Stephen Ministries – The Intercom, April 2019

It happens! We come to church to worship, but random thoughts swing through our heads like monkeys in a tree: Lunch in or out? Gotta make dentist appointments! Remember to swing by Menards! But sometimes a distracting “monkey” is a nudge from God to be shared, as did Larry Budahl, a bricklayer and OSL Stephen Minister, on Facebook:

“Me thinking in church today…chipped bricks. When bricks are made, they are fired in a kiln to tremendous heat to make them strong, cooled, and stacked in packs. The packs are loaded onto trucks, hauled to the jobsite, unloaded, and moved to the material plank to be used. If bricks get chipped, cracked, or broken, they are rejected by the mason in a process called culling. Some of these bricks are stacked back on a pallet to be used for other purposes like support under bar joists or backing support in columns and piers.

“Why these thoughts would not leave me alone during church, I don’t know. But the thought also came that we get cracked, chipped, and sometimes even broken by life. Is our purpose over? Or is God there picking us back up and putting us on a pallet to serve him in another way? We all have flaws, but God finds ways for us to be useful to him and to others.”

If life’s rough handling has left you feeling chipped, cracked, or broken, talk to Pr. Tim Lemme or Deb Harlan in the Church Office, 336-2942, about finding a Stephen Minister whom the Good Mason can stack beside you on that pallet to renewed purpose.