Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

And I said, ‘what shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’ Acts 22:10 ESV

In the 1960’s, one of my favorite songs was the Simon and Garfunkel tune, “Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Their song eerily reminds me of when in 1983 a one-hundred-foot section of a highway bridge over the Mianus River in Connecticut, collapsed at midnight. The first car that come upon it was able to stop in time and the driver jumped out and frantically tried to wave down the other vehicles. Tragically in the dark and confusion of the moment 2 cars and 2 trucks ignored the driver’s warnings and tumbled off into the river. An interstate highway is a road on which we normally feel sure that all is safe, but that night it was deadly.

In all of our lives there are times when we take some roads that we think are right, but in reality, we are driving off a spiritual bridge in the night. Just like Paul we think we know what to do but are radically missing what God has planned for us. Thankfully there are times when God’s grace comes and knocks us to the ground, but we need to pay attention. He has put that roadblock across our path because He sees ahead that the road we are on leads to destruction. God stops us in our tracks, because we have been speeding down life’s highway in the wrong direction. We must remind ourselves that God can never teach us anything, as long as we are sure that we already know all the answers. But when we cry out in astonishment with Paul, “What shall I do?” God is delighted to come and show us what He has had in mind and through Jesus Christ He really does become our “Bridge Over Troubled Water”!

For the younger folks among my readers who have no idea of who Simon and Garfunkel were, I have posted a link to their song.

Photo by David Peinado on Pexels.com

Sowing Seed

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 
 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 2 Corinthians 9:10 ESV

When our cupboards all were empty 
And my heart’s shelves were looking bare 
I heard a voice speaking behind me 
“Take your seed and plant it there 

There in the desert place is flowing 
A Living Stream so fresh and free 
And in those parched forgotten places 
God may choose to grow a tree 

For though the ground is dry and hardened 
The soil is rich and deep and fair 
And if you plant the seed you’re given 
You will reap the harvest there! 


Sowing Seed 
By Peter Caligiuri 
Copyright © 2023  all rights reserved


Photo by Ofir Eliav on Pexels.com

My Father’s World

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments 
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
 and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
 and among the inhabitants of the earth;
 and none can stay his hand
 or say to him, “What have you done?” Daniel 4:35 ESV

If we turn were to on television this morning, we might wonder if this really is God’s world. Daily we hear reports of terrible things being done in our own country, and wars and atrocities in abundance abroad. When Maltie Babcock wrote “This is My Father’s World”, in 1901, his own little part of the world really was at peace and his lyrics are simply a hymn of praise for the beauty he saw on his long walks in the countryside. But by the time music had been set to his words, in a Presbyterian Hymnal in 1915, Europe was at war. and then a German submarine sank the ocean liner, The Lusitania. Twelve hundred innocent passengers drowned, and America entered a war in which millions were killed, including more than 116,000 American soldiers. Where was God in the middle of all the mess? He was right where He had been all along, calling out to us from the cross of Jesus Christ, to come and yield our hearts to Him! He is not an elected official. His term never expires, He cannot be impeached or overthrown. And in the words of this precious hymn, “Though the wrong seems oft so strong; God is the ruler yet!” I hope you will find hope and comfort in the words of this hymn and that you will be encouraged to trust Him through whatever battle you are personally facing today.

This is My Father’s World


This is my Father’s world
and to my list’ning ears
All nature sings and round me rings
the music of the spheres
This is my Father’s world
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas
His hand these wonders wrought

This is my Father’s world
The birds their carols raise
The morning light, the lily white
declare their Maker’s praise
This is my Father’s world
He shines in all that’s fair
In the rustling grass I hear him pass
He speaks to me everywhere

This is my Father’s world
Oh, let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world
The battle is not done
Jesus who died shall be glorified
And earth and heav’n be one

Maltbie Babcock 1901