Library Books

Library books. My family made a trip to the local library this morning to pick out some new books. When I got home from work this evening, my little guy had to show me his eight new library books. Almost all of them centered around “Fall” and the sights and sounds and smells that surround it. After dinner was over, we climbed into the recliner and read all eight of them. It was so awesome just to sit there and have him holding onto my arm listening to me read to him. It’s those little things that make my day.

I heard on the radio this morning that recent studies show that we spend a total of thirty-seven minutes a day in what we would consider quality time with our family. THIRTY-SEVEN MINUTES!!!!  It didn’t say what actually constituted “quality time”, but I would assume that it would be time in meaningful activities that don’t involve technology of any sort. I have to admit, and I bet we all can to some extent, that I have been guilty of this myself.

If we only spend thirty-seven minutes of quality time with our family, how much quality time do we spend with our Heavenly Father throughout the day? I have to admit, once again, it’s not as much as it should be. God wants us to communicate with Him through everything we do. He wants to be the center of all that we do. He wants us to talk to Him not only as His friend, but as our Father. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” - Romans 12:12.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” - Philippians 4:6. God longs for you to come to Him with your prayers. Even though He knows all things about you, He still wants you to seek Him in all things. How is you quality time with your family?  Better yet, how is your quality time with God?

Have a great day and God bless.

Bicycle Race

Bicycle race. This past weekend there was a bicycle race that took place along most of the back roads of our little North Carolina county. There were hundreds of riders dressed in their team jerseys racing across the countryside. We had an appointment Saturday morning and didn’t realize the race was taking place, so we got caught behind all of these racers as we were trying to make our way there. We had to drive real slow behind large groups of riders until there was a safe area to pass them using the opposite lane. As you can imagine, it took us a lot longer to get to our destination than originally planned.

It was an extreme test of patience as we drove only 5 miles per hour at times waiting to get around them. There were differently colored signs all along the roadsides showing different routes that the riders were to take to complete the race. We weren’t sure if the different colors represented different laps or if they represented different courses for certain groups. The race took place over two days: Saturday and Sunday. I’m not sure who ended up winning the race but I’m sure someone is celebrating this evening for finishing first.

It got me thinking about what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” - 1 Corinthians 9:24-25. All of those bicyclists left off Saturday morning with the hopes of winning the race, but by Sunday only one of them realized that dream. I’m sure whoever won received some sort of prize, whether it was a trophy or some other prize.

Years from now that trophy or prize will become dusty and and old, no longer having the luster it had when they received it today. We have an eternal prize waiting for us, as Christians, one day in heaven; one that will never lose its luster. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:19-21.

When our days on this earth are coming to an end, can we say what the Apostle Paul said told his protege Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”- 2 Timothy 4:7-8?

Have a great day and God bless.

Stressed

Stressed. That has been our situation over the last forty-eight hours or so. We listed our house for sale late Monday night. Had three showings on Tuesday and three more on Wednesday. That was followed by two more on Thursday. Around lunch time Thursday we got our first offer on the house which we accepted Thursday evening. So, we spent today looking at house to buy so that we can not go homeless for too long. We found one today and made an offer of our own, now we are just awaiting an answer from the homeowner. Stressed!!!!

It’s natural to go through stressful situations, but as Christians, we should not stay in that state for very long. My wife and I have been in constant prayer this entire week. First, that God would send the right person to our house, someone that would fall in love with it and make and offer; prayers answered. Praise God! Second, that we would find a house that we would fall in love with that would meet our family’s needs and be in our price range; again, prayers answered. Praise God!

Now our prayers continue, that our house will go through all of the due diligence and we can close at the end of October. Also, that our offer on our house will be accepted and it, too, will go through without issues. I know that God is in control of the entire thing and if something happens that we aren’t praying for, it’s because He knows something that we do not. We trust that what He does is what is best for His children.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28.

“Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” - 1 Peter 5:7.

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” - Matthew 7:11.

I know that God hears our prayers and answers those that are according to His will. We will continue to pray for God’s guidance in all of these things dealing with our home. I will praise Him no matter the outcome because He is worthy to be praised!

Have a great day and God bless.

Light Bulb

Light bulb. How many jokes are there out there about how many people it takes to change a light bulb?  My guess is that there are thousands, all with the same premise: that there is nothing easier than changing a light bulb. I was changing out some old light bulbs tonight. Sounds easy for an adult to do right?  Not if you drop one trying to get it out and it hits the bathroom sink faucet below it and shatters into a million bizzilion pieces.

Not a big deal if I wasn’t standing in the bathroom with bare feet now surrounded by broken glass shards. So, I had to carefully tip-toe my way out of the bathroom, making sure I didn’t step on any tiny pieces. My little guy came running to see what that big noise was and I had to fend him off from running into the bathroom with his bare feet.

The funny things is, all the light bulbs worked, they just didn’t match one another and I wanted to fix that. I set in to cleaning up all the glass pieces and running the small hand held vacuum over the entire area to make sure I got it all. Once I got it all cleaned up, I thought to myself, “why was I so intent in replacing light bulbs that worked with more light bulbs that worked”?  I guess because I wanted all the bulbs to match.

