Dear Friends,Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Revelation 14:13 ESV)This past week our dear sister Amy Ricks passed from this life into the next. She was 93 years old. She and Earl had been married for 71 years! What a testimony. What a joy that Amy now rest in the arms of her dear Savior.Amy and Earl are the proud parents of Tim and David Ricks. They recently joined the church because they wanted to belong to a church that believed and taught the Gospel. Amy loved the written word. She was a poet and had a profound love for the arts. Just recently, Amy told me that one of things she missed doing, due to her failing eyesight, was reading her Bible. She loved the Word of God and the family has been eager to share her favorite Scriptures with friends and family. Perhaps her favorite was found in Habakkuk - you have to love the Bible to have a favorite verse from a minor prophet!Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:16–19 ESV)Amy loved the Lord and loved His Word. This Tuesday, May 29th we will celebrate her life with a visitation from 2-3pm followed by a memorial service.Amy's love for the Word of God as indicated above is a perfect segue into our new summer sermon series on Psalms 1-12, God Is Our Refuge. As we will observe this Sunday in Psalm 1, the blessed man, the happy man, is the one who delights in the law of the Lord. I pray that our time in this study this summer will be a delight and sustenance to our souls.Below is a prayer that Amy had in her Bible that I think is a great help to us in applying the Word of God to our daily walk:A Child’s Prayer by Rev. R. W. Barstow“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.” - Psalm 119:105Dear God: Help me to use thy word to guide my way. May I remember every day to honor my father and my mother, to keep my tongue from evil, to think about whatsoever things are true and lovely and of good report. May I not forget that it is more blessed to give than to receive. May I remember that thy children should be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Let all these beautiful words from thy great book shine before me on my way to school and home again and wherever I go. And keep me from losing my path so that I may always be friendly and helpful and happy.Your friend and pastor,Wilson
|
