Arrival in Heaven

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Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.                   1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks put the circumstances of our lives, both good and bad into God’s hands and help us see them through His eyes. Last night our beloved daughter-in-law Melinda slipped from this world into the presence of Jesus. And while we are overwhelmed with grief and shock, these words are promises to which we cling. Melinda has finished her race. Her battle with cancer is finished. And while that pernicious disease claimed her physical life, it could not touch her soul. That remained fully and exclusively in the hands of Jesus with whom she now lives. Nancy and I didn’t know how to process the news that came in three words. “She is gone.” Yet as sadness rolls over my heart I sense the message echo back from Heaven, ” She has arrived!”

Discovering Home Again

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Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Psalm 84:3 ESV

Our short visit back home in Pennsylvania is one of those touchstones of our year. The quiet hills and hidden wildflowers greet us and tell us that we are one year older. They ask us where we have been and why we waited so long to return. We drink in the silence and walk the familiar gravel roads, and thank God we are home again. I do hope you enjoy these glimpses of my favorite spots.

He Found Us!

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For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10 ESV

I love this verse, which appears at the end of the story of Zaccheus. ” To the crowd, Zaccheus wasn’t worth the time of day, much less the presence of Jesus at His dinner table. They couldn’t understand why Jesus would defile himself by eating in the home of a tax collector. They, along with most of us, missed whole point of Jesus coming. He didn’t come to earth for nice wholesome acceptable folks. He came to seek people with problems, sins and failures. The wise men had come with gifts, looking for Jesus when He was born in Bethlehem. In an even greater way, Jesus came, with the gift of salvation, looking for us, and it cost Him His life to find us, so that we could find Him!”

An Extention of Grace

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The Apostle Paul’s work was challenging on a good day, hard work, opposed by many and downright dangerous often. So how did he continue? Well, of course by God’s grace, but here Paul refers to the nitty-gritty of the way God sometimes sent him grace: by other people! That gives me pause to ask: “How can I be an extention of God’s grace to someone else today?”