ZPCBlog

About the author: Jackie Larew and her husband, Larry, are long-time members of ZPC. They have two grown children who are married and live nearby with their families. Connor and Danielle Larew and their daughter, Amalia, who is 16 months.  And Ashley and Tom Henthorn whose son, Jackson, is 10 and attends BIGS; and their daughter, Charlotte, who went to be with Jesus when she was 3 months old.  Jackie and Larry also have a bonus child, Dhani Miller, who is currently a Freshman at ZCHS. Dhani is their nephew and joined their family when Jackie’s sister passed away about 3 years ago. You’ll know Dhani when you see him with them, he’s the tall, dark, handsome one! Jackie has served in various ways at ZPC over the years including helping to lead VBS, singing in the Praise Band, teaching Sunday School and Youth Inquirers with Larry, helping to lead numerous mission trips with Larry to plant churches and help put on VBS programs in the Playa del Carmen, Mexico area, and most recently has led the Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes ministry and has been elected as a Deacon beginning January, 2025.

Isaiah 12:2-6

A Song of Praise. 
“The Lord, God is my Strength and my Song”.
2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord, God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4. And you will say in that day:
“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5  “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
6  Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” 

I love to sing in the car. It does my heart good to sing loudly and freely in my own private space without fear of being judged…unless of course, someone happens to pull up beside me at a stoplight – then there may be a little judging going on…it might depend on how passionate my singing has been. But I don’t care. I’ve found that singing is an excellent antidote to the high blood pressure inducing road rage that could easily take over my demeanor if I let the pressures of life and the Indy 500-wanna-be-drivers rule my soul – so I choose to sing.  

Shortly after moving to Zionsville in October of 1997, I found a radio station, 101.9 FM, with the call letters K-LOVE. K-LOVE is advertised as a positive, uplifting format of contemporary Christian music. Once I discovered K-LOVE, I listened to it nearly every workday on my commute to and from downtown Indianapolis for over 20 years. What a great way to start and end my day with some praise music, prayer, and positive thinking. As I read through Isaiah Chapter 12 in preparation for this devotional, I likened my “positive uplifting” drive-times with K-LOVE as a way of joyfully going back to the well of my salvation every day. It was praise and worship after all, and I was filling up my bucket with God’s encouraging and hopeful words each day on my way to and from work. And there were some tough days, days when that bucket needed to be filled to overflowing both coming and going. But it always seemed to be enough – just enough to help keep me from feeling totally overwhelmed or losing hope.

Yes, it was easy for me to sing praises in the privacy of my own car, but what about exalting God and letting it be made known in all the earth? When I look back on my career, I marvel at the number of times that God opened a path for me to have conversations with co-workers about my faith. Something as simple as talking about the song I was overheard humming on the way into the office could turn into a conversation about life’s challenges, fears, or struggles and how having faith in Jesus gave me hope to get through those times. Or telling my staff, when they asked, where I was going on vacation each summer; that I was going on a trip to Mexico to help build churches and teach VBS. It got to be that year after year they couldn’t wait to hear the stories about how God was working in Mexico. And many were surprised to learn that I was the one who came home with my bucket more filled than when I left. God gave me the opportunity to live with and love on some of the least of his people. What a privilege it was and what an honor to share that with others.

What about you? How are you doing during this season of Advent? Are you filled with joyful anticipation of the Christmas celebration, exalting his name by singing Christmas Carols, and filling your bucket by seeking the truth of God’s salvation in your daily devotions? Praise God if this is you! What a blessing you can be to those around you! But what about those of us who may be struggling with anxiety about what is to come in the year ahead? Or who may be so busy or overwhelmed with life’s responsibilities and struggles that we can’t even find our “bucket” let alone take it joyfully to the well to be filled up again? Well (pun intended), that’s the beauty of being an inhabitant of Zion…for the Holy One is already among us. We may not always feel God’s presence, but we have a community of believers around us to help remind us that he is there, and they can even help lead us gently and lovingly back to his well of salvation. All of us should be reminded to look around…see if there is anyone else in our community who could use a hand filling their bucket? Maybe it’s a kind word or small gesture of encouragement that helps fill someone else’s bucket even just a little. As some of you may already know, when we help someone else find their way back to the well (or maybe even to the well for the very first time!), it should come as no surprise that God, in his faithfulness, finds a way to fill our own bucket back up along the way.

It was exactly 3 years ago this week that I got the call from my sister. It was a call that would change my heart and threaten to take the joy out of my drive-time forever. Stephanie was a single mom, living in rural Iowa with her 11-year-old son, Dhani, and she had just got the news. It was Cancer. Pancreatic. Stage 4. Inoperable. “Can you help me?”

I spent a lot of time in my car over the next two months while caring for Stephanie and Dhani. There were numerous trips back and forth to the Mayo Clinic, the chemo center, before and after school events, and finally, the hospital. Stephanie enjoyed listening to K-LOVE in the car too. It helped encourage her and took her mind off her pain. But there were no sing-alongs on those car rides. No Carpool Karaoke. Her strength was fading fast and so was the song in my heart. Sixty-six days after that ominous phone call, we said good-bye to Stephanie as she went to be with Jesus. When I left the hospital at the end of that day, I got in my car…and I drove in silence. Where was my strength? Where was my song? Where was my bucket? 

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before I was reminded that I, too, am one of those blessed inhabitants of Zion and the Holy One is with me. My soul felt revived as I was lifted up by my faithful and loving family, dear friends, and even strangers, whom I’d never met, but knew my sister and thanked me for caring for her in those final and difficult days. Each and every one, in their own small but meaningful way were leading me gently back to the well and helping to fill my bucket.  

So, in this season of Advent, remember that by God’s grace and goodness you are already a citizen of Zion and he has placed his Holy One here among us. Keep your eyes and hearts open to recognize those moments when your kind gesture or encouraging words may help fill someone else’s bucket up even just a little and then feel how your own heart is warmed. Oh, and if you happen to be at a stoplight next to a silver RAV4 and you see someone singing their heart out, just smile nonchalantly and feel free to take a little of their joy with you…it’s probably my husband.  

Prayer

Oh Lord, my God, please help me to remember that you are my strength and my song. You alone are my salvation. It is in you that I will put my trust each and every day. Please take away the worries and anxieties that keep me from finding my joy in your salvation. And Lord, help me to find the words, and the actions to encourage my neighbors, to love them in a way that will help them know you more. Dear God, thank you for sending your beloved son, Jesus to be here with us; to save us and to redeem us. 
In his blessed name we give you thanks and praise. AMEN

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