Direction

Life is God’s Detour

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments

As we had multiple Christmas Eve services, our church was closed yesterday so we decided to attend a smaller church not far from our house. We knew a few folks there and were so blessed by the pastor’s simple message that ended on the idea that we should thank God even in the detours of life. That got me to thinking over our lives as we have moved so many times that it seems that most of it has been a detour. If that is how you feel, then I hope today’s devotional would be an encouragement for you. 

 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance,  Philippians 4:11-12a ESV

Our two boys were in their early teens when we moved for the fifth time in our marriage. We had just found a local church that we enjoyed attending and there met an older couple named Dick and Chickie. Their children lived far away so they adopted our kids as honorary grandchildren. Whenever they invited us over for coffee and pie, we loved listening to their stories. My favorite was how they met in the hall in Junior High, when Dick slipped a note into Chickie’s hand asking if she would meet him after school. Well one thing led to another and not long after high school they were married and moved six blocks down the street from the school into the house where Dick had been born. Now, I had moved six times by the time I graduated from high school, so when people asked where I was from, I had to decide which place to claim. Just about all my life seemed like a detour and I longed to belong anywhere that would be willing to claim me. But whether we have lived in one house all our lives or moved a million times, today’s verse encourages us to be content. Wherever we are or whatever we have is never the key to our happiness or contentment. What matters is knowing that in every situation we are exactly where God has chosen and have all that we need for now. We just need to remind ourselves that He is our true destination, and He has designed our detour to lead us straight to Him!

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God of the Plans

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

God of the Plans

To understand the plans of God and walk the way He said
Had always been a hope for me
Since I was just a kid

But life's great complications
Like children, bills and wife
And all my dumb decisions
Left me in a mess of strife

I couldn't seem to get a grip
Of God's great plan for me
And live a life like saints of old
Who always seemed to be
Accomplishing a lot for Him
Who died on Calvary

My struggles swept me far from shore
Till I felt lost at sea
And then I heard my Savior say
Just trust and follow Me!

God of the Plans by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2021 all rights reserved

“Far better to trust in the God of the plans than to struggle to know the plans of God” Peter Caligiuri

He Knows Where You Are!

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Isaiah 49:16

Have you sometimes felt that God has forgotten where you are or doesn’t understand what you are going through? You are not alone! Lots of people in the Bible felt like that. For example, just what was Adam thinking when he tried to hide from God in the garden? Did he think maybe God didn’t know every nook and cranny of His own creation? Abraham was regularly reminding God not only where he was but of the promise that he would have a son. When Gideon was visited by an angel he had questions as well

,” And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? ‘ ” Judges 6:13

Does that question sound familiar in your own life. Does it seem you would like to say with Martha,

“If you had been here my brother would not have died!” John 11:21

But God has not forgotten us! He knows exactly where we are, what is happening and how we feel. If you are going through deep waters today as you read these words, don’t give up or become bitter. God’s promise to us is that he has engraved us on the palms of His hands. Then if we pause to think we will remember that that engraving was with the nails of the cross.

As they pierced through the soft flesh of the hands of Jesus and His blood spilled over the rough wood. Your name and mine were carved on His palms. He suffered in agony that afternoon till He cried out “My God My God, Why have you forsaken me?” In that moment on Mount Calvary Jesus felt alone and forgotten so that we would never be!