96:1).   

Faithforward says that music is made first of all to the Lord and only secondarily to each other: “Music should communicate and express a sense of awe and wonder in the presence of God; it should lead our thoughts toward God rather than toward ourselves. … People tend to remember the theology they sing more than the theology that is preached.”

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing” (Psalm 100:1-2).

GINGER SMITH, A LADY WHO LOVED THE LORD, PASSES ON

Photos: (top) Ginger Smith, (middle) Ginger and Kylie at a younger ages, (bottom) Ginger.

 

  I had only seen Ginger Smith, a woman with red hair, one time: when she was rolling a garbage container to the roadside where Barbara, my wife, and I were walking. We said, “Hello.” We never really met her. Ginger lived in a mobile home behind the house to the left of our residence. She lived there with Ms. Loretta (her mother), and Ginger’s red-headed daughter, Kylie, 13. A firetruck and a county patrol car arrived at their home shortly after dark on Sunday night, April 3, 2022.

That Sunday night, Ginger, died. The next day, they called Kylie, who was being treated in Tennessee for health issues, about her mother’s death. She took it hard, they say. Vickie, our neighbor across the way, keeps up with community happenings, and she informed us. Vickie stays in touch with Loretta. After Ginger’s death, Loretta went to stay with Ginger’s 20-something daughter, Kaitlynn, in Travelers Rest, SC.

Strangely, a day after we learned of Ginger’s death, I looked on Facebook to view part of the Sunday service from the O’Neal Church of God located in our neighborhood. At 40 minutes into the program, as the pastor started his message, I saw the back of Ginger’s head as she stumbled to the altar. The pastor said, “Someone come pray with Ginger; she often has these health issues.” Ginger was lying there (out of my video sight), and several ladies and church “first responders” gathered around. They called an ambulance. The hospital released Ginger, but she died that night. The church held the memorial service on Saturday, with no charge to the family. 



  The Memorial Service for Ms. Ginger Smith at the O’neal Church of God, 3794 Berry Mill Rd, Greer, SC 29651:   

  

On Sat., April 9, 2022, we drove to the O’Neal Church of God, just south of Blue Ridge High School in rural, upper Greenville County, SC, about two blocks distance from our house. We attended the 3:00 p.m. memorial service for Ms. Ginger Smith, our late neighbor whose body was cremated. The weather was cool and cloudy but no rain fell. Our neighbor, Vickie, and her granddaughter, Whitley, 15, rode with us. 

Kylie, 13, a petite daughter of the deceased, greeted people at the outside front door of the church. Her pregnant, older sister, Kaitlynn, stood by her side, providing comfort to the weeping Kylie. Whitley gave her a hug, and Kylie’s crying increased. They are school friends and live 75 yards from each other. My wife, Barbara, hugged Kylie. I missed speaking to Kylie but spoke to her sister. “I’m sorry for the loss of your mother,” I said. Kaitlynn responded cordially. Ms. Loretta, Ginger’s mother, sat inside the church house with Ginger’s brother, Timmy. 

Two sections of pews supplied seating, along with a row of choir seats located behind the pulpit. Near the pulpit sat a piano and a section for band members. A tenor saxophone sat upright on a stand. The open altar in front of the raised stage where the pulpit stood provided a place for gathering. A large photo of Ginger Smith sat on the floor in front of a table-centerpiece located in front of the on-stage pulpit. 

Barbara, ahead of me, entered a back pew. I sat in the middle of that pew, next to a tall young man wearing a denim coat with a shoulder patch showing these words: “Enduring Freedom Veteran.” A small metal piercing adorned his left eyebrow. His white-walled haircut sported longer hair on top.

The deceased’s family sat on front rows. A good-sized crowd show up for the funeral, showing support for Ginger’s family. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Tim McConnell, a tall, trim man with gray hair and mustache, began the service.

“We, as a church family, today, miss her dearly,” he said. “Seems impossible to believe — just last Sunday, she was sitting right here where her mother is. … Don’t ever take life for granted. Ginger probably invited a lot of you to church, and you probably gave her excuses, but, today, she got you here. And you’re here, I know, because you love her.” 

