Probably like yourself, I have heard comments and assertions that I simply don’t believe. I have no proof that they are wrong, but neither do I have any basis for believing that they are right. But they have been stated with authority or by an authority.

• The light of one candle can be seen up to five miles away.
• There are 100 million other galaxies.
• There is only one bridge across the whole 4,300 miles long Amazon River.
• The chances of you becoming the President are greater than you winning the lottery. 

I’m not saying that what was asserted isn’t true. Just that I simply don’t believe it.  It will take more than a declaration by “They” — You known . . . . “They say . . . . “.

Here is another one I do not believe. It goes something like this . . . .

In making personal contact with people, if you are under 30 or 40 (“They say,” — part of the millennial generation [2]), a text, email, DM, or phone call/voice mail “works.”

I use the words “personal contact” because I am want to exclude those contacts that do work and work for all of us no matter what generation — i.e., “Will meet you there around 4.”

I am talking about “personal contact” that involves times of life that matter!

• Loss of job
• Marital failure
• Sickness
• Pandemics
• Hospital stays
• Serious accidents
• A terrible medical report
• A child / teen crisis
• Loss of a loved one
• Funerals
• Operation day
• Weddings
• Graduation events
• Significant award ceremonies
• Anniversary milestone celebrations
• Dedications & christenings

No, I don’t believe that any other contact outside of a real person, a person’s presence, actually “works!”

If we can at all be there, if there is proximity [3], if there is a meaningful relationship, and if your ministry to them matters — then presence matters!

Sending a text, an email, or making a phone call to someone experiencing these life situations, or during a real personal difficulty is inadequate and is not our Lord.

No, I don’t believe that Jesus would have sent a text to Mary & Martha, outside of the fact that He purposed to delay his arrival. He cared too much to do that!

A face-to-face, walk into the room, show up in person visit cannot be replaced by anything else! People want to see care and concern incarnated, like Jesus, to actually “show up in their neighborhood.”

The senior, or lead pastor’s presence means something! AND — no one can replace the presence of 
the pastor.

Try saying this to a pastor — “You don’t need to go, I will. Your presence doesn’t mean anything more than any other deacon or member.” No one believes that, and no one believes that being there “in the flesh” is the same as sending a text message.

Sorry, I don’t believe that a text, email, DM, or anything short of “a caring pastor’s face” works, no matter who you are on “the-other-side-of-caring.”

We are all made the same when it comes to times of need, and presence matters to us who are in God’s image!

♦♦♦♦♦

In closing . . . . 

I saw a sign at the dentist office yesterday . . . . 

“You do not need to brush all your teeth, just the ones you want to keep.”

In the same vein . . . . 

You do not need to be there for all people or all the life situations that matter to them.  

You only need to be there for the people that
you truly care about
and with whom you want a ministry.

 

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1. Some can be easily and quickly fact-checked because they are mathematically verifiable — i.e., Cleopatra lived closer in time to the first Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid — Click here for proof.

2. “The millennial generation, sometimes also referred to as generation Y, is generally agreed to include people born in the early 1980s through the early 2000s.”

3. Have you ever said to your children, “You need to eat what’s on your plate; people are starving in the world and would give everything to have what is in front of you.” No, we can’t send the meal to them, but we can help our neighbor.

Is not that what “The Good Samaritan” account teaches — proximity! We can’t help all who have been accosted, abused, or used, but we can help those on our path, those who are proximate!

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