My grandfather was a Presbyterian Elder who believed in the old-fashion custom of “visitation.” On almost every Sunday afternoon, he and sometimes, my grandmother would go visiting. They would visit relatives, shut-ins, old friends, and especially “new-comers” who had just moved to town.
On one Sunday, they visited a new family that had moved to the area north of Umatilla, called Pittman where a large family had settled and started a ranch which featured horseback riding rentals. His intention was to invite the new family to worship with them. The new family had developed trail rides out into the Ocala National Forest which their ranch bordered.
His first and second visits did not garner any results, so he pulled out all the stops and took my grandmother, Bessie, on the next visit. That must have done the trick because Mrs. Ralph Getchell told me that after he and my grandmother left their front porch, she turned to her husband and said, “Ralph, we just have to go to his church, because that man means business!” They did and the rest is history.
When the Getchell family joined the Umatilla Presbyterian Church, the Sunday School nearly doubled. Not only did the Getchell’s bring their boys at that time, but during the next few years, the family grew to eleven. Mr & Mrs Getchell and their nine boys.
It was a win-win for all. The Umatilla Presbyterian Church grew with this family, and Mrs. Getchell became a powerhouse of Christian Service. She is a take no prisoners, no excuses kind of woman who has been known to call up potential volunteers with this statement, “I need a favor, and I really don’t need any drama on why you can or cannot help me, just tell me ‘yes or no.’”
Last Friday the Leesburg Daily Commercial featured an article about Mrs. Getchell, her family and her value as a servant leader. She is 99 years old and still active. She will be 100 this summer and told me that she thanks God every day, that my grandfather was persistent and wouldn’t take no for an answer about coming to and joining them in worship.
My point of this piece is look what happens, when we “ask” and are persistent. A few months ago in the Tuesday morning Bible study, we studied the book of St. James. In Chapter, four, verse thee, the apostle states, “When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives….”
Many times in our life and in the life of the church we not only do not ask, but when we do ask, we may not ask with the right motive.
We ask for more opportunity for outreach, and we are rewarded with new and renewed ministries and missions. We ask for more financial resources and we are rewarded when we ask with the right motives.
So, do not be afraid of asking, just ask with the right motive!
Dalton Yancey, Generosity Team
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