Pastoral e-Note July 31

Dear Friends, A couple of weeks ago I was visiting some of our people at Vanderbilt Hospital. It's an amazing complex. My confusion must've been evident because a gentleman in a white coat asked if he could help me. I told him the section of the hospital I was looking for. I expected him to point me in the right direction and continue Dr. Davis Chappell on. But instead he said, "Let me take you there."

As we walked, we talked. He was an intern from Haiti completing his training. He had many demands on his time. Yet, he took time not just to tell me the way, but to show me the way. His example was instructive to me. I thanked him, and tried to pay his favor forward the rest of the day. In short, what the intern did for me was incarnational. He was attentive to a stranger.

He went out of his way to become my way. In that simple act of grace, I sensed the presence of Another among us. It's not always the big things. It's the little things. A cup of cold water, an encouraging word, a compassionate glance, an attentive eye, a helping hand. Little things! They not only point us in the way.

They become the way.

Finally, it was good to welcome new members Sophia Kay Mathias Seaman, Jack Morgan, Brian and Rebecca Wagner with Marshall and Savannah, Christian and Dana Lobb. Welcome to our church community.

Grace & Peace, Davis