guidance

Are your bags packed?

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18‭-‬19 NKJV

Because we are in the middle of moving our lives are more than a little topsy-turvy. Deciding whether to rent or sell our current home and choosing what to keep and or leave behind is really stressful. As Rex Harrison once sang, “I’ve grown accustomed to her face.. ” we have grown comfortable in the familiar sights and sounds of our home. But nothing really stays the same in life. All things at all times are in flux – except God. He alone is unchanging and if we will follow Him we must always be ready to pack our bags and go where He is calling. He delights in doing new things. He saw darkness and decided to create the light. He saw Adam alone then created Eve. The God who designed planets and filled the oceans is at work in you and I at this very moment. He says through the prophet Isaiah to get ready for change. Stop thinking long melancholy thoughts about the “good old days” and get ready to move forward. No matter how good those days were God is at work on something better. We can either mope in the back seat of the station wagon looking behind as we drive off or we can eagerly examine the road map for our journey ahead. Our destination is God’s choice but our attitude is ours. We need to be sure to pack our bags with everything that He has done in our hearts, then leave behind the keys with Jesus to close and lock the doors!

Walking in Light

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Are you puzzling through making hard decisions today. Does it seem like everyone else knows what to do except you? Slow down and relax. Jesus told us that everything in life boils down to just two things…loving God and loving our neighbor. I have discovered that when I put aside all my trying to figure everything out and simply choose to love, that God takes control. He stills storms, multiplies bread and forgives sin, then guides me right down the road He has chosen all alonf!

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Changing Seas

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you the night is bright as the day,.  for darkness is as light with you. Psalm 139:9-10

Maybe to you seagulls at the beach are just a nuisance and a pest. Sometimes they pass over our heads dropping little bombs of blessing or they swoop down to snatch a piece of sandwich from our hands. We usually meet them at the beach because that is where their world and our’s intersect. But their home is the constantly changing sea while ours is the land. Unlike us who pack our things and run for safety when storms approach, wind and tide do not bother them. They fly out to sea and ride out the storms calling whatever sea-shore to where they are blown their new home.

Right now whether we are approaching the dawn of a new day or the sunset of an old God offers us the same assurance He gives the gulls. When the terror of the unknown lurks like an enemy in our imaginations we need to remember, that our problems are no greater than Joseph’s when he fled for Egypt just ahead of Herod’s blood thirsty soldiers. Joseph’s faith like ours was not a guarantee of a placid life, but of God’s help in any danger. When all sorts of changes come knocking at our door today we can run for shelter or we can spread our wings like the seagulls. When we choose to trust God like them we will discover that even at the point farthest from our familiar His hand will lead us. Even when our changing seas threaten, His promise and His right hand will hold us and keep us even at the uttermost parts of the sea!

 

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