Praise the Lord for His marvelous grace!  I am still rejoicing over another great service in the Lord’s house.  The Holy Spirit’s presence was so evident and it was wonderful to see so many around the altar for prayer.  God is about to do something amazing at Parkway!  I’m still singing that little chorus “Holy Spirit, Rain Down!”

             This past week I received in the mail an eco-friendly circular from LOWES.  It had all kinds of green, eco-safe fertilizers and pesticides.  One thing that particularly caught my attention was the “Tomcat” Live Catch Mouse Trap.  Evidently you can catch little “Tom and Jerry” without harming them and then take them out somewhere and release them in the wild.  Or another alternative might be to catch several of the little critters and release them some dark night near the home of someone you don’t like very much.  I’m not recommending that, but it is a possibility.  Or what if a couple of mice just happened to escape from some kids book bag in the middle of an English class.  I’m sure that would be a big hit!  These things may have some great potential after all!

             Now I know what some of you are thinking.  Who in their right mind, other than some 5th grade boy intent on tormenting girls (or a pastor with a devious sense of humor), would be interesting in catching and releasing  mice.  To  most people’s way of thinking (my wife included) the only good mouse is a dead  mouse.  This is just another example of our society’s politically correct excessively tolerant philosophy.  Even a disease carrying destructive rodent is to be protected.

             Unfortunately, this philosophy of tolerance has spread to our personal lives as well.  Who worries about a little sin anymore?  What difference does it make if you tell a little white lie?  Who cares if you cheat on your taxes?  Everyone does it!  I heard someone say on TV recently they were involved in an innocent affair.  How could an affair ever be innocent?  We’ve adopted a nonchalant attitude toward evil.   

             How different from the apostle Paul who says “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin…­(Romans 6:6).  Or as he tells us in Romans 8:13 .. “If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body the you will live”.  The point is we don’t want to give sin a breeding ground or a small pest can become a big problem.  Let’s take decisive action.  Don’t tolerate even a little sin.  Ask God for forgiveness and cleansing.  Let’s seek to live holy, Christ pleasing lives.

             I hope you have a great week.  Remember and be praying for our upcoming Local Church conference on May 2nd.  We have some exciting things to report and we are looking forward to sharing some dreams for the future.

                                                                 Yours for Christ,
                                                                 Pastor Barry