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!


Put Your Hand in the Hand

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Matthew 14:31 ESV

With the assassination of Charlie Kirk on Wednesday and then Thursday being our remembrance of the attack on the twin towers, the emotional impact on our hearts and minds this week was enormous. Our national state of mourning, shock and for some, even despair, reminded me a little of the situation Peter faced as he began to sink beneath the waves. A moment earlier, Peter had felt triumphant. There he was walking on the water towards Jesus! But then, one second later as he turned towards the dark raging sea and felt the power of the wind ripping at his robe, he faltered. Suddenly, this brave courageous fisherman, went from being the strongest, boldest and most confident disciple, to being the guy struggling for his life – but then Jesus reached out His hand! Aren’t you glad for Jesus. He is never afraid of the storm. Jesus is not worried a bit about the wind, and best of all, He isn’t going to let us drown. He reaches out His hand. Let’s be sure to take ahold of His, because He has a long way for us to still go, lessons to teach us and other people for us to serve. I do hope you will enjoy this simple rendering of the song, which our residents at Life Care heartily enjoyed singing along with me on Friday, and Put Your Hand in the Hand of Jesus!

The Only Way to God’s House

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He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 ESV

With yesterday being both the remembrance of September 11th, along with the shock of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it feels as if we are in crisis mode. In this mind-set, the “Fight or Flight” reaction seems to set in with most of us. Should we be drawing inward for safety and reflection or demanding justice and fighting?” I have found today’s verse both short and to the point. The people of Israel were also in a crisis. Their nation, which had begun as God’s Promised Land was now politically divided between Judah in the South and the kingdom of Israel in the North. Rather than getting along, they had just finished fighting a long and bloody war with each other, while the empire of Assyria was on the doorstep of them both. On top of all the military and political problems the people faced, many of them had turned away from God and were worshipping the idols of the nations around them. Then add to that mix, the intrigue and corruption within the palace and you begin to get a picture of a life that was not all that different from today. Stepping up to the microphone in the middle of this turmoil, the prophet Micah didn’t mince words. He called the people to repentance and to turn back to their God, who had brought them out of slavery, given them a beautiful land and blessed, rescued and helped them over and over. His message wasn’t complicated. God was calling them to more than just returning to certain religious practices and showing up at the temple during the holidays. What God asked was a return to living out “what is good,” in their personal relationships, families and homes. He summed up his message in three words: Justice, Mercy and Humility.

Now, justice, mercy and humility may not be at the top of the bucket list items for our culture, but they are for God, and He gives them to us, not as three separate goals but as a package deal. He knows that often our demands for justice ring out, without an equal call for mercy. But justice without mercy gives us neither, and mercy without justice is an invitation for selfishness to rule the day. But when both justice and mercy follow us all the days of our lives, then God walks with us through the valley of the shadow, sets a table before us in the wilderness and leads us to His own home, where He promises we may live with Him forever!