Dear FCC Family & Friends,
Crown him with many…bones?! All Hail King…Elwood?!
Wake the neighbors, kids. Last night Elwood, a 2-year old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix was crowned ‘World’s Ugliest Dog’ in Petaluma. Often referred to as “Yoda” or “ET”, the dark colored and hairless canine is beyond description. All I can relay for your wildest imagination are the words - mohawk, bug eyes, and tongue. Let those imaginations run wild. Interestingly, Elwood’s owner, Karen Quigley, rescued the mutt just two years ago. According to Quigley, “The breeder was going to euthanize him because she thought he was too ugly to sell.”
That reminds me of another story.
A. J. Gordon was the great Baptist pastor of the Clarendon Church in Boston, Massachusetts. One day he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm just going to toy with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad laughed and exclaimed, "Mister, you don't want them. They’re no good. They're just little old wild birds that can't even sing very well. They aren’t worth anything." Gordon replied, "I'll give you $2 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, it's a deal, but you're making a bad bargain." The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue.
The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ's coming to seek and to save the lost -- paying for them with His own precious blood. "That boy told me the birds were not songsters," said Gordon, "but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, 'Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!'"
Friends, maybe like those field birds, you don’t sing very well or have been led to believe you’re not worth much. Or maybe like ol’ Elwood you have a whole lot of ugly in your past and have come pretty close to the edge. The cross of Jesus is proof that you matter greatly to the heart of God. As your pastor, let me remind you that it’s not about what you do; instead, it’s about what your Redeemer has already done for you!
In the Fight,
Steve
1 comment:
Thank you Pastor Steve for your words of wisdom. In many ways, we are ALL ugly and captive, though we often judge a book by its cover. I am looking forward to Heaven, where we will see things much clearer, and there will only be beauty.
See you soon, brother.
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