Peter’s Posts

I take a walk down a gravel road every day. In fact I walk the same path 3 times every day. I take the same route so I can just pray or think and let my brain relax. Last week for the first time I saw a snake. I saw a gopher snake, a little baby one less than a foot long. Then 2 days later I saw a much bigger one. It stretched across about 1/2 the road. Now that I know they are there I can’t just mindlessly wander. I am vigilant and watching. These snakes are harmless but they scare me.

I wonder if my spiritual life could use a wake up like this.

The bible warns us to be vigilant, not because our enemy is a gopher snake but …”Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

We have an enemy who is actively seeking our destruction not a harmless gopher snake, a powerful and destructive killer, A lion. Maybe I should wake up and watch where I’m going. There is so much good and so much evil just a click or two away.

If we look at the Christian life like Jesus described it in John 10 where Jesus is our shepherd and we are his sheep then the lion analogy brings on fresh meaning.

“The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

There is a lion who wants to destroy me but he knows that he has to separate me first. Isolate me from my flock and from my shepherd. I need to stay close enough to hear his voice.

When I was 16 I was sent on an errand. I was supposed to drive from Ephrata to Longview, pick up a transmission and drive back home. Simple plan. Against the advice of my elders I chose to take White Pass. They recommended Interstate 90 and Snoqualmie pass. I had gone over Hiway 12 and Whites Pass 3 years before and liked the view. I chose white pass.

I didn’t remember a left turn. After Natches there is a big, well marked left turn. I didn’t take a left turn. So Hiway 12 turned into Hiway 410 without me even noticing.

I continued on my way and soon the road became unfamiliar. “A lot has changed since I was here last” I thought to myself. Blissfully unaware I drove the cascade mountains and I arrived in Enumclaw. I stopped at a store to exchange fluids. I bought some and left some. The woman behind the counter asked about my journey. I told her I was headed to Longview. She asked, “do you know where you are?”

I confidently replied in the affirmative. I asked “which way to the freeway?”

She snickered and told me to just keep going and watch for the signs.

I didn’t ask for specific directions because I thought I knew where I was. I know now what I didn’t know then. I was LOST!

I tell this story for one reason.

We can’t get help unless we first know that we need help. We can’t be found until we first know that we are lost.

I have some bad news for mankind. We are all lost. From conception we are lost and estranged from God.

“9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

11 there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”[b]

13 “Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”[c]

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[d]

14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[e]

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 ruin and misery mark their ways,

17 and the way of peace they do not know.”[f]

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”’

This is not good news. This news can be turned around though.

Here is the good news!

Luke 19:10

For the Son of Man (Jesus)came to seek and to save the lost.”

To be saved, to be found by Jesus the first step is the same for each one of us, we have admit that we are lost. We cannot find our way back to God on our own. Our only hope is to accept Jesus’ help. His death pays our debt of sin and his resurrection shows that he is the way to eternal life.

I could not get to Longview through Enumclaw without a drastic course correction. I had to turn. Enumclaw is about midway on the I-5 corridor between the northern border of Washington state and the the southern border. To show how lost I was, Longview, my destination borders the Columbia river and Washington’s southern border. I was L-O-S-T lost.

At that very same time as a teenager, I was in a search for God. I knew I was a sinner and so I was in the constant cycle of sinning and trying to be good enough to outweigh the sin. But I would fail and sin some more. In my spiritual life I also had to change course. I had to repent which is a fancy way of saying I must turn around. I was in a Spiritual Enumclaw but I thought I was heading towards my spiritual Longview.

I think one of the best examples of a person turning around, repenting, is the story of the prodigal son. Jesus tells the story in Luke 15. To shorten the tale, the younger of two sons tells his dad in so many words, I can’t wait for you to die so I can get my inheritance so I will just cash out now. The dad agrees, gives his son the money and the son leaves and squanders it all on a loose partying lifestyle. He ends up broke and friendless, feeding pigs, the lowest job imaginable.

But then a light dawns, “15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Luke 15:15-24 –

My story has many almost aha moments, where I almost see the light but then early one Sunday morning after leaving college and a pastoral ministry degree path which I thought was how I would my way into Gods approval, i was mentally fretting about if i wasn’t going to become a pastor how i could ever earn Gods love but just then the words of a couple of verses in Ephesians came into my mind and I finally understood them.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 –

God my father had been watching and waiting for that moment and just like in the prodigal son story he ran to me ,”But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

I was welcomed home.