I think we all like things to match, whether it’s light bulbs or even our socks (maybe). We like order in our world. But do our lives match what we proclaim to be?  Do our words match what we profess to believe?  God wants our lives to match our hearts. If we profess to know and love Him, He wants our actions to show that we do. God likes things to match as well.

“They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” - Titus 1:16. God does not want empty professions that do not match our works. To Him that is detestable. “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” - 1 John 1:6. What we say and what we do are two different things and it is usually the reason unbelievers call Christians “hypocrites”.

Do you match?  Like all the light bulbs having to match in my bathroom, God wants our profession of Him to match our works. How do those two match up in your life?  Do they match, or not quite?  Would people be surprised you are a Christian because they don’t see it in your life?

Have a great day and God bless.

Bus Stop

Bus stop. Some mornings, on my way to work, if I leave a few minutes late, I get stuck behind a school bus starting it’s morning route. I live in a rural area that doesn’t have many places to pass because most of the roads are very windy. Also, because it is a rural area, the kids don’t all meet at a common bus stop, the bus stops out in front of each house that has a student. So as you can imagine, there are frequent stops along the route.

I noticed something this morning as I waited behind the bus at each stop, the younger the kid, the more excited they were to get on the bus. I watched as little ones, probably first or second graders, came running from the front porch and down the driveway (some went right through the lawn) and right up the steps of the waiting bus. You could tell they were excited to get to school.

Then, on the other hand, came the fifth and sixth graders, not so happy to be making their way to school. The bus came to a stop and there was no one to be seen for what felt like an eternity, and then all of a sudden, out came the student from the front door walking as slow as they possibly could as all of the cars behind the bus just had to sit there. You could tell by their body language that they were nowhere near as excited as the little ones.

I remember when I first became a Christian, there was such an excitement inside of me to learn and to study. I remember getting a copy of Our Daily Bread and using it every day. I had started half way through the three month period that it covers, so I backtracked to make sure I caught up. I had such a thirst for all things Christ. I was just like that little first or second grader excited to get on that school bus.

Now I find myself, at times, more like that sixth grader and not always as excited about all things Jesus. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Savior, but my excitement isn’t the same as it once was. I’m sure some of you can relate, but some of you might be new to Christianity and still have that excitement - awesome!  The Apostle John, in Revelation had a message from Jesus to the church in Ephesus, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” - Revelation 2:4-5. I have to remind myself at times to remember that first love I had when Christ was new and exciting to me and return to that feeling once again. Have you ever experienced that same thing?

Have a great day and God bless.

Drive Thru

Drive thru. As I was making my way through two different drive-thru windows for dinner tonight I thought about all the options we have for fast food. As I pulled up to the menu at the first stop, I looked at how many different options there were to choose from. I pulled up to the second establishment and their menu had just as many options as the first. You have options to order just single items or if you were real hungry you could make it a meal, and if you were starving you could super-size it!

It got me thinking about how we sometimes like to pick and choose what we follow in the Bible based upon how we feel we want to live our lives. We pick this and say, “we’ll, that’s not a problem for me to follow, so I guess I’ll follow that one”. But when God’s Word pierces our hearts about some sin in our lives, we like to say, “that was meant for the people of that time and it doesn’t mean anything in the society we live in today”. The Bible is not a drive-thru menu that we can pick and choose what parts of it we want to follow and which ones we don’t. True, some of the Bible was written for a specific time and to a specific people that were under the Law.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” - Hebrews 4:12. We live under the grace of God, but that does not give us the right to sin however we want to. If we read our Bibles, God will stick His finger right to the very heart of our sin and point it out to us. Many people stay away from God’s Word just for that very reason.

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” - Romans 6:1-4.

Our society lives in this drive-thru world of picking and choosing what moral guidelines they want to follow, but we’ve been called out to be different than society. Do our lives show that we are different? Do our words show that we have a unique moral standard?  Our lives and decisions should be based upon the Word of God, not our opinions and feelings.

Have a great day and God bless.

Praise

Praise. We all like to be praised, to some extend, for the good things we have accomplished. Whether it’s at work, or on the athletic field or even within our own home by our spouse, we have a need to be praised and acknowledged. We have taken the idea of praise to a somewhat dangerous place by praising people for every little thing that they do. We see that in parents praising their children for doing something that should be expected of them. We give out participation trophies to make sure that no one’s feeling are hurt. Are we over-praising this generation of people today?

There is nothing wrong with praising those that deserve it, those that have gone above and beyond expectations in what they accomplished. But, with that praise, we also have to make sure that people aren’t put on a pedestal and worshipped. Movie stars, athletes, singers and politicians should never be worshipped, that belongs to God, and God alone. We can praise those groups of people if they are deserving of praise, but never worship them. We will be thoroughly disappointed when they fall off of that pedestal we, as a society or individual, put them on.

Praise belongs to God because He is worthy of our praise. “I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.” - Psalm 7:17. “I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” - Psalm 18:3. God offered up His only Son to save His creation from paying the punishment of their own sins, that is praise-worthy.

“Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!” - Psalms 150.

Have a great day and God bless.

