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Pastor's Corner |
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7/2/00 |
| Sometimes things happen in life and you respond to them
without thinking. Then when you have a moment of repose you play the scene
back, like a director viewing an actor in the scene, and you see something
that you didn’t see during the event. |
| That’s the way it was with me the other day. I was
driving home from work and traffic was crawling up the hill. I jumped from
the slow lane to the moving lane instinctively. A few moments later I was
under a freeway underpass and saw, for the first time, the traffic
problem. Three extremely expensive, high powered, brand new, very shiny,
sleek sports cars and one cop car took up the jammed lane. CRUNCH, CRUNCH,
CRUNCH. All three cars were munched! The reason was clear. Left turn lane,
under a freeway in a 35 mile an hour lane and no clear access to turn
left. Gorgeous the Red had struck parked Dazzling the Black right into Indy
500 Yellow! I’m sure no one was smiling. |
| Well, I know I wasn’t. As I drove by this travesty of
traffic I found myself sighing deeply. I said to myself, "My, my what
a tragedy. All those incredible cars! All those wonderful cars all cracked
up. What a tragic sight." As I drove on I felt such sorrow for the
drivers. Their beautiful sunny day had just been turned into financial and
personal gray. I fell sorry for the creatures of transportation.
"POOR BABIES", I said to myself. And I thought of the dollars it
would take to fix them, and the traumas the owners would have to face. I
thought of the poor driver who started it all. I thought about how their
‘pride’ had all been hurt; people passing by gawking at their cars --
something I’m sure they only wanted done when they were in perfect
condition. I drove away just wagging my head. |
| A little while later, I don’t remember exactly when,
someone kicked on the movie camera of my mind and the scene replayed. I
saw it all over again. I felt it all over again. I sighed. And then
somewhere in the recesses of my subconscious (maybe even from my spirit,
ya think) I get this uneasy feeling that something was wrong. ME! I was
wrong! Then it hit like a drop of acid burning through the film of my
memory destroying the scene. I was feeling bad for THE CARS. |
| What about the peoples lives! Had I prayed for the souls
as I went by? Had I even considered that someone inside one of those cars
could have had broken legs, spine out of place, trauma to the head, or
worse? Had I even considered that the souls might be in shock? I ought to
have thought of THEM first; not the stupid cars! I SHOULD HAVE PRAYED. And
so it is when conviction strikes; all you can do is choke… and go to God…
and say, "Sorry Boss!". |
Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 7/02/2000
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7/16/00 |
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The other night I was sitting on my
balcony. It was dark, being only about two in the morning. A soft glow of
streetlight and moonlight enlightened me. Down below in the yard, where
darkness was stronger, and eyesight could barely see, I heard the rustling
of something living. "Squirrel, raccoon, person, some other
animal", I wondered to myself. Then, from within the shadows, I see a
shadow moving. Slowly, cautiously, yet with specific determination, out of
the darkness comes an old friend; one of the local neighborhood’s roving
felines. It was a friend -- with whom I have often shared a purr, a pet,
and a bowl of kitty crunches. He loves our kitty crunchies! |
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He quickly comes up the stairs.
Confident, determined, and hungry. We sit for a bit. He eats. I pet. He
purrs. All is contentment and peace. Then, in the midst of a crunch, His
Highness of Furriness jumps! He turns. He listens. Slowly he moves away
from the table. Slowly he focuses his attention on sounds heard a distance
away from his place of serenity. There is no enemy HERE, but he senses
that something is not "right." Something new has come to disturb
his tranquility. |
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He quickly moves to the railing of
the balcony to look down the street. He points his nose and twitches his
tail. He is alert! He is on duty! He has to know: FRIEND OR FOE. |
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I slowly stepped to the banister and
peeked around the corner down the street. "What do you see, ole’
friend?, I said with wonder. "What did you hear?" I look where
his nose is pointing. There! Down the street. Two men have just come out
of a house and are barely talking in the night. I have to strain to hear
what I had not heard just moments before. Neighbors! "Nothing to fear
today, eh, ole’ cat?", I said laughingly. But I can’t but notice
that HE is not at peace. He is still standing guard. |
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In the flash of a moment he turns.
He runs down the stairs. He stops -- frozen and still. Then he slowly
walks, one step at a time toward them. He wants to know more. He has to
know more. It is in his nature. And it is NIGHT after all. And things may
NOT be what they seem! |
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As he vanished into the brush to
hide and watch -- he never did emerge from the brush to go down the street
in plain sight -- I hear in my heart the echo of a verse and the stirring
of a Holy Spirit lesson. The verse said: |
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Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour: (KJV) --1 Peter 5:8 |
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And the lesson felt? REMEMBER THE
CAT! He understands VIGILANCE! The endtimes are no place for the saint who
is not paying attention with ALL his spiritual senses! It’s how
an alley cat -- a creature who is not tamed by this world-- survives! You
do want to survive, don’t you? |
Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 7/16/2000
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Original Quote by Pastor Anthony |
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You may run from God, you may hide from God, you may ignore God -- but you cannot ultimately escape God.
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This site was last modified on 10/10/2007
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Content:
Anthony J. Massotti Th.M. || Technical:
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