Thursday, August 22, 2019

JOHN Good Morning! I’m John Branning the Lead Pastor of Central United Methodist Church. An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. His contractor was sorry to see such a good employee go and asked him if he would build just one last house as a personal favor. The carpenter agreed but his heart was not in it. He resorted to bad workmanship and using cheap materials. When the carpenter finished his work, the contractor came over and handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "I appreciate all the hard work you’ve done for me all these years and I’d like you to have this house as a token of my gratitude.” The carpenter was shocked! If only he had known he was building his own house, he would have worked much harder! Now he owned a house that wasn’t built very well. We should think of ourselves as carpenters, and our lives here on earth, as our house. Each day we hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall, we must build with care! It is the only life we will ever build. And what we do here will count for eternity! REFLECTIONS #44 WTOK TV: 07/08/19 AIR DATE: 09/12/19 JOHN Good Morning! I’m John Branning the Lead Pastor of Central United Methodist Church. I have to admit that this is my favorite time of year. Labor is done and we will soon feel the excitement of fall. I use the word excitement because that is what these next few months will be filled with. Halloween is filled with the excitement of children as they go door-to-door receiving candy. Thanksgiving is filled with the excitement of family and friends thanking God for all that we have been blessed with. Then, of course, there will be the excitement of an unnamed heavy-set fellow that brings gifts to children as they sleep on Christmas Eve. I do believe the word excitement is the best to describe what is coming next. This excitement shouldn’t be reserved for just holidays and seasons for those of us who are followers of Jesus. We should be excited everyday as each new day brings about new challenges and new opportunities to share the love of Jesus with everyone around us. I hope you experience this excitement. I hope that you will come and share it with us at Central, because we love people filled with excitement.