Daily devotion

My Easter Miracle

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

It seems that this year in particular I have a new group of readers so it may be that my testimony is new to you. I have also trimmed it back considerably trying to keep to my own rule of less is better. So here goes the 2021 re-telling of my Easter Miracle. I am forever grateful to God that He could have worked out such a crazy plan at the cost of His only Son’s life so that I could be His child.

 I realise that I was the worst of them all, and that because of this very fact God was particularly merciful to me. It was a kind of demonstration of the extent of Christ’s patience towards the worst of men, to serve as an example to all who in the future should trust him for eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:16 Phillips

In 1971 I was just another 19 year old hippie trying to figure life out. One night I found myself along a lonely stretch of desert highway between L.A. and Phoenix. All that day I had hitch-hiked with my last ride dropping me off at a rest area.  As night began to fall I reasoned that the top of one of the picnic tables was the safest refuge from snakes and scorpions. So I rolled out my sleeping bag and struggled into it trying not to fall off the edge of the table. There I lay looking up into a vast sky filled with stars wondering where I belonged and fell asleep.

How in the world I ended up 3,000 miles from home was a tangle of events beginning with parents who seemed more confused about life than I was. So I moved out on my own at age seventeen about began a wandering that brought me that Easter morning to a highway rest stop where I met a family who invited me to church. It took a miracle to break through my fears and excuses and regrets; but it was Easter morning and on Easter miracles happen. So with the added bonus of a promised free meal I eagerly agreed to go with them.

Their church was different than anything I expected. There were many young people there my own age who were singing with smiles that showed me they knew something about Easter I had missed. More importantly that day, I felt for the first time that God might be real and actually care about me. It felt to me as if I had been running all my life and I couldn’t run any more. It took an amazing chain of miracles to bring me to God. But it was Easter and on Easter miracles happen!

Till Journey’s End

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Our part is to wait by faith

His is to restore

To us is given to believe

In Christ the risen Lord

Our part is to hope each day

And His the Spirit send

Our part is to run the race

His to keep

Till journey’s end!

Acts 1:4 KJV …but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Till Journey’s End by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 All rights reserved. Use by permission only

The Donkey Waited

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Today I am reprising a post from last year’s Easter season that I thought might be perfect for this year. After all through this long-long Covid season we have been forced to learn to wait. I don’t know about you but waiting is not high on my list of things I am dying to do. Have you ever seen a seminar on waiting? So to not make you wait any longer let’s re-visit our friend the donkey!

Photo by chris carroll on Pexels.com

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.  Matthew 21:1-2 NKJV

Some days I feel a lot the donkey in this story. Everyone else had something important to do but the donkey. I hate to wait because it makes me feel helpless. But just like the donkey, waiting gives God time to accomplish His plans on His schedule.

First, the donkey waited quietly. Imagine what might have happened if the disciples came and found the donkey and its colt wildly tugging at the ropes tying them. Just as the disciples were looking for gentle beasts that would be useful for their master, so God is looking for hearts quietly waiting for His call.

Second, the donkeys had to be ready to go. I wonder if the donkey had bucked and kicked as it was untied if it would have been brought to Jesus. But, isn’t that the way we sometimes react when we are called to do something new?

Last of all, because the donkey and her foal waited, they were brought to Jesus. Like those donkeys,, we are also not forgotten. Instead, we are like a restaurant table that has been reserved for the master’s use. When Jesus comes, we must be ready and waiting. We must be willing for Him to show us where to go because we will only get where Jesus is going, when we are ready to wait until He calls.