I have not been to Israel
Or seen its Holy sites
Nor to the Sea of Galilee
Where Christ taught wrong from right
But His voice that calmed the storm
Has spoken in my mind
And those hands that healed the sick
Have gently taken mine
Then He called me to Himself
And He Said this is the Way
Sins forgiven
Hope renewed
He walks with me today!
The Places Where I’ve Been by Peter Caligiuri © 2020 All rights reserved
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24 ESV
Over the first few weeks of our lockdown my wife and I spent several days putting together a 500 piece puzzle. It was one of the hardest we had ever done because of the weird shapes of the pieces. Finally after 6 days it seemed as if we we were about to complete it when we sadly realized that it was missing 2 pieces! Looking back I can laugh but it reminds me that my life also has some missing pieces – like the answers to questions “Am I doing what God wants me to do?” and “What am I doing about that today?”
For each of us the answers are as different as the parts of our puzzle. Paul’s great way of answering that question for himself was rooted in his both faith and his determination to accomplish what God had called for him to do. Paul chose to leave behind his privileged life and no matter the cost take the journey God had chosen for him. The key to Paul’s clear thinking was that no one’s opinion mattered except the Lord’s. Now of course very few of us are called to leadership like Paul was, but all of us are shaped by God for our own moment in history. Our most important conversation today must be with Him. The good news for all of us is that He has promised to show us the way and how to fit the final pieces into our own life’s puzzle!
Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
James 1:2 ESV
We had gotten used to Disney being closed and resigned to the fact that even beaches were shut down. That was soon followed by restaurants, my barber shop and finally even our church. But the reality of this verse didn’t kick in for me till yesterday when I discovered that there were no cases of any kind of water at Publix and the clerk didn’t know when it would come in.
Like the surprise of a sunrise streaking across the horizon I suddenly realized that nothing was in my control. It has become popular to say that we are all in this together. But our togetherness is kind of like being in the same waiting room each awaiting our individual surgery. One by one God is operating on our hearts through new and different trials. The good news is that He is not only a Good Shepherd -He is also a great surgeon! We can count the procedure we are facing as joy because we know that in the recovery room He will tell us that the operation was a success!
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