Each month I receive an interesting half page from Tyndale House Publishers titled "Fascinating Information Pastors Gotta Know"! It generally consists of 3 - 4 tid bits of trivia, along with publisher Jim Kraus' articles titled, "What I'm Reading" and "My Thoughts".
In his "My Thoughts" section of the May 2018 edition, he wrote about something that I can identify with completely. He is quite certain that the people in his household must believe in house sprites. For an example, I will often leave various items sitting at the top of our basement stairs until a later time when I will be going downstairs anyways. However, for the next several days I tend to step over these items as I make several trips up and down the stairs. After a few days, the item will have disappeared! "Thank you, house sprite!"
Jim also makes reference to the house foreman. The house foreman is someone who alerts and identifies a problem to everyone else within the household. Whenever a house foreman identifies a potential problem, they then feel absolved of the responsibility because they feel like they have already done their part! Someone else now needs to fix the problem!
In his article, Jim writes, "But ask yourself: Does this happen in your church? Can you walk past an issue for days or weeks, knowing, or hoping, or assuming that someone else will address it?" Or, "If you spot a problem, does identifying the problem absolve you from facing it?"
Galatians 5 : 13 encourages us all to "...serve one another humbly in love." (NIV) I thank God for the many people in our church who selflessly serve others without recognition. However, let us not neglect to acknowledge our appreciation. God help us to stop believing in house sprites!