Joy

A Cheerful Heart

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments 
A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. Proverbs 17:22 NKJV

In the last two and a half weeks, we have been through two hurricanes, an evacuation, a flood and are hosting a lady and her dog who lost their home. (Did I mention no garbage pick-up or mail!) With so much craziness it is easy to lose sight of the blessings that God has showered us with during this time. So, I thought now would be a great time to list a few of the blessings we have to be thankful for.

!) Banjo our foster dog and my new walking buddy –

2) A beautiful swan along with his buddies the ducks who greeted us at our evacuation home.

3) The lemon tree dropped enough lemons to make lemonade!

4) In the middle of all the disasters around us we never lost power!

5) I found a place to buy coffee this morning!

6) Friends, family members and neighbors we haven’t heard from in a while called to check in on us.

7) God has been with us every step of the way, kept us in health and taught us to count our blessings through everything ahead!

A Little Old Time Religion

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Philippians 4:4 KJV

If you are considering getting involved in Nursing Home ministry, but are afraid it will be dull and boring, then think again. Just because folks have a pretty good variety of aches and pains doesn’t mean they can’t rejoice. Remember where Paul was sitting when he wrote these words, and it wasn’t from a fancy air conditioned worship center. Nope! He was chained to a guard as a political prisoner in a Roman jail. I’m pretty sure his daily life and prospects for the future on the surface looked grim. But Paul had an eternal connection to  a God in whose presence is fullness of joy. I am so glad that he left behind a testimony of how no matter our situation, that in the presence of Jesus is where joy and  the real old-time religion can be found!

Rejoice!

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment 
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11 ESV

The greatest divisions in the church do not usually come from disagreements over doctrine, forms of worship or liturgy. No! The biggest problem most of us face is learning how to get along with the person sitting right next to us in the pew! Though we often think of the early church as being a perfect model of Christian love and fellowship, the Corinthian church in the Apostle Paul’s day was more like us than you might imagine. Their issues included some of the members suing each other, sexual scandals and angrily arguing over who was the best apostle. I wonder if on some days, the Apostle Paul felt like pulling out his hair when he got news of the latest struggle. Maybe the line spoken by Professor Digory in the book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis, would have been something Paul would have loved to shout:

“You’re a family!! You might just start acting like one.”

So as Paul closes his letter to these Christians, he lays out a list of practical guidelines for living as God’s family. Today we will just look at the first:

Rejoice – Not just rejoice, as if we won the lottery, got a promotion, or received an unexpected income tax refund. This is a rejoicing together. Think of the joy of planning a surprise birthday party for a friend together. We orchestrate events so that our friend walks into a dark room without the slightest idea of what is going on, then someone flicks on the light, and everyone shouts, “Surprise!” If we can’t think of the last time that we shared that kind of joy in church, then we are missing out on God’s best for us. Now, to pull off a lifestyle of rejoicing, it will take a group effort, but just as the children in the Narnia stories learned to be a family through their struggles, and adventures, we can also learn to be the kinds of brothers and sisters that Jesus intended. Remember, how after he washed His disciples’ feet, Jesus told them that they would have joy if they learned to do the same. Do you know anybody with dirty feet today? It might not seem like it, but finding a way to wash them is the first step to a joyful life together!