Appointments

Appointments. Our calendars are filled with appointments. We have work appointments for meetings and conference calls, we have personal appointments for sports practices and date nights, and we may have church appointments around committees we may be on. One thing is for sure, our calendars are full in comparison to what they were 50 years ago. But, do we make time for unscheduled appointments? Appointments set up by God for us to be a part of: Divine appointments!

I remember, pretty clearly, one such occasion in my life about fifteen years, or so, ago. I was sitting in a parking lot waiting for the time of my next scheduled appointment and someone came up to the side of my car asking if I could spare some money for them to get something to eat. I was sitting with the window down because it was the middle of summer, so he didn’t have to knock. He startled me a bit because I didn’t see him coming. As was normal, I didn’t have any cash on me because I never carry cash. I told him that I couldn’t help him because I didn’t have anything to give. He said “thanks” and walked away.

As he left, I could feel the Holy Spirit convict me that I had not done what I needed to do during that divine appointment. I quickly thought to myself, “I have time before my appointment. I can drive him somewhere and get him something to eat.”  I got out of my car to flag him down and he was nowhere to be seen. It had only been 10 seconds at the longest; there was no way he got out of the parking lot that fast because I was parked squarely in the middle. I stood there looking around the entire parking lot for him, but he was gone!  Instantly, the following verse popped into my head, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” - Hebrews 13:2.

The rest of that day, my head raced through scenarios of what I could have done differently, so that I would never allow something like that to happen again. “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way” - Psalm 37:23. I don’t know if God established the steps of that man to my car that day to test my faithfulness to the Word of God, but I know I failed Him, and that stranger. I am prepared for the next time that ever happens to me. Have you ever had a divine appointment with someone and not know it until it had passed?

Have a great day and God bless.

Hide and Seek

Hide and seek. That was always a staple game growing up in our neighborhood, except we didn’t call it hide and seek, we called it “ghost in the graveyard”. It’s the opposite of hide and seek. Instead of one person counting and everyone else going to hide, one person hid and the rest of the kids tried to find them. We used to have about 25 kids playing in our neighborhood each night during the summer and one game could last all the way until it was time to go home.

The game sort of went like this: one person would hide somewhere in the neighborhood and the rest of the kids would go looking for them. There was a set location that was considered home base. If one of the searchers saw the person hiding, they would yell “ghost in the graveyard” and everyone would run back to home base trying not to get tagged. As you could imagine, there were lots of false alarm calls and the group would have to start all over. It’s some of the best memories I have growing up in my neighborhood as a kid.

We try to play hide and seek with God sometimes in our lives too. Definitely before we became Christians and even sometimes after we have. It is nothing new for God, and there is never a time we can actually hide from Him. Adam and Eve tried it in the Garden and were unsuccessful. “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." - Genesis 3:8-10. God didn’t ask Adam where he was because He didn’t know, He asked so that Adam would admit he was hiding because of his sin.

I remember how hard I used to seek after those that were hiding somewhere in my neighborhood. God wants us to seek Him with just as much diligence. “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.“ - Proverbs 8:17. We seek after God in our prayer lives, we seek after Him by studying His Word and we seek after Him by being around other likeminded people. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” - Matthew 6:33.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” - Matthew 7:7-8. Are you seeking after a relationship with God?  Are you seeking after His will in your lives?  Are you seeking after other likeminded Christians to grow with?  God wants you to seek after Him with all your heart, with all your body and with all your mind.

Have a great day and God bless.

Doubt

Doubt. It’s hard to believe everything your hearAnd read in this day and age, especially if it’s on the news or social media. Yet, so many people are so quick to share stories that come out without giving it a chance to reveal all the evidence of the event. How many recent articles have had to be retracted because what was reported was not the full truth? It makes it very hard not to doubt almost every story that comes out anymore.

We all have different levels of doubt during the course of our lives. Even as Christians, we may go through seasons of doubt about our own faith and what we believe. Sometimes we are faced with difficulties in our lives that cause us to doubt if God really is who He says He is. We may come across questions that we cannot explain that may cause us to doubt what we believe. Doubt is a natural occurrence when we have to live by faith and not by sight.

The Word of God has been doubted for centuries. Even one of Jesus’ own disciples had an issue with doubt, and he was living in the very presence of the Savior. How much easier is it for us to have doubts living almost two millennia removed from Christ walking this earth?  I don’t think doubt is something only felt by non-believers.  I think it is something even we as Christians face at some point during our lives.

But what about those that doubt the truth of the Bible, can their doubt be overcome by the Holy Spirit?  Yes, because I am living proof of that. Almost weekly, a new story comes out confirming the accuracy of God’s Holy Word. New evidence is found about locations in the Bible that seemed to never have existed, only to be discovered by archeologists during their digs. Biblical leaders who have been questioned as to whether they have even lived or not have been confirmed in recent years. All things that help erase doubt that what the Biblical writers wrote is true.

“They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,
and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” - 2 Peter 3:4-7.

“And Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.’” - Matthew 21:21-22.

Have a great day and God bless.

Voicemail

Voicemail. Does anyone still leave messages on voicemail anymore?  If you call someone and they do not answer, do you leave a message or just hang up? I was trying to call a company today to make some changes to my account and the call went all the way to voicemail the first three times I called. I didn’t leave a message because I didn’t know if it would be checked or not, so I just kept calling back until they answered. I finally got through on the fourth try and made the changes that needed to be made.

