Decisions – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

Good morning! This week we went camping again. It was in the driveway of Evangelist Joe Kieser’s house. We were there for the Northeast Vision Summit at Solid Rock Baptist Church,  in Berlin, NJ. We got to see many old friends, and some new ones. My job schedule only allowed me to be there Wednesday night and all day Thursday. Camille got to see David Gibbs. He is such a great story-teller. We also got to see and hear Pastors Doug Fisher, Jack Trieber, and Paul Chappel from California. Bruce Frye was also there to sing for us.

On Wednesday night, Bruce Frye sang a song about a boy’s love for his unsaved father. The dad was hidden behind a newspaper, his son behind a box of Cheri-o’s, and the mom wanted to go to church. The dad said he wasn’t going, that he would end up in the place were people like him go (hell). The mom asked the son to go, and the son told the mom, no, he wanted to go where his daddy was going, because he loved his daddy.

I had to praise the Lord for that song because I was faced with a similar situation in 1984. We had just moved into our first house in the Birchwood Park section of Brick Township, NJ. Our daughter Melissa was at the playground when she was approached by a woman out visiting on her bus route. Jackie Ferrara invited Melissa to go to church on Sunday. She followed my wife and daughter to our house, and told them about the church. Just to give you a little insight into my life, I was raised Pentecostal, my wife was Roman Catholic. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum! I get home from work and Camille says, “Guess where we’re going Sunday.”

“Where?”, I asked.

“To church!”

“Church? What church?”

“Ocean County Baptist Temple. It’s in Toms River.”

“Baptist! That’s hell-fire, damnation stuff!”

What should I do? We had never been to church as a family. Well, it was a church, and we got a free bus ride. We went. This was the first time I heard the Bible preached and taught clearly as it should be taught.

But, what if I had said no, I’m not going? Would that have kept my wife and daughter from going? Would I have been a dis-courager instead of an en-courager? I have to praise the Lord for helping me make the right decision to go.

How do we love and care for our families? I think about what Job did.

“And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.” (Job 1:5)

Jesus sacrificed His life for us. Shouldn’t we show that same love for our family? Doesn’t the Bible tell us in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it…”

The only thing that could possibly get in our way is pride.

By the way, the song had a happy ending: they all went to church and the dad got saved.

(P.S. If anyone knows the title of this song, and/or the name of the album, let me know: I’d like to hear it again. Thanks and..)

Peace. (Mark 9:50)