Lasting Love
Édith Piaf wrote the French song, “Hymne à l’amour.” In 1949 she sang the song in America with its English words “If You Love Me (really love me).” A line in that song states: “If it seems that everything is lost, I will smile and never count the cost, If you love me…” Édith Piaf had survived the Nazi occupation of Paris only a few years before.
Leave it to the Parisians to grasp at love through a gesture. Around 2008, couples began coming to the historic Pont des Arts Bridge. They would fasten a personalized lock to the metal rail, pledge their love, and then toss the keys into the Seine River. The name for the ritual was called, lovelocks. By 2014, the bridge’s railings were beginning to pull apart from the weight of thousands of metal locks, and in 2015 the railings were replaced. An estimated 45 tons of metal locks were removed. Love can be weighty!
In my front yard, written in the sidewalk are these words: “Mike loves Laura.” Mike was a builder, and built that house for his wife in 1997. Before the property could be landscaped, the couple had divorced. Our family moved in as the 3rd owner in 2001.
Whether echoed in a song, fastened to a bridge, or written in concrete, human love can easily escape. But the love of Christ is lasting.
Christ predated the theme of Piaf’s song when He said in John 14:15: “If you love me keep my commandments. Seven chapters later, Christ would three times asked Peter, “Lovest thou me?”
The love of Jesus Christ far outshines anything viewed on earth, and it is still available today.
WWJD – Give it Back
Howard Kirby, from Ovid, Michigan, recently purchased a set of furniture from a second hand shop. While resting on the new furniture, he noticed that the foot cushion was extremely uncomfortable. When the cushion was unzipped, the culprit was found. It was a box…and in the box he found $43,170.
s a born again Christian, Mr. Kirby quickly decided to return the money. He contacted the store, and found out the name of the family. The furniture had been donated by the Newberrys, after the death of the grandfather in July.
At the Habitat for Humanity Restore in Owosso, on Friday, January 17, 2020, the two families met. The Newberrys were shocked as Howard Kirby told the story, and then handed the family the bundles of cash.
Working with Precision
Henry Leland was a devout Christian from New England. As a young man he was captivated with the teaching of Christ’s Second Coming, and he became an active member at the Pearl St. Baptist Church. Henry Leland’s trade was in industry. He had learned the importance of precision in producing standardized parts while working for the Colt Revolver Factory and other factories in New England.
In 1890, at 57 years of age, Leland moved to Detroit, MI where he established a new machine shop in the growing city of 200,000. Daily he would read the Bible to the factory workers who would gather at noon - a practiced he continued throughout his life.
God honored his work, and he became known for his wisdom in manufacturing. In 1902, a group of car investors asked Henry Leland to appraise their factory equipment for liquidation. As he toured the plant, Leland saw potential, not bankruptcy.
The wealthy stockholders decided to stay in business if Henry Leland would reorganize their company. And with that, the Cadillac Automobile Company had its founder. Leland used his wisdom of finely machined interchangeable parts (a new concept), to produce an early, quality automobile. Leland would prove to the world that precision factory built cars could replace hand-built cars in cost and reliability.
On February 29, 1908, the Royal Automobile Club of England began an unusual contest. At the famed Brooklands race course, three identical automobile models were to be driven, and then disassembled. The parts were to be intermingled, along with parts taken out by the judges to be replaced by spare stock parts. The cars were then to be reassembled without filing or shaving the parts. Next the reassembled cars were to drive around the race track for 500 miles. Three Cadillac Model K cars entered the contest, which took two weeks to complete. The Cadillacs emerged multicolored, but all of them completed the challenge. For that great feat, Cadillac was awarded the Dewar Trophy (The “Nobel Prize” of automobile accomplishment), and Cadillac received its recognition of “Standard of the World.” (Leland, Mrs. Wilfred & Millbrook, Minnie. Master of Precision. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 1966, 1996. (p. 15-18)
As Christians, precision is important. God has given us an instrument that is “quick and powerful,… and it divides between the soul and the spirit (Hebrews 4:12). A literal Bible in the hands of a sincere Christian is a tool that God can use to accomplish great things. The Bible is so precise that it shows us the beginning and the end.
Prayer and Preaching
On Wednesday, February 26, 2020 we will begin the first of three consecutive, monthly fellowship lunches called Prayer & Preaching.
We plan to gather in the chapel at 11:00 a.m. for a brief session of prayer, one Bible message, and then a special meal.
The preachers for this semester have been scheduled, and our 1st messenger will be Pastor Merv McNair. Brother McNair is the pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lebanon, IN, beginning that work in 2000.
We invite you to come share your prayer requests, be challenged with a Bible message, enjoy some food, and spend a few minutes with the brethren. What a wonderful way to be recharged.