Weekly Newsletter

Pastor David’s Weekly Devotional
      A middle-aged pastor in a small farming community in the Midwest had been falsely accused.  It was a vicious, scandalous story, and it swept through town like a prairie fire.
      “Have you heard about the pastor?”
      “Can you believe it?”
      “He oughta leave town.”
      “You’d never think such a thing to look at him, would you?”
      “Guess he had a lot of us fooled.”
      “His poor wife.”
      After a period of time, however, the rumor was found to be just that – an ugly, empty rumor, without any basis of fact.  But the damage had already been done.  Many people in the town had believed every word and were now reluctant to revise their opinions (“There must be some truth in it, or why would everybody be talking about it?”).
      Some time later, the couple who had spread the false tale came under conviction of sin and went to the pastor to apologize.  Confessing they had known the rumor to be false all along, they asked the offended man for forgiveness.
   “Of course I will forgive you,” he replied gravely.  “But could I ask you to do something for me?  Something that might seem strange at first?”
      Relieved that the pastor was willing to forgive, the couple readily agreed to do whatever he asked.
      “All right,” he said, “here is my request.  I would like you to go home and butcher one of your chickens, pluck out all of its feathers, and put the feathers in a bag.  Could you do that for me?”
      They nodded yes, they could certainly do that.  But it seemed so strange.  Was the man asking for a chicken?
      “Next,” the pastor went on, “I’d like you to go throughout the town, and at each corner, scatter some of the feathers – just a few – from the bag.  Then, please take the remaining feathers and climb to the top of the old city water tower – you know, the one by the feed store – and scatter those in the wind.  Could you do those things?”
      They were mystified by this point but nodded in the affirmative once again.
      “Fine,” the pastor said, “just fine.”  The couple stood up to leave.  But as they reached the door, he suddenly called them back.  “Oh.  There’s just one more thing, please.  After you’ve finished scattering all the feathers, I’d like you to go back through the town and gather them all up again.  Okay?  Make sure you pick up every one you’ve dropped and every one you’ve scattered to the winds, and put them all back in the bag.  Please be careful that none of the feathers are missing, and bring the bag back to me.  Could you do that for me?”
      The couple just looked at him.  “Pastor, that’s impossible,” the man said.  “The wind will have blown them all over three counties by then.”
      The pastor didn’t say a word, and slowly … the truth of his word picture began to dawn on the couple, and they hung their heads.  Yes, they could be forgiven for their actions, but no one could undo the damage they had done by scattering their false and slanderous words.
Together in and for Christ,
Pastor David

Scripture Readings for the Week (Monday – Sunday ~ Week #31):
Leviticus 22-24; 2 Kings 21-25; Psalm 90-92; Proverbs 14-15; Ezekiel 43-48; John 1-2; 1 Thess. 4-5
Recommended Reading:
“All Things for Good” by Thomas Watson