When I was lost in Enumclaw, I couldn’t get where I was going until I realized I was going the wrong way. I did finally figure it out and I found the southbound interstate 5 and got to Longview, but not before going through a torrential downpour, both outside the truck cab and down my face as I bawled my eyes out.

If on your life’s spiritual journey you have found yourself anywhere but at the feet of Jesus then you are lost. Jesus said that he is the way to the Father.

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6 –

The most important part of this story, the part that I want to stress , is that I was lost but I didn’t know it. I had missed a turn and ended up miles from my destination but I didn’t know it. That was also true of my spiritual journey in life. I thought I was on the right path, trying earn my way to God.

There are many ways to get to Longview, I found a very long and circuitous way. But there is only one way to God our father and that is through his son Jesus. Jesus came to earth to live a perfect human life and then die the death that We deserve, he took our place, he took my place.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

John 3:16-18 –

Jesus came to save us. Jesus came to be the way to the Father.

Where are you today? What destination are you headed to? I can tell you how to get to Longview, I can also tell you how to go home to a Father who loves you, who loves us, and that way is through Jesus.

Philippians

Paul and Timothy. That’s how the apostle Paul starts out this letter.

Paul wrote this letter from prison. Paul was in prison. Timothy was a free man and yet as Paul writes his letter to the believers in Philippi he adds Timothy in the greeting. I am in chains here and Timothy sits at my feet to aid me.

I want a Timothy in my life. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a personal assistant who is so loyal as to follow you to jail?

Timothy also was one who could be trusted to be sent to a foreign office, even in a decadent, and immoral city to maintain his own integrity and preach, teach and serve the people of that immoral and decadent place. Paul sent him to both Ephesus and to Corinth. He served tin those places and others and then also carried correspondence back and forth.

He was a stenographer and writing assistant, Paul includes him as co-author on several letters he wrote, Timothy’s name appears as the co-author on 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

How do i get a Timothy for myself? I can ask God for a Timothy to aid me in my life. He may answer that request, but while I am waiting for a Timothy, should I also pray that God make ME a Timothy? Can I be made to be helpful, loyal, hardworking, faithful, able to teach and yet eager to serve?

Paul says this about his friend and mentee: “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me.”

Philippians 2:19-23

Lord Jesus help me be like this man Timothy. Let me be useable and send able and bendable like he was. On the other side, Let me value and trust and invest in those people you put into my life like Paul did for his helpers.

I’ve had this nagging problem that I’ve hinted at but I am prompted to share it and add what God is doing to help me.

The problem is that I don’t feel like God really loves me. I believe that I am saved by Jesus, but it feels like it was like a person at a yard sale who buys a box of junk because he sees in it some treasures. He has to buy the entire box just to get the treasures. I feel like the junk in the box that gets bought because God has to take all of us.

I was thinking about this yesterday and wondering if I should post about it, I was driving in Wenatchee at the time and just then a large truck drove past me, with large letters that read, “the junk man”. It said something about taking all your stuff or something to that effect.

As I Started to write this down I felt if God asked me what Is it I wanted? My brain didn’t have an answer but My heart yelled out, “I want to be your favorite!”

My brain was embarrassed by my hearts outburst. I expected a rebuke from God or at least an explanation by God of how he can’t have any favorites. Instead I felt like God Said “oh Peter, don’t you know, you are my favorite! My favorite Peter Loeffelbein” and then in my mind I saw a picture of God at the garage sale searching through the box, looking for me, I was the treasure he was seeking.

Tears and snot came next.

This is how God feels about me.

It also how God feels about you. We are each one of us, his favorite, His treasure.

My hope is that you read this and feel in your heart, God’s great love for you. I hope it brings hope and joy to you, that it breaks the crust off your heart like it did mine. God loves us all. Truth. But God loves me. You can say that too. God loves me, he sent his son to seek me. Seek you.

Now you say it.

God loves me. It’s true.

I was thinking about this as I woke up, God doesn’t have an accounting ledger, he has an eraser.