Why are we hesitant to leave a voicemail when someone doesn’t answer our call?  Is it because we don’t know if our voicemail will ever be heard and we will have to call back again anyway?  It made me think of our prayer life as Christians. When we pray, do we have the fear that maybe God is not listening and will not answer our prayers fast enough, so we keep calling back until we get an answer?  God hears our prayers if we are in fellowship with Him and if our request aligns with His will. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” - 1 John 5:14-15.

Our fellowship with God is strengthened through our prayer life with Him. First, by repenting and asking for forgiveness of our sin. Second, by our seeking His will in our life instead of seeking to align God’s will with our desires. Finally, our relationship with God is strengthened when we go to Him in prayer for the needs of others before ourselves. “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” - 2 Corinthians 1:11.

God does not have a voicemail, He hears every one of our prayers as Christians if we go to Him with a clean heart and by faith. “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." - Matthew 21:22.

Have a great day and God bless.

Risks

Risks. Are you a risk taker?  Do you see something that looks exciting and just go for it instead of thinking it through and analyzing all the pros and cons?  I was driving to work this morning in the normal amount of traffic and all of a sudden this guy on a motorcycle comes flying through traffic like we were all standing still. He was going between cars, passing on entrance ramps and weaving between lanes like he was in some sort of race. I thought to myself, “this kid is going to get killed if someone changes lanes and don’t see him”.   He was taking some terrible risks with his life.

Most of us probably would never participate in something as risky as what this guy was doing, but we all take different levels of risks through your lives. What we consider risky may not be risky at all to someone else, we all see risk differently based upon the possible outcome. There are people that over analyze everything and will never take a risk in their lives. There are other people that won’t think twice about doing something and just go, worrying about the consequences later.

There are times in our lives when God leads us to take risks, or have faith, that what He is leading us to do is what is best for us. We may fully trust God and just go for it, or we may over analyze and miss out on the blessings of God. Not all risks are from God, it is our job, through the Holy Spirit, to make sure that what we are being asked to risk is truly from God. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” - 1 John 4:1.

God may ask you to witness to someone while you are standing in line waiting for a coffee. That may be risky for some people because they are shy. God may ask you to leave a profession and go into the ministry. That may be risky for some people because they have worked hard for the job they have. God may ask you to leave the country and become a missionary in another part of the world. That may be risky for some people because all their family and friends are here. Risk varies from person to person.

Know this, God will not ask you to take a risk that He has not already planned out for you ahead of time. He wants you to listen and obey in faith and take the risk to show others His glory. I think of the risk Abraham took taking Isaac up on that mountain to sacrifice his promised son. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” - Hebrews 11:17-19.

Have a great day and God bless.

Speechless

Speechless. Ever had a moment where something was said or something happened that completely left you speechless?  I was on a conference call this morning and someone asked a question of one of my colleagues, who is never short on words, and there was absolute silence on the line as we waited for him to answer. At first we thought maybe he was on mute and forgot to take it off when he started talking, but after a few seconds we knew that wasn’t it. After a couple of jokes about him being left speechless, we realized he must have lost connection and dropped of the call. Within a few moments he had dialed back in and we were on our way again.

That brief little moment of silence and the thought of being speechless made me think about that moment when our eyes will get to see Christ. There are examples of Biblical men and women seeing God, Christ and angels, where that event left them completely speechless. I think of the men traveling with Saul on the road to Damascus, as they heard a voice but saw no one and it left them speechless (Acts 9:3-7).

There will be two groups of people that are speechless on that day they stand before God. There will by those that have accepted Christ as their Savior and they will stand there speechless and in awe at what Christ had done for them, how He took their place in paying for the punishment of their sins. There will also be a group that stand speechless before God as they will have no argument for the punishment they will receive. They will come to the understanding that they missed their chance at salvation here on earth and there are no arguments or good works that will gain them entry in Heaven. They will stand speechless and condemned.

I don’t know which group those who are reading this post will be in, but I pray that we will all be in the group that is speechless at what Christ has done for us. If you don’t know what group you will be in, repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith. Admit you are a sinner in need of a Savior and that the only way to a relationship with God is by accepting what Christ did in your place by taking the penalty for your sins on the Cross at Calvary. Contact me if you have questions or need to know more. I’d be glad to help you understand your need for Jesus.

Have a great day and God bless.

Yesterday

Yesterday. Yesterday I posted about tomorrow and today I’m posting about yesterday, are you confused yet?  The Beatles had a big hit called “Yesterday” and a movie by the same name was even made recently. Yesterday can be a two-edged sword; the memories of yesterday can haunt us, but the lessons from yesterday can guide us. Our yesterdays make up who we are today. However, we cannot spend too much time in yesterday or else it could have an adverse effect on our today.

Some of you might be a lot like me having some things in our yesterday that we are not very proud of. You may be struggling with the loss of a loved one that keeps you in yesterday and makes today feel insurmountable, and tomorrow something you can’t even face. There is nothing we can really do about yesterday; it’s gone and can’t be recovered. But we can take the lessons of yesterday and apply them to what we are going through today.

