Month: June 2021

The Face of My Father

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:31-32 KJV

“Go sit on your bed until your father get’s home!” were the most terrifying ten words of my childhood. Those long minutes or hours as I waited for the return of my stepfather from work only magnified the fears that I had of the inevitable punishment that awaited me. The last person’s face I wanted to see was his. After I became a Christian it took me quite a few years to be able to pray to the Father. Sure I said the words in corporate worship but when I was alone I would pray only to Jesus. I would say things like, “I’m only coming to you Jesus. Will you forgive me and help me?” Sometimes it felt like I was still sitting on my bed, waiting for punishment. The last person I wanted to see was my Heavenly Father. How little did I know of the tender love of a father who sent His own Son to die in my place. How much He must have wanted me to run to Him and how patient He was for me to slowly unwrap the mystery of the great -great love of His heart. He was not looking forward to coming home so He could pull out His celestial belt to punish me. Instead He had sent Jesus to die in my place so that He could wrap me in His arms. God was not listening to the long litany of my sins, becoming angrier by the second. Instead, He was preparing to freely give me anything I needed because of Jesus Christ. What a love is this? Now I look forward to His return! In fact the very first face I l want to see is the face of my true and eternal father in Heaven. All this time He has been by my side sitting next to me and loving me as His child!

This was Dad at Our Wedding (I look nervous!)

He Counts Every Hair

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:30 KJV

Some people have fond memories of their dads taking them hunting or fishing and while these are great personal stories, my special times with my dad instead revolved around him cutting my hair. To you that might seem strange, but when you come from a line of barbers and hairdressers, it is just normal family stuff. What stands out most in my memory is how Dad held little snippets of my hair between his fingers and one by one meticulously trimmed them and then finished off by shaving the edges with his straight razor.

This is my grandfather’s actual barber set circa 1915

At the time, this all seemed pretty ordinary to me, but as I reflect back I realize this was my dad’s way of showing he loved me. In today’s verse Jesus teaches us that God expresses His love, the way my father did, not by tears, or some sort of emotional display, but by painstakingly examining and counting our hairs. Numbering our hairs, is a lot different than saying, God knows everything so he knows how many are on our head. God has actually taken the time to count every hair on every head throughout the whole world. It is His way of saying that He knows about us because He has counted the details of our lives one by one and then He gave His life in every detail for us when the hairs of His head were crowned with thorns for every one of us.

Simple Sweet Blessings

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 
Hearing the song
That the Mockingbird sings
And seeing the colors
As the Bluebird takes wing
And catching the fragrance
That the Hummingbirds seek
In the flowers that grow
By the side of the creek
And all of those moments
That are finest of fine
Are the sweet simple blessings
That Our Good Lord designed

Sweet Simple Blessings
By Peter Caligiuri
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