bible

Amazing Grace

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32 ESV

Singing the song Amazing Grace should be more than just a celebration of what we have received from God. Instead, it can be an opportunity to express the unlocking of God’s grace in our hearts in a way that makes it known to others: especially those who are hardest to love. It is easy to be gracious for those we like and who have blessed our lives. But it is even easier to make excuses for complaining about folks who have treated us badly. We forget that Jesus forgave us and loved us while He was nailed to the cross and we didn’t even know Him or care about Him at all. But grace means that when we are hurt by others God wants us to allow Him to pour HIs Calvary love out through us to them. Then, through the radical forgiveness of Jesus we can together experience and give God all the praise for His wonderful and truly amazing grace! I hope you might enjoy listening to us singing this wonderful hymn at Discovery Villages this past Sunday.

Begin to Write Our Name

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
The Bible says the devil comes
And shouts things just aren’t fair
Because believers are being blessed
And kept under God’s care 

He shouts He knows about our sins
And demands to take control
Because our failures and our faults
Have sold to Him our soul

But while he tells all that we’ve done
Thinking that He might win
The Son of God lifts up His hands
And shows the scars to Him

Reminding Him that from the Cross
He cried Father forgive
They do know not what they have done
I’ll die so they might live

Then in defeat the evil one
Slinks from the scene in shame
As he sees the Savior in God’s book 
Begin to write our name!

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. Luke 23:34 ESV

Begin to Write our Name
By Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2025
All rights reserved
Photo by Heiner on Pexels.com

Third Shift Shepherds – A Christmas Message

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 
Luke 2:8 KJV

For a short time, I worked a third shift job and found that I had joined that special group of people who only see the world from midnight till dawn. On the night that Jesus was born, just above Bethlehem those shepherds were the third shift workers of their day. Probably the more important shepherds got the first shift jobs. Yet on that night, those unnamed and seemingly unimportant third shift shepherds became the first people on earth to hear the good news of the birth of Jesus! The angel told them that God had remembered His people, He remembered Bethlehem and He even remembered shepherds whom everyone else had forgotten!

Did you ever stop to think that God also remembers you? He is not satisfied to visit only the better homes in the better neighborhoods with the biggest and most beautiful churches. In the same way that those shepherds were watching their flocks at night, God also watches over us in the darkest moments of our lives. He knows right where we are. He hears us and He still sends angels with His message of good news. There is no better place than right where you are to hear the news; that Jesus Christ came to bring hope and salvation to us all: even to third shift shepherds out in their fields at night!

I want to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas. Thank you for all the encouraging comments, new ideas and prayers for our family throughout the year. Below is the Christmas message which I shared at Discovery Villages this year. I hope you enjoy it as well as my “Country” version of Angels We Have Heard on High. In the words of Tiny Tim, “God bless you each and every one!”