I’m reminded of what the Apostle Paul told the believers in Philippi, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 3:13-14. If anyone had a past they would like to forget, it was Paul, the approver of the death of Stephen.

Brothers and sisters, is there something in your yesterday that is holding you back?  Something you believe God can never forgive you for?  Don’t believe the lies of Satan, God is able and willing to forgive you of any sins from yesterday, all you have to do is ask. Forget what is behind you and strive on towards the goal that is set before you.

Have a great day and God bless.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow. Why do we put so much faith in tomorrow?  Why do we put of things we should do today and things we should say today off until tomorrow?  What’s so special about tomorrow that we have to leave such important tasks for just one day?  I don’t know about you, but I’m guilty of depending on tomorrow way too much. Whether it’s work related or personal, tomorrow seems to be our best friend. What happens if tomorrow doesn’t come?

The Bible makes it very clear that we are not promised another tomorrow, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” - James 4:13-14. I think about those that will go to bed tonight with plans of doing something important tomorrow, yet will not wake up to see it through.

Life is precious, life short, and life is unpromised. Our lives could end at any time, either by death or the Lord’s return (I pray it’s the second one). We should take better advantage of today; to do and say the things we promise we’ll do tomorrow. “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” - Proverbs 27:1. Is there something you should do today before it’s too late?  Is there something you should tell someone today before it’s too late?  Only you can answer that.

Have a great day and God bless.

Mess

Mess. Last night my wife made chocolate brownies and iced them with some homemade chocolate icing. I have to say they are one of my favorite deserts. My little guy likes them pretty well too. While we were all doing something, my little guy decided he was going to help himself to the brownies but just focus on the icing part. When I caught him in the kitchen, his face, his hands and his pajama shirt was absolutely covered in chocolate icing. Down the entire length of the brownies were his finger marks where he ran his fingers to get the icing off. He was a mess.

After he got a little of the “what-for” for being disobedient for getting into the brownies he was told to stay out of, we cleaned him up from the chocolate explosion all over his face, hands and clothes. He was back to where he was before he started; the brownies: not so much. It made me think of the story of the prodigal son found in Luke 15. A young man that found himself and his life in a total mess. The Bible says that he reached a point where he finally “came to himself”. He realized how bad it had become and he needed to turn back to where he once was.

I find the most interesting part of that story is that he did not say, “I need to find a job, get myself back on my feet and cleaned up, and then I’ll go back to my father.”  Instead, he said, “I’m a mess, my father is my only way out and I’m going back just as I am: smelling like pig slop, dirty and with nothing to offer.”  I hear so many people say that as soon as they get their life straightened out they’ll come back to church or accept Christ. Christ wants you as the mess you are. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30.

Just like the father of the prodigal son who didn’t care that his some was filthy and smelled like pigs, he took his son back just as he was. God doesn’t want you to clean yourself up before coming to Him, He just wants you to “come to yourself” and turn back to Him. He will clean you up just like the prodigal’s father did when he returned.

Have a great day and God bless.

Networking

Networking. With the rise of social media in the last decade or so, staying in touch with old friends and making new “friends” has become easier than it has ever been. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and so many others allows us to network with people for many different reasons. We can connect with people from all over the world to share common interests, to make business connections or just to build up our following.

Before the internet era came on the scene, you used to have to meet people face-to-face and trade business cards or write your contact information on a napkin. Now it’s only a click away and an acceptance and you’re networking. Although how we go about networking has changed in the past decade, the idea of networking has been around for ages.

As I look at the Bible, I think one of the best networkers was the Apostle Paul. I have read the he mentions over 75 different people in his letters that were sent to the various churches. He frequently sent greeting to those he had met on past trips or people he had met somewhere along his journeys that were now relocated. In the letter to the Romans, he mentions the names of 27 different people alone in the last chapter. This was a church Paul had never visited and they only knew him by name, so he uses the end of his letter to make connections with those he did not know through those he did.

Although we will not find the word “networking” anywhere in the Bible, it doesn’t mean that it didn’t occur. Paul used the people he knew to bridge relationships to the people he didn’t know so that he could prepare them for the message he was about to deliver. When we network with people, is it for our benefit or the benefit of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.” - 1 Corinthians 3:6-9.

Have a great day and God bless.

Comfortable

Comfortable. We all like to be comfortable, whether it’s the clothes we are wear

ing, or a big oversized chair we get to sit in or maybe snuggled up under the covers in the morning not wanting to get out of bed. By nature we like to be comfortable In bigger life events too.  We like the comfort of our jobs, our relationships and where we live. When something disrupts that comfort we become uneasy about life.

One of my fellow project managers at work celebrated his last day with our company today. He really pushed himself out of his comfort zone. I know the felling of changing jobs and how uncomfortable that is, but he is changing jobs, changing the industry he works in and changing states. He took a new job that will move him and his family from the southeast to the Great Lakes area. Now that is a comfort zone change.

Why would we rather stay in our comfort zone instead of move on to something bigger and better, and maybe something God is directing us too?  Because we are just like the Israelites when they had fled Egypt and were wandering in the wilderness - we want to go back to the known routine (even if it is a worse situation). “Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.’” - Numbers 11:4-6.

They were slaves in Egypt, being worked to death, but all they can think of was how good they thought they had it. We tend to overlook the possible ruts we’ve gotten ourselves into and just focus on the things we think are good. They may be good things, but God may have better things ahead for us if we just give them up. The promise land was Israel’s final destination with a land flowing with milk and honey, but Israel wanted to go back. We do the same thing, when times get hard leaving our comfort zone, we want to go back to what we felt was comfortable.

Has God been pushing you out is your comfort zone but you want to stay or maybe even go back?  God has something better for you on the other side of the wilderness. Trust Him in the journey and the promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you." - Hebrews 13:5b.

Have a great day and God bless.

Love and Unity

Love and unity. As much hatred as I had for the events of 9/11, they were changed the next day by the response of love and unity by my fellow Americans on 9/12. People made their way to the destruction to look for survivors and try to help the first responders. Others lined up at blood banks to donate blood for the wounded and injured. Politicians no longer cared what party they were from as they stood united on the Capitol steps. American flags flew from every location: house, bridges and any where else a place could be found. 9/12 was a great day in American history. What happened?

That feeling slowly faded over time as people went back to their normal lives and slowly the news stopped covering the event 24/7. People slowly went back to the divide we find our country in today. We are divided by politics, race, gender, sexual orientation and any other grouping you want to add in there. We are no longer just “Americans” we have some hyphenated word before it. The church is not immune from the same division. We divide ourselves up under the names Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist and on and on, not daring to set foot in a church of another denomination. What happened?

This isn’t how the church started. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” - Acts 2:42-47. Time has caused a division in God’s Holy Church.

We are Christians, “little Christs”, not a division of Christ’s body. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” - Galatians 3:28-29.

I long for the love and unity in our country on 9/12 to return, but I don’t believe it will happen before the return of Christ. Let us, as Christians, not be the reason for the division we find in the country. Christ gave us a simple command, “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’” - Luke 10:27.

Have a great day and God bless.

Hatred

Hatred. That’s the word I think of this day each year as we remember the events of 9/11 that occurred on American soil. Hatred that a small group of people had in their hearts for a nation and group of people that they were willing to forcefully take control of four airplanes full of unsuspecting passengers and attack our country. The events that took place in New York City, Washington DC and a field in Pennsylvania, will never leave my memory for the rest of my life. I remember watching the events unfold in my classroom like it was yesterday and calling friends and family back home in NY to check on their safety.

To be completely honest, I had hatred in my heart that day as the news unfolded on who the alleged attackers were, where they came from and what their religious beliefs were. At the point in my life, I was not a Christian. I had no real care in the world about anything surrounding the religious beliefs of anyone. I didn’t believe in a God, but I did know that what was done that day was not right, no matter what you believe.

Since that day in history, I have given my life to Christ and see this world and the events that take place with a complete different world view. I see the world through the eyes of God’s Holy Word. The hatred I had that day has changed, not that I don’t hate what happened, but I don’t hate those that are lost. “You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” - Matthew 5:43-45.

“For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." - John 3:20-21.

Have a great day and God bless as we remember those that lost their lives on this somber day.

Character vs. Reputation

Character vs. reputation. Have you ever thought about what the difference is between your character and your reputation?  It’s something that has been quoted by greats like Thomas Paine (below), John Wooden and Abraham Lincoln. The definition walks a thin line between the two. So what is the more important trait to have: character or reputation.

As the statement by Thomas Paine says, our character is who we truly are and no one knows us better than God Himself. There is no hiding our true identities from the One who created us. I believe the Bible is also very clear that the spiritual realm, demons and angels, are all around us, just hidden to the human eye. So it makes sense that the omniscience God and the hidden spiritual world of angels would know who we really are.

Our reputation is based upon what we allow others to see of us. Our true selves are masked from the eyes of others as we sometimes put on a facade in their presence. This is where we get the word “hypocrite” from. It was a mask used in plays to hide the true identities of the actors. We have a tendency to do this in our own lives because we either want to portray something we are not or have to maintain something that people have become accustomed to believing in us.

A former football coach once made the statement, “your character is who you are in the dark.”  I’ve also heard it said the your character is who you are when no one is around. Both of those pretty much mean the same thing. Our concern should not be about our reputation because people are going to form opinions about us no matter what we do. Our concern should be what God knows about us because we will ultimately answer to Him for our actions. “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” - Romans 14:12.

Have a great day and God bless.

Chaos

Chaos. When everything in our lives seems to be out of our control, we feel like chaos has taken over. Most of us, by nature, like things to be within our control. We like to have a daily routine, we like to be the one’s who are in control of decisions that affect our day or our lives. When we lose that control and daily routine, we feel like our lives have been turned inside out. We tend to over exaggerated and say that our lives are in total and complete chaos. My wife and I have felt that way the last week or so as we are dealing with housing decisions.

However, when you really take a step back from all of the events that we feel are causing chaos in our lives, it’s never usually as bad as it may seem. What happens is that we usually want to play God ourselves and have complete control over all things, but in reality, we are never truly in control of most of the things in our lives. We decided to end the chaos by turning all of it over to God and allowing Him to see it through. It was like a thousand pound weight was lifted from the situation.

When we turn our chaos over to God who already knows the outcome, we leave it in the most capable hands possible. He takes our chaos and gives us His peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” - John 14:27. The devil wants us to live in constant chaos and to take our eyes off of Jesus and sometimes we all fall for that lie. But the Word says that we should not let our hearts be troubled.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." - John 16:33. We will face chaos in this world and in our lives, but Christ has overcome this world so that we can have peace in Him. Have you gone to Him for peace?

Have a great day and God bless.

Life is Short

Life is short. I bet I heard that phrase about a dozen times this week in general conversations with people at work. I’ve even seen that phrase posted on Facebook a couple of times this week. I agree and I disagree with that statement. I agree that life is short, shorter for some than it is for others. I disagree that life ends after we die. The Bible is clear that life is short, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” - James 4:13-14.

What we call “life” is but merely a blip on the entire spectrum of time. We show up, and if we are lucky, live somewhere around 70 years. Some people have their lives cut shorter and even others surpass that amount of time by decades. “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” - Psalm 90:10.

So what is the purpose of our assumed 70 years on this earth?  Without purpose, what are we really here for?  We are created by God to glorify and praise Him, but we cannot do that until we find Him through His Son Jesus Christ. It is once we find Him that we begin to know what our purpose is here on His earth. Some people become Christians at a very young age and get to have years of praising Him and doing His work. Others don’t find Christ until later on in life.

So, even though life is relatively short, like a vapor, what we do with our lives is eternally important. We will spend eternity in one of two places: Heaven or Hell. The decision we make in this life will have an effect on our eternity. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” - John 3:36. That wrath of God will last for all of eternity as well. Those that reject Christ do not cease to exist, they spend eternity paying for their rejection of the free gift through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10.

Have you made a decision on your eternity yet? “For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” - 2 Corinthians 6:2.

Have a great day and God bless.

Inspection

Inspection. One part of this whole home buying process is the inspection of homes. When you buy a new home you make sure you get someone to perform a home inspection on your behalf to make sure everything is sound with the home. Most of us are not well versed enough to do it on our own so we pay someone else that does inspections for a living to do it for us. We make every effort to make sure that what we are putting an investment into is sound and not going to fall apart when we buy it.

We should put just as much effort into inspecting our own lives like we do our homes. The great thing is that we are experts on our lives because nobody knows us better than we do, except God. We don’t have to hire and expert to inspect our lives, God gave us His Word to use to inspect how we are living according to what He seeks from us.

“But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.” - 1 Corinthians 11:31. The Bible instructs is to judge ourselves, to inspect our own lives, so that we can see where we fall short of God’s commands and then ask Him to change our hearts to match His. If we judge ourselves in that way, God will not have to pronounce judgement on us later.

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” - 1 John 1:8. The worse thing we can do is pretend we have no sin. We are all sinners by nature and God still loves us. We need to be honest with ourselves and inspect our own lives frequently. We don’t need to worry about inspecting the lives of others, we have enough to worry about in our own house. Take time to regularly inspect your private lives like you would if you were inspecting a home. Your life is so much more valuable than a home will ever be.

Have a great day and God bless.

Encouragement

Encouragement. It’s is so easy to encourage others in their walk, whatever that walk may look like. I know there is a radio station that is promoting being an encourager for the whole month of September. They are asking Christians to try to encourage one other person each day this month. I think that is an awesome idea and shouldn’t stop when the month comes to an end. I’ve tried to increase my encouragement of others over the last few weeks because we all need encouragement along the way.

We should be encouraging other believers in their walk with Christ. We should be encouraging those small business owners who are trying so hard to get their business off the ground or to the next level. We should be encouraging those single moms and dads who are working so hard to raise their children ,all on their own, without anyone else’s help. There are so many people out there that just needs to know that someone believes in them and sees what they’re doing and is willing to offer them a positive word.

Social media has made it so much easier to tear people down and offer our opinions on how they can do something better. We never know all the facts behind someone’s struggle in life, so why do we feel our opinions are worth anything to them when they don’t ask us for them. What people need is someone to just say, “nice job, I like what you’re doing!”  It’s that simple and it goes a long way.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

“That we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.” - Romans 1:12

Have a great day and God bless.

Hope

Hope. It does more than just float!  I was flipping through the channels the other night and saw the movie Hope Floats was on. I stopped and watched it for a few minutes because I hadn’t seen it in many years. The main character gets embarrassed by her friend on national television when it’s revealed that her friend was having an affair with her husband. She packs up her daughter and heads back to her hometown to start over. There, she meets up with an old friend who helps get her back on her feet and find love.

People use the word “hope” all the time, like I hope it doesn’t rain, or I hope I have a better day today than yesterday. We use the word hope like it’s a wish, like we are throwing a penny in a wishing well and “hoping” for a dream to come true. But that isn’t the hope that the Bible talks about. The world has a “hope so hope” while the Bible projects a “know so hope”.

