miracles

Becoming a Water Walker

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. Matthew 14:29 ESV

When I first became a Christian, I was baptized in a swimming pool behind the church. That might seem strange for some people, but in Arizona having a church pool was not strange at all because it eliminated the need for an indoor baptistry and gave the young people somewhere to go on hot days. I had not read the Bible before Jesus found me and knew nothing more than the creation story and something about loving my neighbor. So, when I learned about Peter getting out of the boat and walking on the water to Jesus I was intrigued. I used to walk around the church pool putting my foot out on the water wondering if I could have enough faith to walk across it. Later, I learned that no one else has figured out that water walking thing since Jesus told Peter to come, 2,000 years ago but I still thought about what his first steps were like. Whether the sea was calm or churning with huge waves really did not matter. Neither option allowed for water walking. In fact, once you walk where feet are not supposed to be able to stand, it really does not matter how far you get from the boat or how deep the water is. You have now entered God’s universe of the impossible and the first thing to remember is that we are not standing on wave tops. We are launching out in faith on the word of Jesus Christ. If He says come, it no longer matters what others think. The only thing that counts is if He is calling, because when Jesus calls, He will also be there to catch you if you start to sink!

My Easter Miracle

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

It seems that this year in particular I have a new group of readers so it may be that my testimony is new to you. I have also trimmed it back considerably trying to keep to my own rule of less is better. So here goes the 2021 re-telling of my Easter Miracle. I am forever grateful to God that He could have worked out such a crazy plan at the cost of His only Son’s life so that I could be His child.

 I realise that I was the worst of them all, and that because of this very fact God was particularly merciful to me. It was a kind of demonstration of the extent of Christ’s patience towards the worst of men, to serve as an example to all who in the future should trust him for eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:16 Phillips

In 1971 I was just another 19 year old hippie trying to figure life out. One night I found myself along a lonely stretch of desert highway between L.A. and Phoenix. All that day I had hitch-hiked with my last ride dropping me off at a rest area.  As night began to fall I reasoned that the top of one of the picnic tables was the safest refuge from snakes and scorpions. So I rolled out my sleeping bag and struggled into it trying not to fall off the edge of the table. There I lay looking up into a vast sky filled with stars wondering where I belonged and fell asleep.

How in the world I ended up 3,000 miles from home was a tangle of events beginning with parents who seemed more confused about life than I was. So I moved out on my own at age seventeen about began a wandering that brought me that Easter morning to a highway rest stop where I met a family who invited me to church. It took a miracle to break through my fears and excuses and regrets; but it was Easter morning and on Easter miracles happen. So with the added bonus of a promised free meal I eagerly agreed to go with them.

Their church was different than anything I expected. There were many young people there my own age who were singing with smiles that showed me they knew something about Easter I had missed. More importantly that day, I felt for the first time that God might be real and actually care about me. It felt to me as if I had been running all my life and I couldn’t run any more. It took an amazing chain of miracles to bring me to God. But it was Easter and on Easter miracles happen!

Not Lost in the Crowd

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.  Mark 6:34 ESV

After this last year most of us are mentally and physically worn out. During the pandemic, many of us have lost friends and family to the virus and have gone through a time of isolation such as we have never known. Jesus had felt all of that and more after receiving the news that his cousin had been beheaded added to the fact that people were around him so much that we are told they did not even have a chance to eat. When Jesus suggested that they go somewhere to get away and rest I can picture the disciples doing a happy dance while shouting, “Amen!” But as Jesus stepped out of the boat at their getaway location he looked out and saw the crowd had followed them. You might think that He would see those people as a frustration or a burden. But, instead today’s verse says “He had compassion on them. because they were like sheep without a shepherd. ” He didn’t just see a crowd, He saw people – one by one. Considering that today there are 7.6 billion people in the crowd, aren’t you glad He knows you by name and wants to be your shepherd? And what does a shepherd do? – He makes sure the sheep get fed, and that is exactly what Jesus did next. Now back to the story. Remember that the disciples had not eaten since the day before and would have been delighted to see the crowds leave.  But instead, Jesus invited those 12 hungry guys to become part of a miracle bigger than they could imagine.

 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” Mark 6:37

See as our shepherd the first thing Jesus does is teach us to shepherd others. Of course he could have just said, “Give me a loaf of bread!” and presto! – multiply it all by himself. Instead, He asks us all to see people as He does. The people around us are always just a mob, when we are more interested in our needs than theirs. But when we see people for who they are to Jesus, we will discover a compassion that makes sure that not one hungry child will get lost in the crowd!