Grace

What I Remember

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

I can’t remember growing so old

Or losing my hair

But they say that I’m there

I can’t remember not being young

To always run…oOh such fun!

But then I’ve walked with Him

Who gave breath to man

Who filled the oceans

And counted their sands

Who laughed at years

As they hurried past

His unchanged promise

That stands at last

And tonight I am tired

But not ready for sleep

And I still remember

How His love and truth

Which He gave by grace

His cross as proof

That my sins were paid

And my soul restored

So at the end of this night

I’ll awake with my Lord

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. Psalms 23:6 NKJV

All Grace!

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

The longer I have walked with Jesus Christ the more I see that everything has been always and only by His grace. I do not understand everything perfectly yet but I am learning that life with Jesus has nothing to do with 3 steps to success, 4 things to know to become a leader or 5 ways to become prosperous. Life with Jesus has everything and only to do with His grace.  It is only by His loving kindness that I will one day walk from the moments and days of this temporary life into His timeless eternity where always and forever we will praise Him for His amazing grace!

He comes looking for us – Before- we are looking for Him

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As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.   Matthew 9:9

 

 

 

He comes to restore us even when we are hiding in fear

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” John 20:19 

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He still calls us to serve Him even after we have publicly failed

 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.              John 21:17-18

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Lost to us but Present with God!

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We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord 2 Corinthians 5:8

This week we said good-bye both physically and spiritually to my God Mother. My Aunt Helen was a blessing, a fixture, a must phone call at Christmas and a favorite of our family reunions. As the tears fell today, not from sorrow that she is gone as much as a sad recognition that this was never meant to be. God did not program death into His wonderful plan for us. We were the ones who have chosen our own way and yet he has worked an eternal greater good through the cross of Calvary. Through the dark suffering night of Jesus Christ on the horrible cross He gave to us a gift far greater than we will ever know while still here on this earth.

He suffered humiliation, rejection, abandonment and betrayal alone so Helen’s hope and our’s could be honor and acceptance, belonging and faithful love. What a loss I sense at losing my precious God Mom today but she is now found by God and experiencing the fruit of that eternal forgiveness freely offered to us by a the kindness and grace of Jesus Christ our Lord!

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