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From the Pastor

May 3, 2019 by Rev. John Hartman

From the Pastor

There was once a strong young man who took a job as a woodcutter. He took on that job for all he was worth. The first week he turned 18 trees into firewood. The second week, he worked just as hard, but was surprised he chopped only 11 trees. The third week, he worked just as hard again, and despite working nonstop from dawn until dark, his number was 6. In despair, he went to his foreman to offer his resignation. He told his boss, “I’m losing strength and I can no longer cut as many trees as I once did.” The foreman looked at this strapping young man who was the picture of perfect health. He said, “Have you ever thought of sharpening your ax?” “Sharpen my ax?“ snapped the young man indignantly. “Who has time to sharpen an ax? I’ve been too busy chopping wood.”

As obvious as is the lesson in this little parable, the logic here is often lost on people like you and me. Our answer to everything is to work harder and run faster. When things aren’t going well, we work even harder and run even faster with places to go, people to see, and things to do. I believe that God is challenging us to spend some time sharpening our axes.

What if instead of just working harder, we started working smarter by spending 10 minutes a day in the presence of God, — meditating on scripture and in prayer? You can have your very own “Take 10” with the Lord to help you become more planted and rooted Jesus Christ.

Pastor John

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Quote of the Week

“They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:8

Jeremiah, also called the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament of Christian Bible). According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, the Books of Kings and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and under the editorship of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple.