“When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, ‘Mephibosheth!’ ‘At your service,’ he replied. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ David said to him, ‘for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.’ Mephibosheth bowed down and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?’” (2 Samuel 9:6-8)

Years ago there was a popular sitcom by the name of “Cheers.” Each week as the show began the opening theme song boasted that here was a place (a bar named “Cheers”) “where everyone knows your name.”  

Who wouldn’t love a place where everyone knows your name? A place where you are always welcomed.  

We know all too well that there are people who more often than not feel like they have no place where they belong, no place where everyone knows their name. That’s why this story of what happened in the life of a man named Mephibosheth is so inspiring.  

Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan, King David’s best friend. Even more so, Mephibosheth was the grandson of King Saul. As far as his family line was concerned, you might consider Mephibosheth to be a young man of great privilege and special honor. Here was a man in which everyone knew his name alright, at least his family’s name, until his comfortable world crumbled at the age of five when his grandfather and father were killed in battle.

But if this family loss was not enough, Mephibosheth became crippled right after that. In the turmoil of battle, Mephibosheth’s nurse scooped him up and fled. While doing so, she dropped him. The result was that he was crippled from that time on. With his father and grandfather gone Mephibosheth, in the eyes of many, became a handicapped “nobody.” In fact he considered himself nothing more than a “dead dog.” Until, that is, King David showed him kindness by giving him a place to sit at his table. Forever after that, Mephibosheth was welcomed at King David’s table where indeed, everyone would know his name. Here Mephibosheth received more, immeasurably more, than he ever expected.

Can you imagine for a moment the number of people who go through life feeling as if nobody knows them, feeling as if they have no place at the table. And yet, isn’t that what ministry is all about? Whatever the ministry focus may be for your capital campaign, whatever the case statement may articulate it is for the purpose that more people would know and trust and believe that they are loved and accepted by the King; King Jesus that is.