"Ah, Lord God!  Truly I do not know how to speak, for I AM ONLY a boy"  (Jeremiah 1:6)

Jeremiah would become one of the greatest prophets that God called; only first of all God had to deal with those three deadly words, "I am only."

Many of us are limited by those three words as well.  Probably the one I hear the most is, "I am only a senior citizen.  Iam too old to be of much use to this church."

Have you heard the story of Harry Lipzig?  At the age of 88, Harry decided to leave the New York law firm he had spent 60 years building up.  You might say, "It's about time."  Only the reason Harry left was so that he could open a new law firm.  So at an age when many people have given up on life, Harry was about to try his first case.

Here was the situation:  A lady was suing the city of New York because a drunken police officer had struck and killed her 71 year old husband with his patrol car.  She argued that the ciy had deprived her of her husband's future earnings potential.  The city argued that at age 71, he had little earnings potential.  They thought they had a rather clever defense until they realized that this lady's argument about her husban's future earning power was being advanced by a vigorous 88 year old attorney.  The city settled the case for $1.2 million.  What if Harry Lipzig had said, "I am only a senior citizen?"

God had great plans for Jeremiah, but first of all He had to get those three words off of Jeremiah's lips and mind, "I am only."  And God has great plans for your life and mine as well.  God sees possibilities within us we never dreamed possible.  That goes for us as individuals and us as a congregation.

Albert Schweitzer was once asked to name the greatest person in the world.  Dr. Schweitzer replied, "The greatest person in the world is some unknown individual in some obscure corner of the earth who at this very hour has gone in love to be with another person in need."  There are no age limits to show agape love to someone and tell them our motivation for doing so.

Ther was a plaque in my grandmother's living room that said:  "Another life will soon be passed.  Only what's done for Christ will last."  It will last because we will be sharing God's love.  The love that sent His only Son, Jesus, to suffer and die on the cross for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

Pray for the Holy Spirit's power to not live with any limiting statement or attitude that says, "I am only."  Also pray for that agape love that shares God's love through Jesus in both words and action.

Because of Jesus, Pastor Ray