Month: May 2024

God’s Home

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 
Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV

When my father passed away, and I sadly began putting his financial affairs in order, I was surprised to discover that he had already put my name on the title to his home. Without my ever knowing it, dad left to me the most valuable thing that he owned. Now my ad was an amazing man, but what he did gives us just a little glimpse of what today’s verse means when it says, “The Lord is my portion.” Because when Jesus gave His life on the cross, God put our name on the title to His home.

When the prophet Jeremiah wrote today’s passage, many of God’s people had rejected Him and as a result were being led into exile as captives. But even at their lowest point, God was already planning for blessings and the return of their grandchildren. In the same way, when we have failed God, we can know that in spite of our sins, Jesus has a plan to lead us back to Him. When we repent and ask His forgiveness, God is faithful to forgive us and to restore to us a priceless inheritance beyond anything we could ever imagine. Then one day we will discover that because of His great and amazing faithfulness, God has become our eternal inheritance and our portion forever!

Quietness

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 
Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. 
Ecclesiastes 4:6 ESV

I recently took a couple of weeks off from this blog, because I felt God calling me to refocus and unload many activities. Though I am back to posting, I have shed some activities and am trying to be careful not to commit to things without prayer. Today’s poetry is a reflection from my journey, and I hope it may help you on yours. Have a blessed Memorial Day everyone, as we all take a day to quietly reflect on the sacrifices made for the peace we now enjoy. 

Will there never more be silence
When the heaven fills with songs
And the voice of men and angels
Shout all praise to God belongs

When the mountains leap for gladness
And the forests clap their hands
Will there no place of quietness
In God’s almighty plans?

Oh, we may have a calm assurance
That when evening shadows flee
He has promised lambs may come and rest
And with their Shepherd safely be

Quietness by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2024 all rights reserved


Victory in Jesus

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But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

The hymn “Victory in Jesus” was requested near the end of our Friday nursing home service, and though I do love this song, it has been quite a while (maybe years!) since I sang it. I was amazed at how my friends at Life Care Center, just lit up and clapped all the way through. Then I looked up a little of the background of this song and discovered that in 1939 when Eugene Bartlett wrote this song, he had been recently paralyzed by a stroke and was confined to bed. Though he had written many other hymns, this one became his most popular and was later sung around the country by his son, Eugene Jr., as he carried on his dad’s ministry.

At the nursing home, I saw how the words and music really struck a chord of hope in the hearts of the residents. Our friends in long-term care, know better than any of us on the outside what it means to look ahead to our eternal victory in Jesus Christ. Rather than focusing on naming and claiming, we are reminded that, Jesus named and claimed us, by His redeeming blood. The Old Testament tells us, “The life is in the blood.”, and today true life and victory can be found nowhere else but in the blood of Jesus Christ. Through HIs blood He purchased our mansion in glory, where, in the words of the song, “some sweet day we’ll sing up there that song of victory!”