“HE AIN’T THE LEAVING KIND”

The first verse of Psalm 22 starts out with “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?  I have cried desperately out for help, but it still does not come.”  That verse reminds me of the first day of school after I moved here from WI.  I felt alone, scared, and that God had abandoned me.  I missed all of my friends and my old school.  Everyone around me seemed to know each other and they were talking about what they did for the summer.  I felt left out.  I just wanted to go home.  Then I noticed this guy that was sitting at my group of desks.  He introduced himself to me and said that he was new too.  He was an instant friend and sat with me at lunch.  Josh was just the help I needed to get me through that first day.

I got lucky on the first day of school and God answered my prayer quickly.  Other times it has taken longer.  Sometimes I pray and expect an answer right away.  It usually doesn’t happen that way.  While I wait for my answer, I need to remember that God is still there.  Maybe he is just thinking and sometimes it takes a little longer than others.

Ike told me to pray about writing this sermon, so I did.  It took until Friday before I figured out what to write.  Those nine days that I was waiting for some guidance was frustrating!  Writing a sermon is important, but it wasn’t going to be a big deal if I couldn’t come up with one.  Ike said I could call him for help if I needed to, but I wanted to do it myself.  Thankfully, God did answer me and guided me.
I started thinking about how frustrated I would’ve been if I had been waiting for an answer to a bigger question.  And what if I had asked a question and God gave me an answer that I didn’t want to hear?

Mark gives us an example of that.  Mark chapter 10 verses 17-22 says this,  “As Jesus was starting on His way, a man ran up, knelt before him and asked “Good teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?”  18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.”  19 “You know the commandments – do not commit murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not accuse anyone falsely, do not cheat, respect your father and mother.”  20 “Teacher,” the man said, “ever since I was young, I have obeyed all of these commandments.”
21 Jesus looked straight at him with love and said, “You need only one thing.  Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor.  And you will have riches in heaven.  Then, come and follow me.”  22 When the man heard this, gloom spread over his face and he went away sad because he was very rich.
I used to think that all you needed to do to get into Heaven was to be good, go to church, and to obey the Commandments.  But by reading Mark, I realized that it takes more than that.  Not being bad isn’t the same as being good.  To be good, you have to actually DO something. Jesus asked that man to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor.  That would be a very difficult thing to do.  But Jesus wouldn’t ask that of everyone.  He knew that it would be a big sacrifice for the rich man to give up his money and it would test his faith.

Our society has become very selfish.  We value money.  A lot of times if someone asks for help we want to know what is in it for us?  What would we get out of it?  Why should we help?  Sometimes we don’t want to help people because we would have to make sacrifices.

Recently, Waverly Road has noticed how important it is to reach out to others in many ways.  Through prayer, Jesus is helping us realize what we can do to help as missionaries.  We have people in this church who volunteer to help people in our community through the food pantry, meals on wheels, IHN, and tutoring at WATeR.  We also help other people in the United States through youth mission trips in the summer.  Waverly Road also helps people in other countries like Brazil and in the Congo.  What else can we do to help?

I got to hear Dr. Kazadi Ntambue (Dr. N) talk to the youth when he was here a few weeks ago.  He was very interesting and shared many of his experiences with us.  His work in the Congo is very hard. Not everyone can go on a mission like that.  Some of our church members can’t go because they are too young, too old, or are needed at home to take care of their family.  Those people can do other things to help.  Everyone can pray.  You could also donate money, donate food or clothes, sponsor a person to go on a mission trip, or donate your time and use whatever talent God has given you.   Just DO something.  If you aren’t sure what talents you have, ask God to show you.  We all need to give more of ourselves.

Helping other people also makes you feel good.  When people ask for help, don’t automatically say “No.”  Think about it and pray about it.  God will show you the answer and you need to have faith in Him.  You might realize that the sacrifice He is asking you to make isn’t as hard as it seems.  He will help you.  If the rich man that Mark tells us about had had a little faith, he might have discovered that giving his money to the needy wasn’t as hard as he thought. It might have made him happier to give it away than it made him to keep the money. You have to have faith that God knows what is best for you.

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Brown did the “Time with Children.”  He told the children to go out in the congregation and spread the word by telling people “Jesus loves you! Pass it on.”  That is easy to do in church where other people believe that.  It might be harder to do it at school or in WalMart.  Mr. Brown asked for other ideas on how to spread the Word.  Jackson suggested to put it in a country song.  That reminded me of a Rascal Flatts’ song called “He ain’t the leaving kind.”  If you listen to the words, they are talking about Jesus.





The lyrics are

“He ain’t the leaving kind.  He’d never walk away.

Even for those who don’t believe, and wanna leave

Him behind.  He ain’t the leaving kind.”

“No matter what you do.  No matter where you go.

He’s always right there with you.”


That song may help someone realize that they are never alone or abandoned.  Now that I know what the song is about, whenever I hear it, I remember that God is with me and will never leave me.  That is a good feeling, and I want to pass that on, so I’ve shared it with you.  Now it’s your turn to pass it on.