Think of the vastness of space, not just our little corner but all of it. What did Carl used to say?”Billions and Billions of planets”. God created those. Everything that exists God thought of and then spoke it into being. And then he also created us. We rebelled against him and broke every rule he had put in place. This rebellion separated us from God.

But God loved us and he wanted to create a way for us to be restored to him.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:3-11 –

Our God loves us so much the he humbled himself and stuffed all of his God-ness into human form. In this form He would be subject to time and space, he would need to sleep and eat and eliminate waste. (Mary and Joseph changed God’s diapers). He would feel pain, and thirst, and anger and sadness and joy. He would laugh and cry. He, God himself would experience humanness and do it perfectly.

There is so much to consider when thinking about this, God becoming man, but what struck me this morning is the incomprehensible aspect that the God who lives beyond and outside time and space, entered and restricted himself to both of these just so he could eventually suffer and die. When I was 19 my parents and my older sister Shari brought me to Schreiner’s Hospital in Spokane. It had been a very nice family outing. We got to the hospital and got me checked in and then decided to go out for breakfast. One catch, i couldn’t go. I was now a ward of the hospital. My family was free to roam about the big city of Spokane but I was constrained to stay. Jesus being God had never had restraints on him but while he was here, he was human and stuck to a place and a time. He did this.

For me. For us.

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! ”

Thank you Jesus.

It’s a sign.

Gods master plan wasn’t interrupted by the cross of Jesus. Gods master plan was the cross of Jesus. Don’t think for a minute the Jews conspiring to kill this man was an accident. Jesus knew ahead of time what was coming. He knew he would die a death that pain itself was the killer. The victim is slowly suffocated by pain. He knew. And yet he loved us so much, he did it anyway.

Matthew 16

“16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.[a] 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.”

The sign of Jonah. Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights. Jesus would soon be in the earth 3 days a 3 nights. The fish couldn’t hold Jonah and death will not, did not, can not hold Jesus.

If you added up what Jesus had done in front of these people to this time in his ministry, like feeding 5 thousand the another 4 thousand with a bag of bread and some fish, healing every person who asked for it, raising the dead back to life, walking on water, calming a storm, all of this had already been displayed, then they asked for a sign from heaven.

What nudge are we waiting for in our generation? It’s always Gods love that draws us in. God loves us. He showed us his love in the sign of Jonah. That Jesus was swallowed up by death but he defeated it. He didn’t need to beat death, he is God, but he knew we needed it because death waits for us all. At death we must cash in our chips to pay for all of mistakes, our sins, our selfishness but we don’t have enough. Our pockets are empty at the grave but Jesus not only beat death, he paid for our sin too. His perfect life sacrificially given up pays for it all.

If you live in Ephrata look up to the top of Beasley hill tonight, there’s a sign there, a sign for each one of us. It’s a cross. God loves us so much that he sent his son to die in our place.

John 11

Jesus brings the dead back to life.

“38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.”

This story was hard for me to write about. I couldn’t get images of rotting flesh and Zombies out of my mind.

The weird thing is that I have personal experience with being clinically dead. I was in a car accident when I was 11 and was without pulse and not breathing when I arrived at the hospital. My mom arrived just then, saw me and asked some doctors who had just checked me and were walking away if she could talk to me. They said ” it doesn’t matter now”. My mom touched my leg and I started coughing. The doctors spun around and started working on me again. I remember being above my body in the hallway and the return to the pain of being damaged but in flesh.

Jesus spoke to Lazarus. “Come out” and the mound of flesh and bones that was rotting inside a cave came back to life and walked out of the grave. The same voice that had said to pre-existing darkness, ” let there be light” and light came into being, reanimated the body of his friend with 3 words. “Lazarus,come out.”

We are all dead in our sins.

“2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved”.

We are all dead in our sins but we don’t have stay that way. Jesus speaks to each one of us and says “(your name here), come out”.

I read in Isaiah recently and as I was reading I kept wondering how does this fit into the good news in the New Testament? This fits together but not like frosting fits a cupcake. I can’t think of how it fits except maybe to say like a Jenga puzzle, 3/4s of the way into the game.

“For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins. Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.”

