Pastor's Corner

Though he was well into his 80s, my friend Walter Nolan would regularly (almost daily) walk the dirt road to the very top of the hill overlooking the Dayton Cemetery. There he would extend his arms around his view of Dayton, imagine he was holding it in his hands, and pray that the people in it would know the love of God by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.

It is no wonder people who knew Walter felt him to be kind and joyful, even in difficult circumstances. Walter's prayer for Dayton reminds me of Jesus' prayer for the lost people of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing" Mt. 23:37.

Jesus said He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

The Bible teaches that God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" 2 Pe. 3:9.

Those who know the love of God rejoice in their personal salvation and have the same longing that others would know Him, too. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jn.3:16

Pastor Greg Brownell

Dayton United Brethren Church