The Gazelle

Whew, I'm beat. Not sure what hit me today but it feels like running into a wall and ending up kind of dazed. (Been there, done that.)

On Saturday night, I missed church at Horizon because of wedding. A buddy from work got married. It was a nice evening. On Sunday, I decided to go to church at Grace UMC.

The message was quite thought-provoking. I think it ties in kind of with my last post. The pastor talked about Acts 9:36-42. This passage is about a lady named Dorcas. She dies and her friends are really sad. They hear that Peter is in nearby town and send some guys to bring him back to their town. Peter arrives and goes into the room with Dorcas. He prays and says, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes and got up. On Sunday, I noticed that the only part of this passage that had previously drawn my attention was verse 40. How do I know this? Well, I had circled, "Tabitha, get up." This is because that is what I thought the story was all about - bringing someone back to life. However, Pastor Garver shed some further light into the story.

Why were her friends so upset?

She was a disciple.
She was "always doing good."
She was always "helping the poor."

She made such an influence on her friends that they sent people out bring back Peter.

Dorcas sounds like a pretty cool lady. Her name is cool enough. Okay, in all seriousness, she sounds like a lady who left a legacy when she finally did die. She made a difference. She impacted the lives of others. In fact, the pastor pointed out that her legacy continues to this day with a Tabitha school in Tel Aviv and the Dorcas Society. (Tabitha is Aramaic translation of the Greek name Dorcas.)

Both Dorcas and Tabitha mean

Gazelle.