Isaiah 64:3-9

Then put that alongside the good news found in John’s Gospel.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

John 3:16-19

They do not contradict each other. God loves us. He has described this love in various ways, frequently he uses the metaphor of a father’s love for his children. A father’s love is not always displayed in kindness and affection. Sometimes a father needs to love in stern rebuke, redirection or in discipline which can be painful. Earthly fathers do these things guessing and hoping for the appropriate course of action to take but God, being all knowing and all wise does it right every time. God makes no mistakes when he disciplines his children.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says it like this: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline —then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:4-11

God has one goal in mind for us. To make us more like Jesus.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

Romans 8:28-29

He is is patiently forming us, like we read in Isaiah, as a potter forms clay. The potter has a shape in mind and he will form the clay as HE pleases because he is the master. He will complete the work he starts in us. Since we don’t know what his design is, it can be confusing watching the process from the inside. He will masterfully make us into the product he wants and needs us to be and it will always be with the character of Jesus as the framework.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:3-6 –

If I go back to the original verses I started with, Isaiah and John, I think Isaiah is written from mans perspective, realizing that sin has separated us from God, and The verses in John are Gods reply, “I love you, I’ve sent Jesus to pay off your debt so we can be restored. Accept my gift. Some will not but it is offered to all. “

Today, right now, as you are reading this, have you received God’s gift of reconciliation? If not, will you? Today, now if you want to, you can be restored to our God who loves you. If you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ as lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

If you have already received this gift, have you told anyone else? Statistically, in a room of 100 random people, 69 of those people have not yet heard or have chosen not to believe about Jesus or in Jesus. Our job is to tell them, tell them that there is s God who loves them, that he sacrificed his only son for them, to restore the relationship between us and Him.

May God bless your day. May you be constantly reminded of His love for you and for all the people around you. May you find ways to serve the people in your world with grace and humility, serving with the gifts God has given uniquely to you.

What do a stomach bug and a TV show about a crime solving priest have in common?

Two essential elements of Christianity. That’s what. Repentance and confession. In The series Father Brown is more concerned about the criminal’s soul than he is about solving the crime.

His main goal in the show is to get the guilty party to repent and confess.

Today I came down with a Flu bug. I was at work when I decided to turn around, change direction and go back home. I repented of my decision to go south east to Moses Lake, I turned around and headed north west back to Ephrata.

I was only home a couple of minutes before my stomach confessed of everything I had eaten. It wouldn’t be satisfied with a partial confession, it had to have it all out.

“5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

Take it from me, when a stomach confesses it is nasty business. All kinds of ugliness comes out. The same is true for a heart and soul.

Usually working together with confession and almost always preceding it, is repentance. My favorite story of repentance is found in the book of Luke. Jesus tells the story of 2 brothers. The younger cashes in his inheritance and goes partying. When he runs out of money he also runs out of friends and ends up destitute, feeding pigs.

“17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.”

The next verses are what I think are the best bd description of God’s Father heart towards us, his wayward children.

““But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”

Are you feeling a long way off? Sometimes I do. It’s mostly my fault too. I go my own way and then feel estranged but Gods heart towards me, towards us has not changed. God is scanning the horizon anxiously waiting for us to return.

Repentance and confession are not our ticket back in to his love. God loves us. Repentance and confession are our way to be purged and healed.

So I say and you can say it with me if you like; Forgive me Father, I have sinned against you and against heaven. I am unworthy to be called your child.

And he says about us and to us, welcome home!

Proverbs 9:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. “

Growing up as a Loeffelbein, there was always a project going on in the garage. Something was being built or repaired or modified or enhanced almost all of the time. In my early childhood my dad was racing in the jalopy class. I don’t remember what the specifications were but they were mostly homebuilt open wheelers. At the same time he was also building street rods, one I remember the most, a 39 Ford coupe.

The strongest memories from those days were approaching the garage, the door open, and my dad, my brother and my dads friends bent over, and crawled under, and poking into and hanging out of the car projects. I remember the smells of grease and oil and I remember the sparks. Showers of sparks. Sometimes from welding and sometimes from grinding. Lots of sparks. Sprays and geysers of sparks. I may actually be superimposing years of memories on top of each other but I don’t think it will change the validity of my point.

I feared those sparks. Somehow my older brother either wasn’t afraid or worked past it or around it. Because my brother faced the fear, No it wasn’t that. My brother knew and loved my father and felt safe in his presence even if there were sparks and loud noises.

