Trials

Walking on the Waters

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Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity… Hebrews 6:1a NIV

Sometimes when we read this portion of scripture we want to skip ahead to the gallery of faith heroes in chapter 11. These passages can seem dry and filled with a high theology disconnected from our daily life. But in reality they are incredibly practical and are put there to help us to reorient our relationship with Jesus from simply looking back to His work of salvation in our past. They are focusing like a laser on the right here and right now nitty gritty of our struggles today.

When the writer of Hebrews says let us go on to maturity he points us to the ministry of Jesus as our high priest. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” on the cross, He didn’t mean that He was now ready to retire to heaven. Instead He passed from His sacrificial role as the lamb of God to become our  eternal high priest who will pray for us for us every day till the end of time. Just as Jesus was watching his disciples struggling at the oars on the Sea of Galilee, while he was on the mountain praying, so he is watching over us as we are rowing across our own rough waters. In the same way that he came walking across the waters to help them, so He is ready to come and help us with whatever we face today.  

We must never undo what lies on the path behind but maybe today God is calling you and me to focus on His purpose for what lies ahead. What is on your path today? Jesus is already praying for you and if you look out you just might catch a glimpse of Him walking on the waters towards you!

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Two Men in a Storm

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I posted this poem last year but in light of the daily death tolls drubbing on our minds; I thought that maybe this little verse will help as you face yours.

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Two Men in Two Storms

Two men went down to the sea one day

Paul in chains and Jonah running away

“I need to lie down” was all Jonah could say

So he slept through the storm

When he should have prayed

 

But prisoner Paul cried to God in his boat

Till an angel came down with a message of hope

Then with joy he encouraged his friends

Saying Jesus would keep them all safe in the end

 

It took a big fish to get Jonah to go

Tell others of mercy and God’s love for the world

But our friend Saint Paul shows us the right way

That when God sends the storm we must trust and obey!

Two Men in Two Storms by Peter Caligiuri © 2020 All rights reserved

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Counting the Joy

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Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
James 1:2 ESV

We had gotten used to Disney being closed and resigned to the fact that even beaches were shut down. That was soon followed by restaurants, my barber shop and finally even our church. But the reality of this verse didn’t kick in for me till yesterday when I discovered that there were no cases of any kind of water at Publix and the clerk didn’t know when it would come in.

Like the surprise of a sunrise streaking across the horizon I suddenly realized that nothing was in my control. It has become popular to say that we are all in this together. But our togetherness is kind of like being in the same waiting room each awaiting our individual surgery. One by one God is operating on our hearts through new and different trials. The good news is that He is not only a Good Shepherd -He is also a great surgeon! We can count the procedure we are facing as joy because we know that in the recovery room He will tell us that the operation was a success!