JUST LIKE TAMEKA

It was late when I got in from the hospital last night...right around midnight. I staggered in thinking about the day and all that had happened. I thought about things I could have done better and things of which I was proud. I considered today and all that I had to do. It was enough contemplation to drive a person crazy. You know the feeling. I am sure you too have felt like you had too much to do and too little time to do it. You have wondered what happened to those precious hours in the day. You need rest. You need something.

I was stumbling up the stairs to crawl in to bed with my beautiful wife when I heard Tameka, our cat, meow. She wanted to go outside. She wanted outside right now! I thought for a split second that maybe she would quit. No such luck. She cried and cried. She wanted to go outside to play, hunt and otherwise do what cats do at midnight. I sighed and trudged back to the side door to let her go out.  I opened the door and she sauntered out without ever thinking of the impact she had just made on a humble preacher.

I smiled as I walked back upstairs because God had spoken to me. I began to realize that the gospel of Christ is like Tameka. It wants to go outside. It cries to go outside. It wants to do what the gospel does in the darkness. It wants to be a light on a hill. It wants to bring an everlasting peace. It wants to restore sight to the blind and proclaim release to the captives. It wants to declare the year of the Lord's favor. It wants to save the lost. It wants to make disciples of all nations. Just like Tameka, the gospel wants outside. I believe that there is a little Tameka inside all of us. Inside our hearts the gospel is crying to be heard and released to go into the darkness.

I am so proud of the ministry of the Hartford First United Methodist Church because you are a church who hears the gospel's cry. I am proud that our mission is to be "...a family of believers welcoming everyone, spreading God's word, and fulfilling spiritual needs." You are a church that knows the importance of letting the cat out. I continue to hear the stories in our community of your powerful witness in the darkness. You are light in the darkness, you have brought peace to the anxious. You have proclaimed the good news to those who need it the most.

My prayer today is that we listen to the gospel's cry to be heard. When the stuff of life wears you out and you feel like giving up, I pray that you will take time to let the cat out. Let the cat out of the bag and share the good news of Christ's love when you have the chance.