comfort

What Does Hope Look Like?

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.  Ruth 1:16 ESV

In this small Old Testament book, we meet a woman named Naomi, for whom all natural hope seemed to be lost. She had followed her husband to a foreign land where he and both of their sons died. Naomi was alone in that strange place, a woman with no resources, no hope, future and no idea where to turn. Her only choice was to return to her home village.

But Naomi found hope in the unexpected kindness of her faithful daughter-in-law Ruth. Ruth shows all of us how holding on to God in desperate times gives hope both to us and to those around us. Even at the lowest point of Naomi’s life, God had already begun to work to restore hope. That hope began in the form of Ruth. Though no one else would go with Naomi and no one else would help, Ruth chose to remain. Ruth chose to walk with Naomi through that darkest time of her life. Ruth had no answers to give and no special abilities to offer. Ruth simply stood by her friend.

God has also begun a work in every one of our lives. Even when we find ourselves in unexpected sorrow God is in control. We don’t need to know all the answers to be kind. God Himself will bring us Hope and He can use us to bring hope to someone else. What does hope look like? With God’s help it just might look like you or me!

What Does Hope Look Like? by Peter Caligiuri © 2020 All rights reserved

Getting Back in the Boat With Jesus

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Matthew 14:32 NKJV

This seemingly insignificant verse from Matthew’s gospel held a promise for me that I had overlooked till I desperately needed it. My mother was just 62 when she died of breast cancer and her passing left me feeling like I had been run over by a truck. The years struggling to rebuild our relationship, the prayers and the conversations were suddenly over. I felt as if I were locked in a room with barely enough air to breathe. I sleep walked through months of guilt and regret for what had never been. I had often thought about God challenging me as He had challenged Peter to get out of the boat. At other times I had been comforted knowing that just as Jesus had reached out his hand to save Peter He would take my hand in the middle of a crisis. But it was just as important for me to learn that Jesus wanted to help me back into the boat and restore calm when this storm had passed. I do not know how it happened but gradually light began shining in the dark places of my heart. I woke up to find that though I might never understand the why behind the pain, just knowing that God knew had become enough. Do you struggle to see God as more than just challenging or rescuing you? It is a wonderful surprise that waits when you realize that He is also delighted to help you back in the boat and calm the wind to a hush.

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Man of Sorrows – God of Comfort

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He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.          Isaiah 53:3 KJV

“Man of Sorrows what a name?” begins the hymn by Phillip Bliss, that points us to Jesus, who understands our grief because He has walked in our shoes. And if even Jesus, the Son of God, could not escape sorrows; how much more can we think that they will not invade ours without warning? The Sunday before my mother died I was leaving church when my friend Jerry stopped me to ask how she was doing. For a moment I stumbled over a few words trying to explain and then the dam of my emotions broke. “Not good Jerry; not good at all!” I choked out and then I sat down in the closest pew and began to weep. Suddenly I was surrounded not only by Jerry but by my wife and several of our friends as a tidal wave of memories, regrets and grief swept over me.

I am still so thankful for their love and quiet comfort that day because it helped prepare me for the phone call from the hospice just a few days later telling me that she was gone. Really tough times are impossible to plan for. For every one of us there will come a point where we have nothing left and there only grace remains. There Jesus; who was called a man of sorrows, comes with comfort. Sometimes He gives us a sense of His presence; sometimes He reminds us of His promises and at others He uses the arms of family and friends to hold us close to His heart.

Imported from phone 229