I listened to a Sermon on YouTube by Pastor Matt Johnston, a guest speaker from North Metro Church in Marietta, Ga. He was speaking at a Messianic Jewish Service on a Friday Night, June 27-28, 2025, at Beth Hallel in Roswell, Ga. I was so overjoyed and inspired by the Sermon that I needed to do something. I started cleaning my bookcase and was trying to downsize my book collection. I was judging each book to decide whether to keep it or donate it.

An Old Book

I got an unexpected blessing as I thumbed through an old book. The book, Blue Collar Faith, had been purchased in 2010 because I knew one of the men, Jack Wehmiller. Jack had written several of the chapters for the book’s creator, Tom McAllister.

Big Blessings

Jack wrote several chapters about his experience and the blessings he got while serving the Lord during a trip to the Dominican Republic after a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. I remembered Jack’s testimony at Church and how the faith of the people he met who were going through that natural disaster blessed him and changed his perspective on his own life. He insisted that he had gotten the bigger blessing from the people he had gone to help.

Sermons and Actions Go Together

I started thinking about the Sermon delivered by Pastor Johnston that morning, which I had heard on YouTube about Psalms 23. I realized that people like Jack are the staff and sometimes the rod of the Lord mentioned in Psalm 23b, “thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Jesus was reminding me that we serve Jesus by being His rod and staff in the world.

The Book Continued to Bless

The Lord used what I read to bless me again as I re-read a few of the chapters in the book where Jack had written several chapters. The book, Blue Collar Faith, is a collection of stories by ordinary people in their everyday struggles as they live and serve the Lord. I believe Jesus wanted me to be reminded that His people serve the Lord by helping others in various capacities.

The Written Word

Jesus also helped me see that these people in the Blue Collar Faith book were still able to continue blessing others because they had written down their stories for people like me to read. I was blessed by their faith, service, and inspiring stories of God’s Kingdom here on earth.

God’s Written Word

Lord God Almighty, thank You for comforting us through Your Holy Spirit, the Holy Bible, and the people who follow the Messiah of God. This morning, I realized for the first time that when David wrote Psalm 23 through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he did not know the Lord Jesus by name. David knew the name of our God as Adonai. We have the privilege to be living at a time in history when we have the completed Word of God, the Old and New Testaments, as we wait for You, Adonai, to fulfill the promises You have made to all of Your People. Help me take advantage of every opportunity You are blessing me with. Amen.

Psalm 23:1 (TLV) “A psalm of David. Adonai is my shepherd, I shall not want.”