LOVE TENDERLY

February 8, 2026

There are three times I remember crying as a child.

I remember being in the church preschool on a Sunday night.  While the other kids were playing, I was crying in the lap of one of the workers.  I missed my dad!  Suddenly I saw him looking in the window portion of the door.  He was wearing a hat and smiling.  Immediately the tears ceased!  My dad had come to tenderly take me home.

Another time was when I got a bad grade on a test in first grade.  It devastated me!  I remember my mom taking me onto her lap and kissing away the tears before I had to face the embarrassment of seeing my teacher again.

A third time was when I got bit by hornets.  My mother owned and managed a beauty shop attached to our house.  In the backyard were bushes.  I chopped away at them with my toy hatchet when suddenly a swarm of hornets attacked and bit me.  I went crying into that beauty shop.  My mom got cigarettes off the customers, unrolled them and put the tobacco on the sores.  Everyone in that shop showed tender love.

Sunday I’m preaching on “Love Tenderly” from Genesis 24:62-25:2.  We’ll look at “Find Comfort,” 24:62-67; and “Sustain Family Life through Love,” 25:1-2. It’s the story of Jacob marrying Rebekah, and Abraham marrying Keturah after the death of his beloved Sarah.  Please come and learn to love your biological family, your church family and the family of mankind.

Love,

Jim Meek