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The Return of Jesus

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.           2 Peter 2:12 ESV

Last year the nativity scene at the entrance to our community was hit by raiders who must have decided that it would be a great joke to make off with the baby Jesus, leaving an empty manger. The rest of the Christmas season Mary, and Joseph remained along with a few sheep and camels but the child did not return even for Christmas Eve.

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When December of this year rolled around I looked forward hopefully to a reunited Holy Family. But my hopes were dashed when I saw the same lonely group appear forlornly kneeling around an empty place on the hay. And then this morning Jesus made His appearance. No doubt this Baby in the Manger is firmly anchored and watched over by security cameras.

Just like last year’s manger robbers, some of our lives have been robbed of a Christmas joy and are facing the holiday alone, tired and maybe even bored with the entire ritual. But we have a hope and a far better one than the replica of baby Jesus in a manger scene.  We have God’s promise that just as wise men traveled thousands of miles with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, Jesus has promised to return with His gifts of forgiveness, peace and eternal life. So whether we live alone in an apartment, lie in a hospital bed or are blessed with a loving family: we have hope. Our King will certainly return and when He does He has promised to fill forever that empty place that waits for Him in our hearts.  Nativity

This Little Salt of Mine

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You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Matthew 5:14 ESV

Being the salt of the earth gets a lot less attention than being the light of the world. After all when was the last time you heard anyone singing, “This little salt of mine!”? When people think about the salt of the earth they vaguely picture plain and ordinary folks. On the other hand, when my mother used to say that sailors were using “salty language”; she meant something quite different. Then what exactly is there about salt that Jesus is urging us to understand?

It may help to remember that salt comes up from mines deep in the earth. Its uniqueness is that it is totally different from the soil around it. In the same way, when we became Christians God dug us up by His grace and brought to the surface for a special purpose. His grace has transformed us and so He asks us to let that grace flow through us to transform our own little part of the world. Every day He gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the difference that grace has made in our lives; not to try to fit in and become like everyone else. When Jesus prayed that we would be in the world, but not of it He was asking that His grace would flavor everything and everyone around us. We are on earth for such a short time, so why don’t we start singing, “This little salt of mine; I’m going to shake it out!”

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Bread Upon Waters

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.  Exodus 2:3-6

Moses’ mother was a woman trapped between two agonizing decisions. If she kept Moses for herself any longer he would be discovered and killed. If she threw him into the Nile River according to the king’s command he would drown. In faith she chose to do all she could as she worked into the night forming a basket for her child.

woman sitting beside girl holding brown wicker basket

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She wove it together covered it with tar, and then placed the tiny basket into the river and prayed.  Continue reading →