God has invited us all into his garage, his work shop. There are some scary and surprising things going on inside. He is busy creating, restoring and repairing humanity.

Some of us never look into the garage. We have no knowledge of or interest in Gods creative process. Some of are drawn in but see the sparks and are frightened away. But some of us move past to meet the maker of the sparks and get to know the father God who creates and repairs and redeems.

I am reminded of what the ghost of Christmas present says in A Christmas Carol, “come in and know me better man!”

He invites us in, but not just to watch. He wants us to participate and he wants to work on us too.

The work God wants to do in our lives is almost always in our hearts. Sometimes it’s actually heart transplant surgery, where he takes out a heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. Sometimes it’s the deconstruction of walls we’ve built around us. Sometimes it’s tearing down the high platforms of pride In ourselves or the lofty expectations we have for others. Sometimes it’s to remove cancers of hate. Sometimes it’s to repair wounds inflicted by others. There is electrical work to do. Sometimes our brains get wired wrong. God untangles the mixed messages. When any switch a person flips on us makes us angry or when we flip the love and respect switch but it keeps opening the lust faucet.

To know God is to love God. If we don’t love him yet, We don’t we know him yet. He is our Father. He has the role of provider and disciplinarian but he also has the role of the great one who loves, who holds and helps, who protects and prompts, who leads and guides. He created us but not like our parents, blindly, just hoping and guessing what we will be and what will will do. He created us, not as a toy but as a tool. We were created with and for a purpose. We have an enemy who wants to distract and destroy us and diminish or destroy our purpose.

We need to fear and honor this great and awesome God who said to nothing, “let there be…. “ and everything we know came into existence. To fear and honor him is the beginning of wisdom, but to know him is find out about ourselves, first that we fit into a plan and next, how we fit into his plan. To know him is to be loved and cared for by him, and to be guided by and disciplined and trained by him. We have value because he created us on purpose and for a purpose.

In All of this is God is waiting for us but we have to say the words. Like in a wedding, the honeymoon night awaits. The wedding rehearsal does not a marriage make. It is very similar to the wedding but it is not the same thing. A wedding, saying the vows and exchanging the rings, that makes a wedding.

God longs and waits for us but we are stopped from joining him by a wall of sin, (Wall or crevasse) a dividing point. Jesus died to remove the barrier and fill in the gap so there is no more division.

In his letter to the believers in Collisi Paul said this: “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Colossians 2:13-15

God is inviting us into the garage, partly for work we need done on us, and partly so we can participate in what he is doing in and for others. Will you brave the sparks with me and join in God’s plan to restore broken lives, mine and yours?

John 11

Bloom where you are planted, unless you are dead.

“17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”’

This week some famous people died. George Beverly Shea, 104. Chyna, 46. Prince, 57. My uncle Delvin passed away recently. He was buried next to my parents who both died in 2003, January and June. I stood on the ground that covers my parents remains.

Most people once dead stay dead.

Or do we?

“25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”’

This is the question we all must ask ourselves: Do we believe this?

Jesus will show his authority over death by raising Lazarus. And it won’t be long in our reading of John before Jesus himself is put to death. But death couldn’t hold him.

The questions remain.

Who is this Jesus?

Do we believe him?

I do.

John 11

Wait, what?

“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”’

There are a couple of things that happen here that make me scratch my head.

Jesus said that the sickness wouldn’t end in death but Lazarus dies. But it doesn’t end there.

Lord willing I’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

The second thing is that John mentions a thing about Mary washing and anointing Jesus’ feet as if he had already told us about it but it doesn’t get written in until the next chapter.

I have often felt that in the story of my life I only play a minor supporting role. In the credits of “Peters life, the movie” towards the end, right before they thank the caterers and the city of Ephrata there will be “and Peter Loeffelbein”.

I think lazarus’ sister Mary may have felt that way about her life but her simple act of ministering to Jesus was so well known that John could reference it before he had written it.

I think this says our service to Jesus may be more significant than we know. He remembers it all.

Do the right thing and do it for the right reason and for the right person.

Do it for Jesus. And keep doing it because he remembers it all. Keep serving him. Love people. Serve people. Keep going. He remembers it. He remembers us. It is significant.

We are significant to him.

The tomb was empty.

