At His Word

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” -  And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. Luke 5:5; 11 ESV

Like the farmer who has just finished his spring planting only to have his field washed out by a rainstorm, Peter was discouraged after spending the entire night casting his nets and laboriously pulling them in again and then returning home exhausted and empty handed. All of us are sometimes forced to face our inabilities and failures that have happened in spite of our best efforts. Maybe we were fired from our job because we failed to make a quota, our marriage is struggling, and it seems we don’t have even one friend. Whatever we are facing, is how Peter felt that morning when he met Jesus. But Jesus hadn’t come to call Peter because he was the best fisherman, and He doesn’t only call the best fathers, mothers, or pastors for His kingdom work. Jesus often picks people for His team who have worked all night with nothing to show for their efforts. And Jesus hasn’t showed up just to demand that we try harder, He only asks that we believe and obey His word. Peter didn’t understand why Jesus said to launch out, and he even pointed out that it seemed foolish to throw out his nets again, but he chose to obey anyway. Then, when he cast that heavy net out just one more time, it became so full that it took all the efforts of Peter, and his friends to pull it in. But this story is about more than just blessings. The real blessing and call of Jesus, both then, and now, is to leave everything by faith and come follow Jesus wherever He asks us to go!

I Don’t Multi-Task (too well!)

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Now I could have titled today’s post “OOOOPS!”, but that might have raised a few eyebrows. Suffice it to say that yesterday’s title was meant for today and I have no great excuse, except I started out to post today’s poem yesterday and thought better of it I edited carefully, reviewing all the grammar and spacing, but forgot the headlines! Yikes! Anyway, thank you for my friends and here is the actual, “He Wrote in the Dust” I hope these simple verses may be a blessing in some small way in your life, and let’s take it as Jesus told us, just one day at a time! 

He Wrote in the Dust

This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. John 8:6 KJV

They brought her to Jesus, this woman of sin
But the Teacher bent low and without a sound
Knowing they hoped for a way to trap Him
He wrote with His finger in the dust on the ground  

Using hands that had made on creation’s sixth day
A man in His image before sin without death  
Breathing His life in a vessel of clay
As creation stood wondering man took His first breath

Then as they continued their self-righteous cries
Jesus stood up and spoke boldly to them
“Let him cast the stone who is without sin 
Then he bent and he wrote in the dirt once again

As the woman stood trembling never hoping for grace 
She braced for the pain while covering her face
Instead, she heard footsteps walking away
Then alone with the Savior she heard a voice say

“Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned?”
“Jesus quietly asked as He stood up again
“And neither do I,” Jesus told her and then
"Turn away from your sins, let a new life begin."


“He Wrote in the Dust”
By Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2025 all rights reserved

He Wrote in the Dust

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Lately I’ve been wishing we had a quiet cottage in the woods, or a cabin by the lake. I wanted to get away, clear my heart and mind and have my own personal religious retreat. But then I recalled, there aren’t any quiet woods nearby and we can’t afford a cabin on a lake. (They have too many mosquitos and alligators around here in Florida anyway!) Then I pulled out my Strong’s Concordance and began looking up the word refuge, and the first verse I came across was, “The Eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27 a

The thought of those everlasting…never tiring… never failing arms, gave me hope because God was already with me and with our family. In the middle of our busyness and bills, right in the center of the confusion, the demands, the doctor’s appointments and silly arguments. He is our religious retreat, and underneath us all are His eternal arms.

Next, I came to Psalm 46:1 and found that God is our refuge and strength, not in quiet times, not in successful moments, but when we are in trouble, facing questions, and feeling as if we can’t go on. God isn’t surprised by our struggles, nor shocked by the events that swirl around us. Though evil is in our world, its destructiveness is never our Lord’s will, but God uses even the terrible things that happen to work His plan. He opens for us a doorway into His refuge, so that when the enemy comes in like a flood, that we can find that God Himself is our refuge: safer than any cabin in the woods and more wonderful than any lake house ever was. He is our friend sticking closer than a brother and a Father who holds us in HIs arms in times of trouble!