Dawn

Jesus Returns at Dawn!

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Titus 2:13

My wife had always dreamed about us relaxing and enjoying a few days on a carefree cruise. Since I was afraid of being out on the ocean that didn’t sound at all relaxing to me, but I finally agreed and we booked a four-day cruise to Cozumel Mexico. Strangely the tension and nervousness I felt as we boarded the ship gradually subsided. As we began to experience life aboard the beautiful ship, Nancy was delighted with the delicious food, friendly staff and the romantic music in the ballroom.

But above anything I found on the ship, the most amazing thing to me was the sunrise at sea. I suppose for those who have been on ships the sight of the first rays of dawn streaking across dark waves is ordinary. But as I held on to the railing with one hand, while, clutching my camera in the other I was stunned by the beauty of an endless ocean painted with the colors of dawn.  

In the same way, the Christian life is something like a cruise though not without its storms and trials. Often God blesses us way beyond anything we expect or deserve along the way but we must never forget that we have an invitation to the most amazing event of history – the return of Jesus Christ. Just as the sky had already brightened and the sea begun to shimmer with the approach of the dawn, so also we already have some of God’s light beginning to shine in our lives. But we have a blessed hope and a longing in our hearts for something more. That is a hope which will carry us through every dark night and every violent storm. Our hope and His promise is that one day Jesus will return. We can choose to either live our life fearfully huddled below or we can go out onto the deck with the hope of catching the first gleam of dawn!  

Just as Day is Breaking

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Every morning Jesus is standing at the shore in our life. He is waiting for us to recognize Him and come running. He has watched us all night as we worked hard without him to fish.

Jesus is waiting at our shore eagerly anticipating our arrival with fresh bread and fish on the fire. He is willing to share all He has with us when we pull in our nets once more at His command.

Jesus is standing on our shore waiting for us to see Him, waiting to share and waiting with a question. “Do you love Me?”.

Let us answer as Peter did, “Lord you know all things. You know that I love you.”

Then Jesus reminds us all once again. “Feed my sheep!”

All The Things He Can

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During the last week of my Dad’s life I learned more from him than all the years before. The reality of God’s love reflected in his concern for my getting meals even though he only received his through a tube. He worried I was missing sleep at a time that he spent his night in the ICU. Most of all, dad loved having me and his nurse read the Bible to him. And that week he often quoted his favorite verse

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Those last seven days with my dad along with his verse helped carry me through the sorrow threatened to overwhelm me with his death. Just after the death of Jesus it was the same for His disciples, His family and especially His mother. They hardly dared to recall the joy of those last three years seeing lepers cleansed, storms calmed and the dead raised. All that changed the night of the betrayal by Judas. That was followed by the arrest and false charges by the religious leaders. Finally the Romans sentenced Jesus to be crucified between two criminals and die a horrible and degrading death.

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But in the pre-dawn of hours of the third day everything changed. The stone sealing the grave had been rolled away. The women who came early to the tomb were met with men in white clothing who told them that the Lord was not there – He had risen. The bitterness and loss that they felt was quickly replaced by wonder and new faith as they encountered the risen Christ. Once we have invited this same risen Lord Jesus to rule our hearts we will discover that our lives are no longer defined by the many things we cannot do but by all the things He can!