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Hope Going Viral

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

I do hope that this Corona virus does not become a crisis here in the U.S. but no matter what happens we are all in this together. Maybe growing older has given me perspective so I have some hope and advice to share that these gray hairs have taught me. It’s time to stop panicking and start praying even for leaders we don’t like. We may not like our brothers and sisters but we’re still a family.

It’s time to stop complaining and start caring. Pointing fingers while our boat is taking on water is a lot less effective than bailing out some water. It’s time to remember that people matter a lot more than things. I don’t even want to know how much of our life savings have disappeared in the last 3 days of mayhem on Wall Street but we’ve been through worse and God has been faithful.

After all we’ve been through my wife and I still have each other. We still have our family and the freedom to worship on Sundays and be reminded there that this too will pass. Jesus resurrection from the dead has given us a hope more contagious than any virus. We can always trust God because No matter what lies ahead we are blessed and no matter the disease – Jesus is always still the cure!

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Listening Ears

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O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me            hear it.  Song of Solomon 8:13

Ears

Only ears can hear

That’s just the way God made us

If ears could see or hear

They’d certainly betray us

But when God fashioned ears

Those humble awkward things

That flop about and wiggle

On little inner springs

He made a way to tell us

How much we’d been forgiven

And then He set and tuned them

To hear His words from heaven

Oh – only ears can hear

That’s just the way God made them

Humble listening gifts

That lead us to obey Him

 

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I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it’s not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.  Mother Teresa

“Hearing is an ability but listening is a choice!”  P C Caligiuri

A Quiet Listening Heart

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And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful Colossians 3:15

Even with cell phones, computers and dozens of social agencies one of the greatest problems we face today is loneliness. It still feels as if no one is listening. God’s word points us to His solution: the peace of Jesus Christ. The first peace we need is peace with God. When we come to Jesus Christ He releases us from trying to be good enough because in Him we discover that no matter what; He loves us. He came into the world to sit with sinners and His cry of forgiveness from the cross quiets our hearts. Secondly the Bible points out that we are called into one body with everyone else who belongs to Him. God designed us with a longing to belong; and that longing is met in connection with His people. He shows us that our own loneliness does not give us an excuse to isolate ourselves but instead we should take the initiative to listen to someone else’s hurts.  Listening brings us all together. Along our journey towards peace we finally also discover peace with ourselves. After spending our lives struggling trying to be special we find peace only when we discover that everyone (including us) is special to God. In the moment that we find out that God has been listening to us all along His peace begins to perfectly reign. Once His wonderful peace  in we will begin to hear. There in a quiet heart we will be able to truly listen and to hear the hearts of others and of God.

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