For the Birds

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds. Luke 12:24 ESV

It is interesting that Jesus chose ravens to illustrate God’s love and care for us. Ravens have no song, or beautiful plumage, and are not even useful for food. In fact, though a few complimentary phrases are used about birds, such as “soaring like an eagle, being compared to one our feather friends is rarely a compliment. After all, who wants to be told they have a “Bird brained idea, or are “as Crazy a Loon?” Even less do we wish to be told we are acting like “Silly Geese” or possibly worse, are, “Chicken Hearted.”

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The list seems almost endless, as we recall how we felt when someone said we were, “Sticking our head in the sand, like an ostrich.” Or “Going the way of the Do-Do bird.” Yet, despite all the negative press, God not only cares about the birds, but He also feeds them.

What wonderful comfort and encouragement, when we are floundering around like Turkeys, it is to know that God cares covers us with His feathers and lifts us up on eagle wings, and that the one who watches sparrows, is watching over us!

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At the Foot of the Cross

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
Our part is to listen
His is to speak
For the words that He says
Will be heard by the meek

While His ways seem a mystery and not understood
God works in Heaven through it all for our good
When fears of dark nights seem to stand in our way
He sticks close by our side till the first light of day

And He calls us to follow
In both joy and through loss
For we come nearest to Him
At the foot of His Cross

At the Foot of the Cross
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright ©  2023 
All Rights reserved

 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.  John 19:26-27 ESV

I’d Rather Have Jesus

/ pastorpete51 / 13 Comments

The song, “I’d Rather Have Jesus”, is one of my favorites to sing, but I especially love the story behind how it came to be. Originally Rhea Miller wrote the words as a poem, being inspired by what her father had said in church, just after his receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. The first verse was the testimony of his surrender to Christ.

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold
I'd rather be his than have riches untold
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands
I'd rather be led by His nail pierced hand

Rhea Miller’s little poem became loved by Mrs. Maude Whitney Shea, the mother of “George Beverly Shea. In 1932 at the age of 23, George had been struggling with the decision of whether to use his talents in the secular music world or to continue singing for churches. One afternoon as he sat down to practice, he found the words to Rhea Miller’s poem, left on the front of his piano.

I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause
I'd rather be true to His dear cause
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame
I'd rather be true to His holy name.

As George read over those lines, God began giving him both a melody, as well as the certainty in his heart of what path he would choose. That night, George sang his new composition for the first time to the congregation of his father’s church. Amazingly, once George had committed to the purpose God had for him, doors began to open for him to sing in many churches, eventually becoming the soloist first for evangelistic crusades with Jack Wyrtzen and later with Billy Graham. The world-wide fame, George had let go of when he chose to follow Jesus, was given to him as he sang for God and he eventually released more than 70 albums, with his final recording made as he approached his ninetieth year! George Beverly Shea could truly say at the end:

I rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today!


“I’d Rather Have Jesus”
Lyrics 1922 by Rhea Miller
Music 1932 by George Beverly Shea