They left him there, Joseph and Nicodemus took charge of Jesus body and left him in Joseph’s tomb. “Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John 19:38-42

When his friends came back to care for his body, the tomb was empty.

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

John 20:1-20

Jesus began to appear to his followers at seemingly random times. One of my favorite post resurrection appearances was when Peter took the gang fishing.

“Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus ), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

John 21:1-

At one time he appeared to over 500 people at one time.

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

I’m writing this early on Easter morning, April 21st 2019. It’s a beautiful sunny spring day. I have listed some of the scriptures that I base my belief in Jesus resurrection on. What do you believe about Jesus? Today would a fantastic day to start a new life as a follower of Jesus, the risen savior of the world. If you already believe, will you share your story with one other person today?

May you and yours Have a blessed Easter resurrection day.

He is risen!

I say “he is risen” and you say?

He is risen indeed….

It’s a call and response that we used to do in the Lutheran church. It was especially popular on Easter Sunday.

Here is why we can say that, found in First Corinthians:

“3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.”

He is risen.

He is risen indeed!

Three guys….

Why do so many jokes start with 3 guys?

The next thing I will say here is no joke.

On this day about 2 thousand years ago three guys hung from crosses on a hill outside of Jerusalem. They weren’t tied to the cross, they were nailed, through the hands and feet. Two of them were thieves, the third was a man named Jesus.

We have a record of his Jesus’ last words. The last thing he said was, ” it is finished “

“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (Jn 19:30)

What did he mean?

He meant that the job of paying for all of the sin in the world, all the wrongs, all the hurts and hates, the stains on the souls of men that could not be removed by men had been removed by God.

This is no ordinary man this guy Jesus. He is the very, the only son of God.

Much to our relief he did not stay dead. 3 days later he rose from the dead. He is alive! Jesus is alive.

He died to finish the plan of our salvation and he rose from the dead to give us eternal life.

Three guys hung on crosses to their deaths. One guy said “It is finished”. And so it is.

All we gotta do is ask.

Easter. It’s not about a dead guy. It is about a guy dying. Same guy. A guy died. He just didn’t stay dead.

This how my childhood went, “What’s that? The church doors are open? Well then, we must attend. “ My mom.

Church attendance. Optional for guests. Mandatory for minor children.

Tradition tells me, We will be late. When we do arrive, We will smell of French fries, coffee and cigarette smoke. It was the perfume of the cafe my parents owned and operated.

We attended a Lutheran Church so the services were predictable; 3 hymns a 20 minute message and liturgy.

Sometimes there was a bonus.

Sometimes there was food in the fellowship hall in the basement.

Good Friday service In 1978 was just such a night. The service was somber but then there was food and noisy fellowship afterwards. It was winding down and my family was getting ready to leave. I had left something in the pew above us so I clambered up the stairs to grab it. The lights in the sanctuary were off, just the back lights by the alter and the cross on the wall. This year someone had added a rough wooden cross and it was standing on the platform between the pulpit and the lectern. The ladies of the church, two of them were ceremoniously draping the cross with a black cloth.

It suddenly hit me. This guy Jesus? The one we talked about, the one that had performed miracles. He healed. He delivered. He set free. He forgave. He brought back to life. That guy. He seemed so friendly. But tonight, for me in my understanding, he was dead.

He was dead. Even though there had been almost 2000 years elapse since it happened, the weight of the news hit me as though it had just happened that afternoon. I was washed over with grief and sadness.

I don’t recall the rest of that years Easter holiday. If I’m remembering it right, Our Pastor, a fantastic old school bible preacher Joe McGaw didn’t use the term Easter, he called it resurrection day. If I had been listening, maybe the Good Friday service and the resurrection day service would’ve brought me into faith sooner. I had other things to preoccupy me though, I had guys to hang out with, a pretty girlfriend, a 57 Chevy truck that wasn’t going to restore itself. I was busy. Too busy to connect the two pieces.

A few years went by and it all started to make sense. Well, not in a worldly way of making sense. But i understood that i was a sinner. God hated sin but he loved me. He sent Jesus to die, and that death, Jesus sacrificially dying for me, brought God and I back together. All of my sin was washed away by the blood that Jesus spilled dying for me.

