Sunrise

Back to Normal?

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5 ESV

Often our Christmas celebrations end on Christmas Eve. We’ve remembered the stable, the star, the wise men shepherds and Mary. But don’t forget that the next day the shepherds went back to their sheep, the angels to Heaven and Joseph probably got a room at the inn. In other words life pretty much got back to normal – or did it?

The Bible tells us that in Him was life and the life was the light of men. When did that tiny baby begin to shine God’s light? Could it have happened as Mary comforted his cries when they fled from Herod’s soldiers? Could it have begun in Egypt where they lived for years as immigrants and fugitives? The Bible isn’t specific about the details, but tells us that all through those supernatural days and every other day, God’s light was still shining in Jesus.

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So on Christmas morning, whether you are watching your children open gifts or if you are alone with a cup of coffee remember His light is still shining for you. He didn’t come just for days when the wise men opened gifts, the angels sang and shepherds wondered. Jesus came for every dark day. Jesus was born to walk through every war-zone, sit at every kitchen table and ride along in the ambulance to every emergency room. He doesn’t leave us when we fail, get in trouble, or fall ill. He stays through good times and bad. He is not only the light of the world: He is the light of our world and no darkness can ever put it out!

 

Morning in Heaven

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

God really knows and cares about every detail of our day and every tear of our night. It might be midnight in your soul even when the sun is breaking out on the horizon. But our living hope is in Jesus Christ Himself. He is the light that cuts a path through our darkness and shines all the way to dawn at Heaven’s door!

Changing Seas

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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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