Children

Being Friends With God

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

And He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them,  “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; Mark 9:36-37a ESV

Several years ago, my wife sometimes babysat for two children at our church. David was seven and his little sister Leticia five. On Sundays, I would wave and say, “Hey guys! Good to see you!” David would wave back and smile, but Leticia always hid her face. Every week, I would smile and wave, and every week the results were the same. “I’m sorry.” her mom said, Leticia is just so shy.” “No problem. She’ll smile when she’s ready.” I always answered. But I wondered if that day would ever come. Then one Sunday, just as I was about to sit down, Leticia slipped out of her pew, looked right at me and came running full speed and jumped up in my lap! That scene reminded me of today’s verse. As Jesus walked down the road and his disciples argued about who was the most important, He interrupted their conversation, reached out, and took a child by the hand. Just as I had learned, small children do not stay near to people they do not trust. You can lecture them all day about being polite to guests, but you cannot force friendship. Jesus had children around because they knew he was a friend. He had raised a little girl from the dead and healed a boy with seizures. Children showed up because they liked being around Him. They knew they mattered to Him. He noticed them, talked to them and on occasion even took them in His arms and blessed them. So, if you need healing or even just someone to talk to, Jesus is close by. We do not need to convince Him how important you are. All children are matter to Him. We can all run and jump up into his lap if we are ready, because Jesus is waiting for us to come!

Our son and granddaughter

 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer. – Ed Cunningham

If we want to experience friendship with God then we must do the same!

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart. – Eleanor Roosevelt

If you have decided to make God your best friend then the footprints of His love will be seen in us every time we pray!

Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

The Face of My Father

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:31-32 KJV

“Go sit on your bed until your father get’s home!” were the most terrifying ten words of my childhood. Those long minutes or hours as I waited for the return of my stepfather from work only magnified the fears that I had of the inevitable punishment that awaited me. The last person’s face I wanted to see was his. After I became a Christian it took me quite a few years to be able to pray to the Father. Sure I said the words in corporate worship but when I was alone I would pray only to Jesus. I would say things like, “I’m only coming to you Jesus. Will you forgive me and help me?” Sometimes it felt like I was still sitting on my bed, waiting for punishment. The last person I wanted to see was my Heavenly Father. How little did I know of the tender love of a father who sent His own Son to die in my place. How much He must have wanted me to run to Him and how patient He was for me to slowly unwrap the mystery of the great -great love of His heart. He was not looking forward to coming home so He could pull out His celestial belt to punish me. Instead He had sent Jesus to die in my place so that He could wrap me in His arms. God was not listening to the long litany of my sins, becoming angrier by the second. Instead, He was preparing to freely give me anything I needed because of Jesus Christ. What a love is this? Now I look forward to His return! In fact the very first face I l want to see is the face of my true and eternal father in Heaven. All this time He has been by my side sitting next to me and loving me as His child!

This was Dad at Our Wedding (I look nervous!)

Kick-the-Can

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You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

On late summer afternoons when I was a kid, our favorite thing to do was play “kick the can.” For those unfamiliar with the game, it is a hide and seek with the seeker working from the middle of the street with one foot on a tin can. He or she goes off to find people, then rushes back, puts one foot on the can and shouts, “123! I see Johnny behind the bush!” Then the found one must come and sit on the curb and this goes on till everyone is found. But if the seeker gets just a bit too far from the can, some child inevitably comes running full speed ahead from their hiding place and if they can get to the can to kick it before the seeker gets back, then everyone goes free! On those afternoons as the shadows deepened it grew easier and easier to hide and we never wanted to quit. But eventually our parents would begin to call us. I can still hear their voices in my mind; “Louie! Wally! Peter!” At first, we would pretend not to hear because we hoped for another chance to sneak quietly towards the can at the center of the street with the longing to rush out one more time kick it over!

God is also hidden sometimes, but the darkness that hides God is not a part of a game He plays. That is the darkness of own hearts when decide to ignore His voice as He calls our names. But there is hope for anyone who will hear Him. There is hope when we become seekers for Him because God is already looking for us. There is hope because God does not want to be hidden. He has been looking for us since Adam and Eve tried to hide from Him in the garden. We have hope because when no one heard His call, He still came to the manger of Bethlehem, to the blind man at the fountain and to the woman caught in the act of adultery. God calls, God comes, and God is our hope no matter how dark the night!