Hi, and welcome to my first posting! As I work and go to school full-time, I’m not certain how often I’ll get a chance to work with this, but we’ll see. My intent, for the most part, is to post various articles, letters, and sermons that I have written over the years (with an occasional update and/or correction noted for clarity) and respond to comments made about them. This one was first published in October of 2002 but was written for a school I attended some short time before. So, without further ado…

Until I first moved to the Jacksonville (IL) area in 1973, or thereabouts, my only knowledge of Springfield (IL) had come from a fourth-grade field trip, an outing with the Cub Scouts around that same time, a weekend youth rally with my girlfriend’s church group, and two or three visits to the State Fair while I was growing up. So, needless to say, I knew almost nothing about how the streets were laid out.

At that time, the only thing on the western outskirts was the K-Mart store. It stood all by itself on the edge of what was then the primary road to Springfield from the west, Highway 36. But, I had come to this area as a heavy equipment operator because there were a lot of building projects just getting started, and that next summer found me running an earthmover shaping the dirt for the buildings and parking lots of what would become White Oaks Mall, as well as the new four-lane from Chatham.

Halfway through the summer, the job foreman decided that I was good enough to start doing finish grade work, and made arrangements to rent a paddle-style earthmover just for me. We went in his pickup from the job-site on the southwest edge of Springfield and zigzagged diagonally across to the equipment dealer on the opposite corner of town. There, they showed me what I needed to know about that machine, I climbed up into the operator’s position, fastened my seatbelt, and headed back across town.

I had never been to that part of Springfield before. In fact, that drive across town had been the first time I had been on a number of those streets. I had expected to follow the foreman back but he was following with his flashers on. So it was that, at one stoplight, I zigged when I should have zagged. I drove that earthmover right through downtown Springfield! I finally stopped at what I now know is South Grand and ran back to get directions. So I wound up driving the rest of the way on South Grand, MacArthur, and Wabash! What a way to see Springfield!

As time went by, I came to know Springfield and the surrounding area pretty well. I have worked for a number of businesses over there from time to time and have had to make deliveries all over, I have hauled busloads of school kids to various sites, and I have made many trips with family and friends. In fact, I would say that at one point I knew Springfield as well as anybody, and maybe better than most.

But as always, time moves on. In recent years my (former) wife’s and my lives have gotten steadily busier and busier, and our trips to Springfield have grown fewer and fewer. So much so that, when over there the other day, I found myself trying to figure out how to get from one point to another again. Between all of the new roads being built and old ones closing, not to mention my memory starting to fade, it was almost like driving in a strange city again! And it came to me how like our lives that was!

We all start out in unfamiliar territory. But over time, we learn about what is around us, and eventually what lies beyond. We grow…we learn skills…we experience new things…and soon we feel confident and competent about most aspects of our lives. And as long as we make use of that knowledge we not only retain it, but we continue to augment it! But what happens if, for some reason, we stop? If you were to stop playing baseball, say, you would soon loose your ability to play baseball. The muscles and skills would slowly change so much that, should you decide to pick up a bat again, the experience could be both painful and embarrassing! And unless you find cause to use it, much of the information you learned in school and such will disappear. Can you still name all of the states and their capitals? My point is this…in order for knowledge and experience to be of any value, we not only have to learn it, but we also have to make steady use of it!

The same holds true for our spiritual lives. We all begin as babes in the family of God. But slowly we grow in our knowledge of and faith in God. As that knowledge and faith grows, we become aware of God’s calling to each of us. And, as we each respond to that calling, we discover the ‘gifts’ that God has made to each of us!

In 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, Paul talks about these gifts. He even lists a few of them…counseling, teaching, healing, prophesy, speaking in tongues. They are not earned…they are not given to believers asking for a specific one…they are not chosen by people! God alone controls gifts! And as we begin to use them, we grow in our understanding of them, and in our understanding of God’s intent for them. We get better at using them…we get better at serving God in the service that He intended for us.

But what happens when, for whatever reason, we start ‘moving away’ from using the gifts that God gave? Someone gets ‘too busy’, someone else moves or changes jobs…it becomes all too easy to start letting God’s work go by the wayside. And then, like anything else, we start to loose our ability to make use of that gift!

Every one of us has a gift! I have seen many different people serve God in many different ways. And while some may not be as visible and obvious as others, every one of them is just as important to the over-all workings of the church. Every one of those gifts is a necessary part in God’s plan! That means that YOU are an indispensable part of God’s plan! Without you, God’s church will not operate as it should! Your gift is important…and appreciated by all who experience it!

But they will only experience it if you make use of it! If you choose NOT to make use of them, then you may well eventually loose the ability to use them.

And what will God think about that?