Uncategorized

Far More Than We Deserve

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

This parable of the vineyard had always held for me the mystery of sunlight shining through fog. I was sure something wonderful was there but couldn’t quite make out exactly what. I once figured that the owner of the vineyard kept retuning for more workers because he didn’t want to lose his harvest. It reminded me of working a hayfield with six of my friends till 2 am. A thunderstorm was rolling in and hay left in the field might be spoiled so we labored till the first drops of rain started falling. But the story of this man returning over and over to the town square till almost quitting time just seemed odd.

Why did he hire men even when it was almost quitting time and why pay them the same as the others? After all the guys who only worked one hour certainly weren’t producing enough to even cover their wage. But then I remembered that when the owner hired those fellows he asked why they were standing around all day and they told him ,”because no one hired us.” They had stayed because they clung to hope even as the afternoon shadows grew longer.

And isn’t that the wonderful depth of the grace of Jesus? He doesn’t come until even the final hours because he cares about hay ruined in his field or grapes left on the vine. He comes over and over looking for us. The lostness of people who no one else wants, who stand abandoned in the town square stirs God’s heart to action! So with whatever few hours we have in His field let’s work with joy, knowing that from the depths of His grace we will receive far more than we deserve on the day we stand before Him!

One Scrub at a Time

/ pastorpete51 / 15 Comments

So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:4-5 NIV

One of the most humbling parts of our mission trip to India happened in a small village in a farming area. We had come in and given out free dental hygiene kits and shared the gospel with children at a church that consisted of nothing more than a tin roof with rough boards for siding and old carpets laid on the dirt for a floor. At the end of the service a girl of about 13 years old (I think the pastor’s daughter came to the front and with tears of gratitude began to thank us for our visit. Then with the help of her friend these two youngsters insisted on washing our feet. I never felt so unworthy and yet strangely grateful in all my life and their expression of the love of Jesus has left an impact in my heart for a lifetime.

But as moving as that experience was, I have learned over the years that it is easier to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to serve, than to remember those closest to us. In today’s verse you will notice that Jesus did not go looking for someone to serve. He simply took off His outer robe of a Rabbi and put on the towel of a servant and started washing the dirty feet that sat around the table with Him.

So if you are wondering what your calling is or how you can “Change the world”, be encouraged that you don’t have to wait for another day to go overseas on a missions trip. We have an open invitation from God right now to wash the feet that are closest to us. If that seems hard, then imagine how Jesus felt while He was washing the feet of Judas – His betrayer, Peter His Denier and Thomas His doubter. And yet the Son of God put aside all that and showed them His love as one scrub at a time He made dirty feet clean!

Photo by Alicia Zinn on Pexels.com

God Gently Stooped Down – In Verse

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments

I shared a couple of days ago on the topic of God stooping down and it seemed to not only strike a chord with some of my readers, – Thanks guys for responding and commenting. But that phrase “God stooped down” resonated over and over in my heart. I could hear it at night as I lay in bed and in the morning again it rolled over and over in my thoughts as I went about my chores. I hope you will like the little verse I wrote today that shares as best as I am able the echoes in my heart.

Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? Psalm 113:5-6, NIV

On the sixth day in morning the Lord God stooped down
Scooped clay from the earth to make man from the ground
He bent down lower still to breathe life into him
Then smiled to see man’s first day begin

As they walked through the garden God showed him the trees
The elephants, zebras and mountains and seas
But with all that God made Adam still was alone
So God gently bent down to form Eve from his bones

But when they saw fruit that God said not to take
They ignored His command and death was awake
Yet God wasn’t finished - He did not walk away
He just waited and watched till His chosen day

When at Bethlehem’s stable He gently stooped down
And entered our world in the dark of that town
Till on a hill and a cross God stooped lower still
Took the nails and the thorns so we could be healed

Then sadly His friends took Him down from the tree
Placed Him in the tomb where no one could see
Till on the third day God rolled back the stone
And gave us new life as He gently stooped down!

God Gently Stooped Down by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 
all rights reserved