Pastor McConnell prayed, “I know if she were here, today, she’d be sitting on the front row, smiling.” 

Attendees viewed a video of still pictures of Ginger and her family. The video was accompanied by touching songs, including “When I Get Where I’m Going” with these lyrics: “When I get where I’m going … there’ll be only happy tears. I will shed the sins and struggles I have carried all these years. … When I get where I’m going, don’t cry for me down here.”

The pastor said they would always remember Ginger and her red lipstick. He read Psalm 91. “She knew this psalm,” he said. “Ginger trusted in the Lord. 

He invited Kylie to the platform and stood behind her as she spoke. 

“I didn’t know this day would come this soon,” Kylie said. “On April, 3, 2022, heaven gained a very beautiful angel. My mama … she loved God. The first time she stepped into this church, the very first footstep, she felt God, and she never stopped coming to church after that. … She welcomed Jesus in her heart, and when she did, she was immediately happier. You could see the smile on her face, the joy in her heart, when you saw her smile and pray. … My mom, she loved everyone … And she loved everybody, no matter what they did to her… My mom and my dad have had a lot of troubles before, but I don’t care what anybody tells me, my mom and my dad were soulmates; they were. They loved each other and that never changed. My mom was my best friend. When I found out that my mom was gone, it was like losing the other half of me. She always forgave me, no matter what … She would always understand. I’m gonna miss all our little moments together … She never lost hope … If you still have a mother-figure in your life, or your mom, make sure to keep her close to you. Make sure to tell that you love her and respect her, and let her know how much she means to you, because you never know when her last breath’s gonna be. I learned that the hard way … not being able to fix all the bad things I’ve done to my mom, you know, it’s hard and a lot of regret … You never know when your last moment with someone is gonna be. … I hope my mom forgave me before she left into heaven … .

“If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to say a quick little prayer before I head down: Dear Lord, I thank you for all the moms out there who are taking care of their kids and their babies. And I thank your for my mom and for the time I had with her. I thank you for showing me the smile on her face and the happiness … Thank you for the gift of life. Amen.” 

Kaitlynn, Kylie’s older sister, gave Kylie a hug before ascending the stage. She read from Psalm 92 that she saw in her mother’s journal: “God has created me and given me life.” 

She read her prepared writing: “Mama, I will always remember your infectious laughter … the way you hugged me, and all my fears and hurt would melt away. And I will cherish the memories, good and bad, in my heart forever. And the most important thing you taught me was to love deeply, endlessly, and without regret … Mommy, you taught me to be kind and forgive easily. You gave me life … you were destined to be my mama. I am forever grateful to have had you. You were my best friend, Mama … You loved me until your last breath. … It’s not goodbye, Mama, but until we meet again, you’re my special angel, and I love you eternally — your Doodlebug.” 

Pastor McConnell said Ginger took notes and came to church with a cup (and maybe ice), for the long haul. She sat at the front of the church. He said that Ginger said, “I sit at the front to be close to my pastor and the Word of God. If he wants to step on my toes, there they are.”

“I don’t know her history,” he said. “She said she’d been through a lot of hurt but God forgave her.” Ginger didn’t just want a handshake when greeted — she wanted a hug.”

He said that the Sunday morning Ginger died (on Sunday night), she started to the altar as he began his morning message. She “fell at the altar and had her Bible clutched under her arm.” Church first-responders attended to her and called an ambulance. The hospital examined her, and she returned home and died that night.

“She didn’t have a whole lot in this world, but that didn’t bother Ginger,” he said. “She had a Father who owns it all … Ginger was a daughter of God because she trusted in the blood of Jesus Christ. She said about her family, ‘I forgive them all whether they forgive me or not.’ … We celebrate her home-going, and we’re the ones left with the grief. Don’t be angry with God; be glad for Ginger.”

He read Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

“We need to tell people how much we love them, not tell them what’s wrong with them,” Pastor said. “One day, if you know Jesus, you’re going to see this lovely lady again.” 

He read 1 Thessalonians 4:15: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.”

