As I was rushing around this morning trying to focus on some tasks at hand I was reminded once again that in all of our (my) rushing don’t forget to look for Jesus.

I met Jesus in three different people this morning before 9:00 a.m.  And luckily I noticed.  Sometimes I don’t notice until after the fact when there is nothing I can do about it but ask God’s forgiveness for not noticing.  It feels much better to be able to offer thanks instead of repentance.

So as I think about being thankful I am reminded to thank God for allowing us opportunities to be his hands and feet in our world.

Peace

Jim

Do you have fun at church?

It just occurred to me that since I have fun at church, everybody might not.  We don’t always think about church being fun.  We think about worshipping.  We think about communing together.  We think about praising God.  We think about offering thanksgiving to God for his blessings.  We think about giving as a means of supporting the work of the church (church being the work of us that call ourselves Christian).  We think about singing and choirs and children’s time…the list goes on and on.

But do we think about church being fun?  We seem to learn a lot more when we’re having fun.

It seems to me that if the church is going to go on being the church, and if people are going to come to understand Jesus, his love and what Jesus can do for us…church ought to be fun.

Now that doesn’t mean that we have to change our way of worship, but it does mean that we might have to change our attitude about worship.  What that means is that we come with an attitude that we are going to learn something that helps us to grow in our faith.  We learn a lot more when we can focus on the moment and enjoy the moment as a time being together with friends bound to a common cause…the cause of Christ.

Peace

Jim

 

“I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.  He freed me from all my fears.”  Psalm 34:4 NLT

Why is it so difficult to trust God?  I think the answer is that trusting in something we can’t see is hard.  But that trusting becomes easier once we take a stand by faith and experience God doing something that we have no control over.  In other words once we see God work we tend to trust him more and more until we can say with the Psalmist…

Psalm 34:8… “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  (Tasting is trusting) “Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!“

Verse 18: “The Lord is close to the broken hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”

Think about our biggest fears, the thing that causes us the most anxiety…and then take those things to Jesus and ask him to intervene.  Don’t tell him what to do just let him do as he will.

Peace

Jim

When I think about God doing a new thing, all sorts of things come to mind.  I think about going places, big events that are life changing, creation and so forth.  But most of the time the new that God shows me are things that I comprehend.  Like slowing down and noticing things.  Like feelings of love and compassion.  Like watching other people grow in their faith.  We would more recognize the excitement in the new if we could only focus more on God.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t trust God or worship him, or thank him, it just means that most of us don’t always focus on him throughout the day.  We pray for God to guide us but then we don’t always watch for signs of that guidance.

Watch for God today…

Peace

Jim

Oops, I missed yesterday.  So much going on I got sidetracked I suppose.

New things are sometimes old things that we finally notice.  Pay attention to what is around us.

Enjoy the day, its supposed to be in the 70’s today.

Peace

Jim