Driving Notes

Daniel: What does it mean to be the salt of the earth? 

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13

If you’re like me, you’ve read that verse a million times and wondered, what does that mean?

What do you do with salt? You put it on food, but what else? Modernly, we normally only think of that, but in biblical times, its used for everything food. Preserving food, improving taste, purifying food, and generally just making everything better to eat. When Jesus asks us to be the salt of the earth, he’s asking us to make everything better. 

But how can we do that? Simple: be the light in the room; we go around showing people the love we have from Jesus. He tells us this in John 13…

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

Jesus asks us to make everything just a little bit better and show love to others. When you go to work, spend time at home, or just talk to someone on the street, bring the smile, be encouraging, and be a little bit brighter because of the hope that is within you in Jesus Christ. Let everyone know that you follow Jesus, not only from your words, but from your works.

Joe: I was thinking about the song Waiting Here for You by Passion/Christy Nockels, and it reminded me of this verse

Psalm 27:14 (NIV) –“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.”

This is one of the many verses that drive this song.

If faith can move the mountains
Let the mountains move
We come with expectation
Waiting here for You, waiting here for You

You’re the Lord of all creation
And still You know my heart
The author of salvation
You’ve loved us from the start

A couple themes of this song are:

1. Faith over fear: “If faith can move the mountains, let the mountains move.” This reminds us to surrender our heavy burdens and expectantly wait for a breakthrough. Waiting, believe it or not, is a form of worship! Difficult? Yes. Building our character? Definitely.
   
2. How he knows us intimately: “You’re the Lord of all creation, and still You know my heart.” It acknowledges that the Creator of the universe is deeply intimate and present with you right now.

I think we know that waiting is not common practice for most humans.  It’s hard to wait when you want to see something happen.  It’s hard to wait when you are expecting something.  

But if we don’t wait on His Holy Spirit to lead us, we will miss the blessings He has for us.  We try to figure things out on how something is going to go, but we can pray for His Guidance and then wait on the direction given to us.

Mystery Monday

Name a food that you hope you ‘got milk’ to go with. 

1. Cereal (60) 
2. Cookies (21)
3. Brownies (3)
4. Mac & Cheese (2) 
5. Cake (2) 
6. Pancakes (2) 
7. Peanut Butter (2) 

Congratulations to James from Mount Vernon, who guessed those top two answers and wins the $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica.

Thanks for listening!
– Daniel and Joe

Daniel: So I am house-sitting right now, helping take care of a house. To me, it sounded like an easy task. They have 3 cute cats, and I expected this to be simple. For the most part, it is, but one of the cats causes problems; he’s this old black-and-white cat named Gizmo, because he is literally a little stinker.

The other day, I came in from being out nearly all day, and I didn’t notice the present he had left on the floor, and I ended up stepping on it. Now I was still wearing my shoes, so I didn’t notice this until I had already tracked it all around the house. I remember spending nearly an hour trying to clean up from that and just being upset about it as I went around into each room, smelling as I went, trying to figure out where all needed to be cleaned. 

Later that same evening, I was on the phone with my girlfriend, and it helped me recenter myself because this was already the 4th time there had been an accident on the floor since I got there the night before. I slowed down, took a deep breath, and remembered this…

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” – Philippians 4:6

We are also asked to give thanks in everything, but sometimes that’s challenging, so I tried to remember what was really important and find something to be thankful for.

“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

It reminded me to remain calm and make my problems known to God, and strangely, he hasn’t had an issue since, which is just another everyday miracle to give thanks for.

Joe: In John 4, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well. He ignores the so-called cultural taboos of the Jews and Samaritans to ask her for a drink of water.

He offers her “living water”, the kind that permanently satisfies her. He also reveals her past without judgment and declares Himself the Messiah. She then becomes a bold evangelist when she leaves her water jar behind and rushes back to her town to tell everyone about Jesus. ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Her testimony results in many villagers coming to meet Jesus themselves, leading many Samaritans to believe He is the Savior of the world.

What can we take away from John 4?

We learn that God sees us and hears us; we also learn we can have a fresh start with Him, and we can find our voice in telling others about Him.

Mystery Monday

Name a movie that took place on water. 

1. Titanic (38) 
2. Jaws (20) 
3. Waterworld (6) 
4. Open Water (3) 
5. Red October (3) 

Congratulations to Jeanell from Danville, who guessed those top two answers and wins the $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica.

Thanks for listening!
– Daniel and Joe