“And the dead in Christ shall rise first,” Pastor said. “Ginger never felt like she was first in this life … but on that day … my comfort is in knowing it’s not a goodbye … Ginger prayed for many of you … she handed me a list of over 40 people she wanted to go to heaven with her.” 

He led a “sinner’s prayer” for anyone who wanted to accept Christ.

He mentioned the front seat and asked, “Who will take her spot?”

The church played a recorded song Ginger liked: “In the Sweet Bye and Bye” sung by Dolly Parton. 

The assistant pastor led in a prayer. 

Psalm 27:4 was read: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”  

Pastor McConnell said that the Ladies Ministry “prepared a meal downstairs for the family.” He prayed, “Thank you, Lord … we trust and believe she’s in your presence. In Jesus’ name … .”

    *Site for the Facebook showing of the funeral: 

https://livestream.com/onealcog/events/10319346/videos/230485473 

 

WHAT DID JESUS DO DURING PASSION WEEK?

 What did Jesus do during “Passion Week”? According to Doug Bookman of christianity.com, that week unfolded this way:

Day 1: Palm Sunday

Jesus rides into Jerusalem, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9b: “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey … .” 

He spends the night in Bethany, a village on the Mount of Olives’ slopes, about two miles east of Jerusalem. Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus live there.

Day 2: Monday

Jesus leaves Bethany, curses the fig tree, weeps over Jerusalem, and cleanses the Temple for the second time in his ministry. Driving money changers out of the Temple, he says, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’” (Luke 19:46). He sleeps in Bethany. 

Day 3: Tuesday

Jesus leaves Bethany, finds the fig tree withered, and teaches on faith. Temple religious leaders intend to arrest him. Jesus evades their traps and says: “For you are like whitewashed tombs … inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy … Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?” (Matt. 23:24-33).

Jesus and his disciples go east to the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem. Jesus gives the Olivet Discourse, telling about the end of the age (Matt. 24:1–25:46). Judas Iscariot negotiates to betray Jesus (Matthew 26). Jesus and the disciples return to Bethany to stay the night.

Day 4: Holy Wednesday

Jesus spends the day and night in Bethany.  

Day 5: Maundy Thursday (“Maundy” comes from the Latin “Mandatum novum do vobis,” words Jesus spoke to his apostles: “A new mandate I give to you” — the command to love and serve one another.)

Peter and John prepare for Passover. After sunset, Jesus eats the meal with the 12. Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane; Judas betrays him. The High Priest condemns Jesus. In the early morning hours, Peter denies knowing his Master three times before the rooster crows.

Day 6: Good Friday — Trial, Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

Pontius Pilate finds Jesus guilty. Jesus endures accusations, condemnation, mockery, beatings, a crown of thorns, and abandonment. After multiple unlawful trials (Thursday night and early Friday morning), he is sentenced to death and then crucified at “the third hour” (9 a.m.) on Passover day (Mark 15:25).

Judas Iscariot, overcome with remorse, hangs himself early Friday morning.

Jesus’ Seven Sayings from the Cross:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NIV).  

“Today … with me in paradise.”

“Woman, behold thy son … ” (darkness from noon till 3 p.m.).

“My God, My God … .”

“I thirst.”

“It is finished.”

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46, NIV).

About 3 p.m., the veil is torn, rocks are rent, and some graves are opened, and people rise (to mortality) and go into the city.

Jesus’ side is pierced.

Passover lambs are slain in the Temple.

Jesus’ body is buried by sundown. 

By 6 p.m. Friday evening, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ body from the cross and lay it in a tomb.

Day 7: Saturday the Sabbath — it ends at 6 p.m., and Christ’s body is ceremonially treated for burial with spices purchased by Nicodemus (John 19:39-40).

In the tomb, Jesus Christ pays the penalty for sin by offering the perfect, spotless sacrifice.

“For you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19 ESV).

Day 8: Resurrection Sunday

Jesus Christ rises from the dead (before dawn). Early Sunday morning, several women go to the tomb and see that the large stone covering the entrance had been rolled away. An angel says to them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:5-6 ESV).