faith

Two Tires on the Stairs

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

The angel of the Lord encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them. Psalm 37:4 ESV

You need to know that I have never seen an angel, but I believe in them. Yet the entire concept of angels seems pretty strange to me. Why would an all powerful God who can command light into existence and who holds every atom in the universe together by the power of His word, want to use angels to do stuff? And yet, the Bible tells us that, God chooses to employ angels to take care of us.

Photo by Anastasia Zhenina on Pexels.com

When our kids were still in diapers and credit cards were only issued to folks who didn’t need them we struggled financially. Though we had enough to pay for our groceries, rent and the electric bill, by the end of the month, there was nothing left over. Each morning as I got the car, glanced at the front tires, which were daily growing balder, I breathed another prayer and put the key in the ignition. Every afternoon when I pulled back up into our parking spot, I racked my brain trying to figure how we could squeeze a few dollars together, then put it out of my mind, picked up my lunch box and trudged back up the stairs to our apartment.

Though we didn’t have much mullah, we did have plenty of friends. One of those was a confirmed bachelor named Bob and my wife insisted that we invite him over for dinner at least once a week. She worried that otherwise he would never eat a decent meal. Bob became like an uncle to our boys and they loved nothing better than running full speed and jumping onto his lap unexpectedly, then laughing hysterically as he let out a loud groan. Regularly, Bob would remind me about those tires, and regularly I would tell him that we would get to it next month. But whether it was an unexpected doctor’s visit or a new pair of shoes for our growing boys, it seemed “next month” never came.

All the time I worried about those bald tires I never once thought about praying for new ones. Not that I doubted God, but it simply never occurred to me to trouble the almighty with mundane issues like tread wear. He probably had important stuff to do like taking care of orphans in Africa or rescuing beggars in India. But one day I discovered that God isn’t too busy to notice even the tiniest problem we face while He is taking care of folks with bigger issues. He sends angels to camp out around us, to help in every struggle we face.

It was a Sunday morning and just as always we scrubbed up the boys and squeezed them into their church clothes then headed off for the 11 AM service. I put my worry about the tires into the back of my mind convinced I could only pray about life threatening issues. Yes I know I should have prayed but I am glad that our Father in Heaven doesn’t always do things according to formula. I have no idea what our pastor preached that morning, but engraved forever in my mind was the miracle of two brand new tires sitting at the top of our stairs on our return. Yes our angel that day actually was named Bob, but I’m pretty sure that he was enlisted into the service of the ones with wings. What was best of all was the astonishingly wonderful discovery that God knew and cared and sent angels to take care of every detail like stubbing our toe or getting a flat. God wanted me to know that whether He was washing my dirty feet, leaving tires on our stairs or dying on the cross for my sins, that He loves us all completely, in every detail and forever!

Two Tires On the Stairs by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 Use by permission only, all rights reserved.

When God Seems Silent

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”  But He answered her not a word …    Matthew 15:22-23a ESV

Did it ever feel as if God wasn’t paying any attention to you? That is undoubtedly exactly the feeling that the woman in today’s verse experienced. She cried. She begged. She fell to Jesus’ feet. But nothing she could do or say seemed to touch the Lord. Her story reminded me of the Bangladeshi people who come to work the gravel of the dry river banks in North India. They are rejected by most of the local people and forced to take the lowest and most menial jobs. Yet at the end of the story we find that not only did Jesus care but that He did answer her cry and in fact He had made this – His longest trip of His lifetime just for her . 

But when it feels like Jesus is not listening and other believers tell us that it is no use, we have a decision to make. Will we continue to pray or will we give up? For all of us there comes that single moment when we have to decide what to do God’s silence. This woman who appeared to have no background, no friends and no hope leaves us with a testimony of hope, not only that God is listening but that He cares enough to hear and answer prayer! Think of it as if Jesus made His trip to earth, just for you, and keep on trusting till an answer comes!

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Matthew 15:28

Let’s Change the World!

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3

It is popular to say that, “We want to change the world.” and considering all the changes brought on by the Corona virus, the elections and the ongoing divisions in our society,  we have certainly seen a lot of change. “But we are talking about positive change!” you might respond, so then I would ask, “How would you suggest we change the world for the better? Would you propose building a large social media platform, or inventing a new product or service? Should we run for political office or join others in the street to protest for change?” Amazingly the one person who has changed the world the most did none of these things. Jesus Christ never held a position, owned a home or traveled the world.   He talked about the kingdom of God, healed the sick and encouraged the rejected people of his day. But when His popularity grew till large crowds began following Him, He sent them away to go up on a mountain and pray.  

If we carefully read the New Testament accounts of His life we find that; yes Jesus was interested in changing our world, but He had a tactic far different than ours. Instead of finding the best arenas to fill, He went to obscure places filled with people in need, and when He got there, Jesus usually chose one single person to talk to. The woman at the well and another about to be stoned each left His presence, changed forever. A young man about to be buried was raised from the dead (Now that’s a change!) and a leper on the outskirts of a village was cleansed and healed. But perhaps the most notable – since the Bible devotes an entire chapter to him- is the blind man in today’s verse who was sitting at the corner of a busy city street. Maybe the Bible does not reveal his identity because God wants us to know that any one of us can be like him.

We don’t need to be important, well financed or talented for God to take an interest in us. It doesn’t matter to Jesus what other people’s opinions about us are. God wants us to know that He hasn’t forgotten about us. He reassures our hearts that our problems are not too hard for Him to solve and that if we just put our trust in Him, that He will change our world forever. Then through our lives, no matter what anyone else thinks, God will be glorified. Now tell me, “What change is any better than that?”!