Photography

A Quiet Listening Heart

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful Colossians 3:15

Even with cell phones, computers and dozens of social agencies one of the greatest problems we face today is loneliness. It still feels as if no one is listening. God’s word points us to His solution: the peace of Jesus Christ. The first peace we need is peace with God. When we come to Jesus Christ He releases us from trying to be good enough because in Him we discover that no matter what; He loves us. He came into the world to sit with sinners and His cry of forgiveness from the cross quiets our hearts. Secondly the Bible points out that we are called into one body with everyone else who belongs to Him. God designed us with a longing to belong; and that longing is met in connection with His people. He shows us that our own loneliness does not give us an excuse to isolate ourselves but instead we should take the initiative to listen to someone else’s hurts.  Listening brings us all together. Along our journey towards peace we finally also discover peace with ourselves. After spending our lives struggling trying to be special we find peace only when we discover that everyone (including us) is special to God. In the moment that we find out that God has been listening to us all along His peace begins to perfectly reign. Once His wonderful peace  in we will begin to hear. There in a quiet heart we will be able to truly listen and to hear the hearts of others and of God.

wp-1582743872820.jpg

The Road that Leads to Home

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”  Luke 15:32 NIV

My wife and I used to ride in separate vehicles on the way to church because I was leading the hymns at nursing home during the Sunday school hour. Usually one son went with her while the other tagged along with me. I’m still not sure what happened on that ill fated Sunday but somehow we forgot one boy at church. Chris realized something odd had happened but he didn’t panic. First he searched up and down the gradually emptying church then after he checked everywhere that he could think of he sat down on the steps and tried to think of what to do. As one of the deacons (Who thankfully was our close friend) went to lock the doors he saw Chris.

“So where’s your mom and dad?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” Chris answered shaking his head.

“If you want to ride in my truck I’ll take you home.” John offered.

Meanwhile back at home we had just realized what had happened and in embarrassment I ran out the door ready to speed back to church. Just then John’s old red truck pulled in our driveway. At that moment everyone had a smile on their faces except for me.

classic red vehicle scale model

Photo by Eneida Nieves on Pexels.com

“Forget something?” John asked with a chuckle as he opened the door and Chris hopped out. My wife and I both ran to embrace our briefly lost son. Imagine how the heart of God bursts when we come home to Him. He never forgets us even when we have forgotten Him. Instead He sent Jesus to pick us up and put us on the road that leads us safely home!