Resurrection

Hope Going Viral

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

I do hope that this Corona virus does not become a crisis here in the U.S. but no matter what happens we are all in this together. Maybe growing older has given me perspective so I have some hope and advice to share that these gray hairs have taught me. It’s time to stop panicking and start praying even for leaders we don’t like. We may not like our brothers and sisters but we’re still a family.

It’s time to stop complaining and start caring. Pointing fingers while our boat is taking on water is a lot less effective than bailing out some water. It’s time to remember that people matter a lot more than things. I don’t even want to know how much of our life savings have disappeared in the last 3 days of mayhem on Wall Street but we’ve been through worse and God has been faithful.

After all we’ve been through my wife and I still have each other. We still have our family and the freedom to worship on Sundays and be reminded there that this too will pass. Jesus resurrection from the dead has given us a hope more contagious than any virus. We can always trust God because No matter what lies ahead we are blessed and no matter the disease – Jesus is always still the cure!

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All The Things He Can

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

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!