Throughout the Easter Season, the daily devotions have been written by members of Faith Lutheran Church. Today’s writer is George Amundson.
“Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.” Acts 8:26-31
I am so like Philip. He is pushed and shoved to do something that is out of his comfort zone. How difficult do we find talking about God’s Word and our belief in those words. I continue to blame it on the fact that I am a Lutheran and we just have a hard time stepping out onto that ledge. What an embarrassing excuse.
Our Church wide goal this year is to “increase the number of first time guests” and once we get them here how do we “make them feel that they belong.” We will get together as a congregation in August to evaluate how successful we were. We are told and we know deep down, the best way to get someone to come to Church is by a personal invitation.
Maybe we could replace our deteriorating stained glass wall with a wall of glass so that as people drove by on Bellaire Blvd they could see in and want to be a part of what they saw. Maybe we could start a Mother’s Day Out Program or a Day School; how about calling a Pastor that speaks Mandarin and start a Chinese Ministry; what about some apartments that offer reasonable fees for people who need affordable housing while they or their loved ones are being treated at our Medical Center. Then, people would be standing in line to visit us. Well, these are all programs that we should be proud of but, the reality is, we need to personally invite our friends and neighbors to “Come and See.”
If we could just open our hearts and minds and listen to the Holy Spirit we could be like Philip and “Go over to this chariot and join it.”
Let us pray: Sundays are game day where we try to make everyone feel that they belong, Monday through Saturday, when we are at work and/or play is when we ask that you open the eyes of our hearts and help us invite our friends and neighbors to “Come and See.” In Jesus’ name, amen.
Daily Devotions 
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