BY STEVE CRAIN

Special to The Pilot

"The 'Spirit of Truth' cuts through the clutter and gives us the meaning of life," said the Rev. Michael Dubbs, speaking as a guest minister on a recent Sunday morning at Community Congregational Church in Southern Pines.

Dubbs, who has two adult daughters, is a 2007 graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He worked as a township manager in Bloomsburg, Pa., before serving as a youth pastor and later as a pastor at Millville United Methodist Church in Millville, Pa.

He moved last year from Mount Union, Pa., to Southern Pines to live in a house he inherited from the late Lt. Col. William "Billy" Dubbs and the late Therese Dubbs. He works as a guard at the Shearon Harris nuclear generating station in New Hill and preaches when opportunities arise.

Dubbs told of reading a sports news article that was generated, or "written," by a computer.

"Computers may someday be able to tell us everything in a minute, but what they can't tell us is what it all means," Dubbs said. "We need to make ourselves available for God's will through the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives."

He listed four spiritual protocols: Don't resist the Holy Spirit; don't quench the Holy Spirit; be available for the Holy Spirit; and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

"When we open ourselves to God's spirit, the results can be staggering," Dubbs said.

He told of escorting a youth group from Millville, Pa., to the Dominican Republic. After a hot day of helping with projects in that country, the youths found the electric power out of service.

"Kids were hot, tired; they couldn't shower; some were crying," Dubbs said.

He maintained a policy that each young person had to talk before they left their end-of-day meeting. Some, resenting the power failure, wouldn't talk.

"The Spirit told me to sing 'Amazing Grace,'" Dubbs related. "I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me.' I didn't do anything. Then the Sprit said to me, again, 'Sing Amazing Grace.'"

He did not sing. For a third time he felt impressed to sing "Amazing Grace," and he began to sing.

"Barely a word of singing came out until the lights came on," he said. "The kids were happy."

One youngster asked Dubbs, "What made you sing 'Amazing Grace' at that moment?"

Dubbs told him God impressed him to sing that song, adding, "If I had sung it the first time, you'd have had your showers five minutes earlier."

Dubbs said that youngster ran and told other youths, "God spoke to Pastor Mike!"

"The world needs Christians to embody the truth," Dubbs said. "People are watching. They want to know what difference Christianity makes in your life."

He noted that Jesus told Pilate, "I came into the world to testify of the truth."

Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?"

"The Spirit takes the truth of Jesus and seeks to embody it in us," Dubbs said. "The truth that gets lived out in you and me ... that's amazing. As Christians, we're all called to embody the truth."

Steve Crain lives in Southern Pines.