Flowers

It’s Almost Spring!

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

The flowers appear on the earth, the of singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle(dove) is heard in our land. Song of Solomon 2:12

While our year begins in Winter, with the month of January, you might be very surprised to learn that God’s calendar begins with a month called Abib in the Spring and coincided with the barley harvest. Spring was also when the Jewish people celebrated the Passover, their deliverance from Egypt and their beginning as a nation.

But did you know that Abib was also the month when Jesus died?  Just as the Israelites passed through the Red Sea to their freedom, so the death of Jesus on the cross means freedom from the power of sin over us as believers and the beginning of a new life.

So with Easter just two short weeks away, let’s pause and remember that our celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead also means the celebration of the beginning of a new life. As we tear off the final page of our calendar every December 31st and put a new calendar on the wall, why not tear off a page this Spring and put a fresh calendar of God’s promises on the wall of your heart. You may just be amazed to watch as He parts the Red Sea and leads you into the freedom of a wonderful new life in Jesus Christ!

Alone With Jesus

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.            Mark 9:2 NIV

One of my favorite hymns begins with the words, “I come to the garden alone.” Those ring in my memory as I take my morning walks or as I sit in my chair with the Bible and a cup of coffee. Often when we read this verse, we think of going up a high mountain, as if to get a better view on life, or about the sight of the clothing of Jesus beginning to shine. But what really gives either one of these facts a deeper meaning is that Jesus first asked for Peter, James and John to be alone with Him.

That makes me wonder when the last time was that my heart was quiet enough to hear the voice of Jesus calling me in the garden or any where else. God does not always lead us up high mountains. There are just as many times when His path leads through the valley of the shadow of death and the garden of Gethsemane to pray. We must be careful to listen.

What matters is not just being alone – but being alone with Jesus. Even if you began today running so fast you failed to hear His voice, He still gives us an invitation to come alone with Him. Whether sitting in a garden, climbing a mountain or carrying a cross, if we will walk with Him and talk with Him, He will share a joy none that other has known. Listen! He wants to be alone with you!

Lilies of the Field

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Matthew 6:28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.

If you are like me maybe you been doing more some worrying off and on during this pandemic. We wonder if our family members will get sick or what is going to happen to our nation. We worry about going to the grocery store and wonder when we can go to church again.

The people listening to Jesus were not so much different than us. They had plenty of their own troubles – like corrupt government officials extorting them for money – the threat of getting leprosy that could put you in social isolation for life and a strict religious system that might get you kicked out of the synagogue for even listening to Jesus. So Jesus didn’t just say; “Don’t worry; Be happy!” Instead He talked about lilies. These weren’t the lilies we associate with Easter or the garden lilies we are familiar with but were flowers that grew wild in the fields of Galilee.

That kind of blossom reminds me of the wild flowers in the farm fields. Generally they were unnoticed while the hay was tall since they grew in the shade of the taller grass. But once the fields were mown and the hay made into bales their tiny yellow, purple and red blossoms put on quite a show. My job being to stack the bales I got the delight of a great view of them from my perch high atop the hay wagon as we road we back to the barn.

Since Jesus said to consider flowers as a stress reliever I thought that today it might be fun to just share some flower photos from my morning walks. Have a blessed and unworried day safe on the top of God’s hay wagon as he steers us slowly back to His barn!