All In A Days Grace

  When we don’t feel well or something hurts, we Google our symptoms trying to find out what’s gone wrong. We then sit reading all the possibilities with our untrained intellect; taking big guesses and coming to conclusions that have no real basis. At times we reduce our faith to this technique as well. We try to navigate life with the limited surface knowledge that we have; basing our observations simply on what we “feel”. Just try Googling “I feel pain in my right side” , and see all the possibilities that come up. Hopefully we finally manage to pull ourselves away from our searches and assumptions and see a medical professional. We then explain in detail what we’re feeling inside, but that can never give us a conclusive understanding of what’s actually going on inside. The doctor at this point, usually sends us for some kind of testing to help to “see” inside of us. This might be a scope, scan, blood test or biopsy (removal of tissue to be examined further in a lab). ...

  Today is a cloudy day where I live. As I type that sentence I realize there’s something profound about it.  It is actually cloudy in the aspect of weather. The sun is muted by the clouds. The light is dim. But there's more. I walked around my house slowly turning the lights on to make things a bit brighter. It also feels cloudy in other ways. The world events hover like clouds above us all. War, financial strain, loss of life and future uncertainty mute the light of our lives in many ways. I pulled up the five day forecast on my computer and was happy to see that there will be sun after a few stormy days. I then opened up my bible and searched for the same reassurance for our world.   I pictured in amusement typing the question into my search engine. “What is the five day forecast Lord?” “What is the ten day, monthly or yearly forecast for this world God?” I turned to my favorite verse which is earmarked and underlined in my bible. The page is also wrinkled b...

  As we head into the 40 days of lent many churches hear teachings about the life and ministry of Jesus. We hear incredible stories of how he healed people and cast out demons. He made bold proclamations as to whom he was and the power of the Kingdom of God. But in all of these incredible revelations regarding the life of Jesus we may still walk away from them not understanding the purpose. Many times, we might simply feel the incredible events that take place in the Gospels were merely to “prove” Jesus was who he said he was, but it’s really so much more. Jesus walked as a living example of how our heavenly Father designed us and our life to be before sin entered in. “For this purpose, I have come into the world-to bear witness to the truth.”- John 18:37 In our recent Ash Wednesday service, we walked through the scripture of Satan trying to tempt Jesus. (Matthew 4:1-11) When that happens, Jesus makes it clear that he will only serve God and we’re shown in that an inc...