singing

The Mocking Bird Still Sings

/ pastorpete51 / 8 Comments

But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord. Psalm 115:18 KJV

A few weeks ago, we paid a man to cut the tree behind our house down to a smaller and more manageable size. Because of the small space between our home and the one behind us it had to be done, but the bare and stumpy looking limbs left behind were not so wonderful to look at. My original dismay was softened considerably yesterday when I went out to sit on our back porch and saw that the mockingbird who often chose to regularly visit our tree had come back. He was not at all disturbed by the changes to our poor tree. He just flew in, perched on one of the stumps and proceeded to sing his usual song!

I do not know what has been going on in your life during the pandemic but in mine it sometimes feels as if things have been ruthlessly chopped away just like what happened with our tree. Maybe my bird friend is teaching us all that God is still God and no matter what things look like we can sing. We can bless the Lord both in good times and in bad because He is worthy of praise. Even if we must perch on the stumpy branches left in our life to sing our melody, remember that God is listening. Just as He was the God of the pruning so He will also be the God of new life and we can praise Him because our tree will one day bud again and then flower and grow forevermore!

More About Jesus

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Through a season of major technical difficulties (My new computer is somewhere in Kentucky getting fixed) I have been struggling through producing new video of our outreach and hymns, but today I was able to upload a fairly rough version of one of our songs from Sunshine Christian Village. What a blessing to have been given the chance to meet indoors for the first time in a year. Please be praying that as we all get vaccinated that the main facility will also open as well as the outreach to two other nursing homes we used to visit. God bless everyone and have a wonderful day as you also seek more about Jesus for your life.

Joy Unspeakable

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Years ago we lived in a small upstairs apartment and the only telephone was on the wall in the kitchen. It may be hard for young people to imagine but then the ringing of the phone meant an important message and everyone in the family ran to answer it. Around midnight when we were all sound asleep, the phone began ringing. Concerned that it must be terribly important my wife shook me by the shoulder, ” Honey! Wake up! You have to get the phone!” she called.

Obediently I stumbled to the kitchen still half asleep without bothering to even flick on the light. By the time I picked up the receiver my mind couldn’t focus any longer and so I just mumbled something incoherent and hung it back on the hook. Then shuffling back across the dark apartment I plopped back in bed.

“So who was it?” Nancy asked.

Who was what?” I answered and fell fast asleep! This last year of the Covid-19 crisis reminds me of that phone call. Everything is dark and is seems like everyone is calling us to action but we are exhausted. Even when we do pick up the phone we no longer have the energy to hear what is being said. But God has great news for all of us fighting this invisible enemy that has sapped our strength. He has an unspeakable joy to give us that is full of glory. In fact the Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength!