2 Peter 1:3-9

     His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

     For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Preach the Word

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:  Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.  But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 

     There are times when no comment is the better path. 

     Always guide my writing and speaking on your behalf and make it for your glory.  Give the people reading the words herein your blessing, Father.  It is for you they read these words.  For all the blessings you have delivered to me and to them, I praise you my most holy and divine Father.  Amen

Life's Storms

     Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.  But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We're going to drown!"

     He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"  Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

(Matthew 8:24-26)

     A storm is building over my life.  The mission my Father has assigned to me is creating a storm in my life.  

     As success in the mission builds, balancing a regular job and this mission is becoming difficult at best.  I love the mission - loathe the regular job.  I need the money from the job, but love the mission so dearly.  I fight a great battle on the inside. It is not quite time to quit the regular job, but my only interest lies upon the mission.  I am fearful of the storm.

     You and I must have faith during the storms of life; faith that our Lord is with us and in control.  When he asks us to live for him, we must have faith that he will make our journey, our mission, a success, a safe journey.  Our Lord controls all things, all people, at all times. He asks us to have faith in his control. 

     We must take a moment and calm ourselves through our faith.  After all, this is a journey of faith.  This faith sets us apart from non Christians.  Pray...

Hope

     We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.  Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”^[ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

(Romans 15:1-4) 

     Our God is love, our God is hope.  As he gives us hope, spread it to those around you.  We all need an injection of hope at times.  Remember a time when you faltered and found yourself struggling to carry on in the most dire of circumstances.  Reflect that hope given to you by your faith to those you see struggling.  Keep this with you from Philo of Alexandria, an ancient Jewish philosopher in Alexandria, Egypt:  Be kind; Everyone you meet is fighting a great battle (on the inside).  Give them the love and hope of our Lord.  May the peace and love of our Lord, Jesus, go with you my fellow saints.

Saint Paul and Us

      I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.  Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

(1Timothy 1:12-14 NIV)

     Remember, Paul was, in the beginning,, a hater of our Lord and a persecutor of Christians, but the Lord makes use of the most unlikely people to serve him...like you and I.  Pray, have faith, and it shall be given to you a mission for him.  What seems like the most trivial mission, is as important in the eyes of our Lord as the most involved missions. 

Be Someone’s Light at the End of the Tunnel

     As a Christian, there are times when we must show others the light at the end of the tunnel.    We must show them that loving light of our Lord that we know and, perhaps, they have lost sight of in their anguish.  In these times, the Lord may ask us to come out of our comfort zones to accomplish this.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”                                                       (John 8:12 NIV)

     Occasionally, my friends and I, in our younger days, would fish the farm ponds north of our town in the evenings as relaxation.  Afterward, we enjoyed stopping in at one of the country bars in the area for a couple of beers and a chat with the country folks.  These were family places.  One would hear the good and bad of family life shared openly.  Their stories could be enthralling or amusing.  However, anytime I heard distress in a person’s voice or it was displayed in their manner, they had my full attention.  At this point, my Lord would transform me into a fisher of men.  This is an improvement my faith has brought upon me.

     One of those particular evenings, I sat talking to one of those distressed persons.  He intimated his wife of several years had, without any warning signs (though I doubted that), left him for another man.  This had ended in a heart crushing divorce.  He was wholly devastated.  His was a devastation that was quiet and very inward.  That form can be more worrying, in my thinking, than the outward, brash form of devastation.

     We talked about it for some time back and forth.  Then I looked him in the eye, asking him if he believed in Christ.  He told me yes, though he hadn’t attended church in years.  I believed that, in his condition, he could not see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Life for him was over…figuratively and, possibly, literally.

     At this moment, I told him, in no uncertain terms that he is not going to find relief or a new beginning in a bar.  If the bar became his life, it would be depression on steroids.  I stated what I knew; Jesus is sitting with us at this very moment listening to our every word, and waiting for you to turn toward him.  Some overly stimulated Christians think Jesus would not be caught dead in a bar.  This man needed to know, with absolute certainty, that Jesus was there, and the fact that in our Lord there is the light of life…in the bottle, only darkness.

     As the conversation and the man turned toward Jesus’ light, he was truly affected.  A short time later, we walked out together.  I do not know the end of his story, but I do know the beginning.  There is Jesus’ light at the end of the tunnel with that beginning.  Jesus brought us together that evening, and the holy spirit was strong within that man as he left.  I fear the best, with a smile.

     As Christians, we need to be vigilant in watching over our brothers and sisters.  Picking up on a nuance in a friend or a person we meet in passing, may save a soul as well as a life.  We are not heroes when we do these things, but instruments for our Lord to carry out his will.  We must keep in mind the difficulties of seeing light in a dark and overpowering period.  You may be stepping out of your comfort zone to be our Lord’s instrument, but you will be blessed for the effort.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

(2 Corinthians 9:12)

    

Light In the Darkness

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

(John 8:12 NIV) 

     Is there a darkness in your life?  Follow our loving Lord, Jesus, and you shall never again walk in darkness.  Merely, ask through prayer with a true and loving heart, and you shall receive.  It's that simple.  

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 

(Mark 11:24 NIV)