I think about the story of Abraham when he was told in his old age that he and his wife Sarah would have a promised child in which many nations would come from. He could have walked away from that promise and said, “I hope so”. However, he walked away from the promise of God with a “know so hope”. “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” - Romans 4:18. In “hope” (know so hope) he believed against “hope” (hope so hope).

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” - Romans 8:24-25. Our hope is in Jesus Christ and what He has done on the Cross for us. None of were alive to see it, so we believe in faith and put our hope in the promise of His future return. We hope that He will return soon. It’s not a “hope so hope” but a “know so hope”. We can have that kind of hope in God’s Word because of the multitude of examples in which He has made a promise and kept it. That’s where our hope comes from.

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” - 1 Timothy 4:10.

Have a great day and God bless.

Training

Training. We had a day of training at work today that everyone in my department took part in. Some of my coworkers did a portion of the training sessions and then our boss followed up with some additional training. I find it interesting to train on my profession whether that is internal or external in nature. To be able to take a day and learn new techniques and processes that work well for other members of our team and incorporate them into our own practices is so important.

Training spiritually is even more important. When we become Christians, we do not become fully in shape on that very first day. Actually, we will be in training to grow more and more like Christ for the rest of our lives. The Bible gives us so much instruction on training others, like our children, and training ourselves.

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” - Proverbs 22:6.

“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” - 1 Timothy 4:7-8.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” - Titus 2:11-14.

What if some of us trained spiritually as much as we train physically?  How much of a stronger Christian could we be?  Something to think about.

Have a great day and God bless.

Negotiations

Negotiations. As we have started going through the process of buying a new home, the art of the negotiation has become a major aspect of the dance called home buying. Making an offer, having someone else make an offer at the same time, receiving a request to make our best offer, making a new offer and then being requested for something else. I have to be honest, this isn’t fun in the least. It is nerve wracking and frustrating at times. But, if we want a new house with more room, it’s something we are going to have to wade through.

Negotiating on a house is much different than our everyday negotiating because there is definitely more at stake. We negotiate in different ways every day, we negotiate with our spouses and our kids and we negotiate at work.  But, is everything negotiable?  The answer to that, in a spiritual sense, is “no”.

We are given this life by God to make the most important decision about our eternal life. We have a choice to either accept the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ or deny Him and accept the punishment we deserve instead of accepting that He paid the punishment of our sins. That is what this life comes down to: accept or deny Christ. That decision seals our eternal destination; either heaven or hell.

Many people are under the impression that they will somehow be able to negotiate with God when they stand before Him, making their case as to how good of a person they were. The issue is that there standard of “good” has to stand up to God’s standard of “good”. “As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."” - Romans 3:10-12.

The Bible says that those who do not accept Christ in this life, will be resurrected to stand before God in judgement. God will judge the works of unsaved men and women. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” - Revelation 20:12. Everyone’s name who is not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire.

We may be able to negotiate our way out of things in this life to gain the things we want, but we will not be able to negotiate our way into an eternal heaven with God and Jesus Christ. Where is your final and eternal destination going to be?

Have a great day and God bless.

Labor Day

Labor Day. As Americans celebrate the unofficial end of summer today, there are some people that still had to work today as the rest of us had the day off. Certain professions never get a holiday, some employees may get the day off, but not because of the holiday. I think about our military, our police officers, firefighters, first responders and doctors and nurses, just to name a few.

As I enjoyed the day off from work, it didn’t mean I completely had the day off from working. I finished off some work in the yard that I didn’t get completed on Saturday and I washed my wife’s car for her. I don’t think we ever really have a time where there isn’t some work we can be doing. Whether it’s in the yard or in the house, work can always be found to do. The Bible instructs is not to be idle, “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.” - Proverbs 19:15.

The Bible also instructs us about our work and our labor, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” - Colossians 3:23-24.

And “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.” - 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12.

God created the first man and woman to work in the Garden of Eden. That work got harder when they sinned and got kicked out of paradise. We labor for the things that we have so that at the end of the day we can say that we received what we worked for.

“And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.””- Luke 10:2. If we don’t have work to do for an employer, we always have work to do for the Lord. The harvest is ready, are we ready to work?

Have a great day and God bless.

Faith

Faith. We had an awesome sermon today at church about walking on water. Pastor Phillip spoke on Peter being the only disciple that had the faith to step out of the boat and walk on the water to meet Christ amidst the storm. I’ve been thinking all afternoon about the faith that Peter showed to take that first step. Even though the storm raged all around them and the Savior was doing something they had never seen Him do before, Peter still left the security of the boat and followed Jesus’ command to “Come!”

It made me question my own faith and if Christ called out to me to “come”, would I go or would I be like the other eleven and stay in the security of the boat?  What if Christ called me to go somewhere else in the world to share His message of salvation, would I leave the comfort of my current life and go?  I guess the true answer would only come when He calls. We can say we would, but we don’t really know until that call actually comes.

Peter showed no hesitation in getting out of the boat. We don’t know how far away Christ was from the boat, but it really didn’t matter, Peter showed faith in the command of Christ and in the person of Christ. It didn’t matter that no one else was going with him or that the storm was swirling all around him, he knew who called. I pray that I have that same faith if Christ calls.

“And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."”- Matthew 14:28-33.

Have a great day and God bless.