Daily devotion

Trees Walking

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

And he looked up, and said. I see men as trees walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up: and he was restored and saw every man clearly. Mark 8:24-25 KJV

This year I have been through two operations to remove pterygiums which had formed on my eyes during a lifetime of outdoor work.  Unlike cataract surgery this procedure requires about a month of somewhat painful recovery. While I knew that I needed those dog-goned pterygiums taken off, I just wished there was an instant and painless solution. Maybe the story of this blind man was written for people just like you and me.

“So why the slow crawl towards a miracle?” – You might ask. Maybe a better question is, “Why does God only let us see men like trees walking?” After all, most of the miracles that Jesus did were spiritual slam dunks. He commanded a storm and – Bam! It obeyed; Water into wine? No problem!! I love it when God’s answer to my prayers comes like Publishers Clearing House showing up at my door with a million dollar check. But when God works on changing my attitudes; now that takes a lot longer. If you are struggling through a painful rehab or are facing God’s “heart attitude surgery” just trust Him. He is working for our good and His loving care plan is to walk with us through every day of our pain until the day we will be able to look up and say, “Oh Lord Jesus – seeing trees walking is a miracle!” Then as we rest in His plan, the the day will also come when we can say, “Thank you Lord, today I can see all men clearly!”

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Wings of the Morning

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

 

Forty five years ago we left the Christian commune where we lived which had slowly degenerated into a cult. Thankfully unlike other groups our leadership majored in booting people out rather than trying to force them to stay.  That morning we hurriedly packed our car with suitcases while squeezing our 6 week old son in between all the stuff in the back seat. A grey cloud of spiritual confusion surrounded me, but then God brought to my mind His promise.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:9-10

That morning I wished that I had real wings so I could fly fast and far from my fears and disappointments. People I had trusted had misled me but on the other hand, I was young and foolish enough to follow them away from what I knew was right. Thank God that His love was greater than all my sins and stupid choices.

Looking back, I now can see that He has kept and led us all through the long years to heal and rebuild our faith. Over and over He has patiently shown what true humility and forgiveness we can find in following Jesus Christ.   People say that you can’t run away from your problems, but the good news is that God can fly faster than our problems! He always has a plan in place for us even when we don’t know what it is. When we fly away with morning wings we will discover that when we land on the other shore He is already there. In our darkest hour He reaches out His hand to lead us and then He takes in His arms and holds us through the night until the new day dawns.

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He Matches Our Pace

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

The funny thing about walking is that we never know what a gift it is until we can’t do it. For the last two days it became too painful for me to walk or even sit for long. I am so thankful to God that my hip decided to quiet down last night.

Today as I resumed my morning walk by the pond it struck me how God walks with us. He chooses to match our pace because we can not keep up with Him.

When we are little children He runs along with us. When we are teenagers he zigs and zags through our growing pains. In adulthood He sticks by our side through every wilderness and storm. Now that I have begun my senior laps I discovered that He slows to match my halting stride. By faith we can walk anywhere with Jesus, who promises to be our walkway to the Father. Thank God for our Savior Jesus Christ who chose to walk the rough hillside path to Calvary. He painfully slowed His pace to match ours so that He could lead us all the way home to Heaven!