PODCAST
Perseverance To Be Proud Of
November 13th, 2014
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
Joe and Nannie lived across the valley on the hillside near the little church I pastored in western Pennsylvania. I met Joe in the first service of my pastorate. As he was introduced to me, I extended my hand and greeted him. I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
Joe was elderly, with a crown of white hair and a speech impediment that made it difficult to understand him. A lay leader in my church told me his story: born with cerebral palsy, Joe took care of his blind, deaf, invalid sister in a ramshackle house. I don’t know if the church found Joe or if Joe found the church, but he became a champion to me.
Visiting Joe and Nannie left me with an aching-yet-blessed heart. Joe had inventions everywhere, including one that enabled his blind and deaf sister to communicate her needs to him. Later I learned that Joe had been defrauded of patent rights that could have made him wealthy.
Joe’s life verse was Ps. 37:25: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” His was a perseverance I could boast about.
Author: David J. Felter