Then 3 days after he died, death could not keep him any longer and he rose. The tomb was emptied by him, walking out of it.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.”

Jesus died. I am so sorry and yet so grateful. Jesus died But he didn’t stay dead. He rose from the grave.

Easter Sunday is a few days away. Resurrection day. We celebrate this event and would love for you to join us. We attend Ephrata Foursquare Church. Our service is at 10am. Most Christian Churches will be celebrating this Sunday so if you can’t make it to our service, please just pick one and join us in the celebration.

Whether or not you come to church, I hope that you will come to understand and believe the truth about Jesus.

“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

I heard it on the radio yesterday, the two most basic and important needs of a human being are to be known, and to be loved.

If you know me, the more you know me, the deeper and longer you know me, the more you have to keep from loving me. You know my junk, my annoying habits my weaknesses. The trick of any relationship is to find someone who will love me after they have gotten to know me.

There is one who knows me completely.

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

Psalm 139:1-6 –

We believe God is omniscient, he knows everything about everything and everyone. If we go back to the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, just after they had broken the rule and eaten the forbidden fruit we find them hiding from God, and from each other. They had been completely known by each other and were content in that and with that but sinning made them hide behind fig leaves.

God knows it all, in my life he knows everything about me, the cheating on tests in 5th grade math, the burying some of the circulars I was supposed to deliver on my paper route, (my dad found out about that one too) the toy army truck I stole from my friend Miles, the things I did that summer late at night, the magazines I had hidden in my room, the cigarettes I stole from my parents cafe and tried to smoke but got sick, all of that and the stuff I can’t write here, and he has chosen to love me, and to die for me.

I am known fully and completely and I am loved fully and completely. You are too. You are known by God fully and completely known, and he loves you, he loves us, and he died to pay for all of our sins. How do I know that? What do I base my belief in? Many verses in the Bible tell us this but my absolute favorite is in Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 5.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:6-11 –

I am writing this on Thursday of Holy Week 2019, it’s almost Easter. If you have not accepted Jesus love and mercy and had all your sins washed away, will you today? Will you be fully known and fully loved by the God who created you? If you have already made that choice and you are already known and loved, will tell one person about this amazing God who knows us and loves us?

We are known by God and we are loved by God. You are known and loved by God. May you Have a happy Easter, the happiest yet, being known and loved by Jesus our savior and by God our Father.

John 10

We are known, we will live and we are safe.

“Then came the Festival of Dedication[b] at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[c]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’[d]? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.”

Are you one of His sheep?

I am. Of course that is a metaphor. I’m not really a sheep. I am a follower of Jesus and I have accepted his offer.

I got to a point where I realized that I had done things that had stained me. No matter what I did I could not wash away the stains. Jesus offered to wash away my stains but he did it with his blood. By dying the death I deserved to die he paid for and in a sense, washed away all of my stains.

In that transaction I became his sheep. One of many. Will join me and become one of his flock? There is no better shepherd than Jesus. Since he died and rose again death no longer has a hold on him or on me. My body will die but my spirit will live forever. I can never be “snatched away” from Jesus.

Bahhh. He now leads me to work. I must follow.

I’ve done the math. God is good.

Mary posted recently about how magical it was to raise 4 kids and the blessing it was to get them all ready on Easter Sunday morning. There was stress and confusion and chaos but was all very sweet too.

What I remember is the amazing way our very small, very limited, very tight budget would be stretched to its ultimate limit at every holiday. The money that we had that barely was enough to feed and clothe and house us would get asked to also help us celebrate.

That’s not entirely accurate, we believe now and believed then that everything we have comes from our father, our Heavenly Father. So we would ask him to provide so we could bless our kids and he always did. God always provided and yet I always worried.

Matthew 15 has Jesus providing healing and food for those he cared about, the multitudes.

“29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

33 His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”

34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”

35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.”

If I did the math correctly, by noon today I will make what I used to make per week at my first job that I had raising four kids. Part of that is inflation. All of that is God’s provision. And yet I am worried. What will it take for me to learn to trust God’s provision? I don’t know.

Father God forgive my fearful, doubtful heart ❤️. Thank you for providing for me and my family. Thank you most for sending Jesus to die in my place, to pay a debt I could never pay, and for bringing him back to life to show me that there is more to life than life here. There is a life with you. Thank you.