Leave the Rest to God

Ascension of the Lord Sunday May 21, 2020 Acts 1: 1-11 Some months ago, before most of us had experienced virtual church, I was the guest preacher at a church in Kentucky. One of the hymns that day was, "Amazing Grace". "Let's sing the first, second and fifth stanzas", the Minister of Music told the congregation. It wasn't the minister's fault. He didn't know me. He knew nothing about my life story. But my spirit sank. The third stanza is a powerful word of grace to me. However, it wasn't important enough for the church to sing the third stanza that morning. "Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home." It was about five in the afternoon. The year was 1983. Everybody in the church office at First Baptist, Augusta had gone home. A knock on my door. I opened the door. "My name is Tracy Chewning." A kind smile crossed his fac

Sixth Sunday of Easter (May 17) John 14:15-21 When I was a teenager in my home church, I had a pastor whom I greatly admired. Our pastor baptized my parents and me on the same Sunday night. Later, he baptized my younger brother. Once in awhile I would hear the whispers of people in the church, "He's a good pastor, but he can't preach." Those whispers turned into shouts during our twice a year revival meetings. What I recall were ruggedly handsome evangelists with brightly colored sportscoats, one for each night of the week. They were far different from the gray and navy suits with bland ties that our pastor always wore. The wives of the evangelists looked like "Barbie dolls". Could these evangelists preach! They had all been to some far country that sounded so exotic and exciting that we young people couldn't understand why they had left the appeal of the far country. These evangelists told gripping stories that had us sitting on the edges of ou