One particularly energetic 7-year-old boy that I work with—let’s call him Tim—likes to have “wars” toward the end of our session as a reward for a job well done. This “war” typically consists of us throwing something at each other. Lately, our “war ammunition” has been juniper berries. 

We stuff our pockets full of the little blueberry-sized weapons and then chase after each other while throwing them. Invariably, he will tell me that I missed him after each throw that I make (whether I hit him or not). The juniper berry can even bounce off the top of his head, and he still announces, “You missed me!”

I don’t bother to tell Tim that I actually hit him, because he knows I did. He just doesn’t want to lose a game to an old man. 

The lesson? 

Have you ever had a sermon “hit” you? Make you feel like you need to start living a little differently? Start pruning some dead branches? Make you question your motives, thoughts, and actions?

Have you ever taken that sermon that just “hit” you and left it there in the church just like nothing ever happened? You know that it “hit” you, and what’s worse, you know that God knows that it “hit” you.

Maybe we can add another line to the song… 

“You ask me where that sermon went, the one that hit me square. 
Well, I left it in the pew that day… 
I laid it down, I laid it down, I left it there.” 
(Sorry, Sister Arlene, I just had to.)

Let’s let the preaching, reading, hearing, and singing of God’s word have its intended effect. Let’s allow it to “change my life completely, in a moment, the road from which I came I’ll never look that way again.” (Now, those lyrics are way better.)