Recently I became convicted that we as a church need to find new ways to show love to one another.  To that end I will be emailing you with simple, practical tips on how you can show love to your fellow believers.  Comforting one another is an amazing testimony for Christ.  I recently ran across a passage in a book I was browsing online…

"Suffering can unite people in powerful ways because it reveals their common need for God. Divisions and conflicts often appear trivial in the face of suffering. Make room in your life for broken and grieving people."

Whether they are grieving over the loss of a spouse or loved one, dealing with children’s physical or behavioral challenges, or even just not feeling well, think and pray about what you can do to help.  From providing meals or child care to simply listening to them share their struggles your willingness to come along side and share their suffering will point them to the source of true hope – Christ.  Let your shared hope in Christ draw you closer together.

In Genesis, Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman.
In Exodus, He is the Passover lamb.
In Leviticus, He is our high priest.
In Numbers, He is the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.
In Deuteronomy, He is the prophet like unto Moses.
In Joshua, He is the captain of our salvation.
In Judges, He is our judge and lawgiver.
In Ruth, He is our kinsman redeemer.
In 1st and 2nd Samuel, He is our trusted prophet.
In Kings and Chronicles, He is our reigning king.
In Ezra, He is the rebuilder of the broken down walls of human life.
In Esther, He is our Mordecai.
In Job, He is our ever-living redeemer.
In Psalms, He is our shepherd.
In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, He is our wisdom.
In the Song of Solomon, He is the loving bridegroom.
In Isaiah, He is the prince of peace.
In Jeremiah, He is the righteous branch.
In Lamentations, He is our weeping prophet.
In Ezekiel, He is the wonderful four-faced man.
In Daniel, He is the forth man in life’s “fiery furnace.”
In Hosea, He is the faithful husband, forever married to the backslider.
In Joel, He is the baptizer with the Holy Ghost and fire.
In Amos, He is our burden-bearer.
In Obadiah, He is the mighty to save.
In Jonah, He is our great foreign missionary.
In Micah, He is the messenger of beautiful feet.
In Nahum, He is the avenger of God’s elect.
In Habakkuk, he is God’s evangelist, crying, “revive thy work in the midst of the years.”
In Zephaniah, He is our Saviour.
In Haggai, He is the restorer of God’s lost heritage.
In Zechariah, He is the fountain opened up in the house of David for sin and uncleanness.
In Malachi, He is the Sun of Righteousness, rising with healing in His wings.
In Matthew, He is King of the Jews.
In Mark, He is the Servant.
In Luke, He is the Son of Man, feeling what you feel.
In John, He is the Son of God.
In Acts, He is the Savior of the world.
In Romans, He is the righteousness of God.
In 1st Corinthians, He is the Rock that followed Israel.
In 2nd Corinthians, He is the Triumphant One, giving victory.
In Galatians, He is your liberty; He sets you free.
In Ephesians, He is Head of the Church.
In Philippians, He is your joy.
In Colossians, He is your completeness.
In 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, He is your hope.
In 1st Timothy, He is your faith.
In 2nd Timothy, He is your stability.
In Philemon, He is your Benefactor.
In Titus, He is truth.
In Hebrews, He is your perfection.
In James, he is the Power behind your faith.
In 1st Peter, He is your example.
In 2nd Peter, He is your purity.
In 1st John, He is your life.
In 2nd John, He is your pattern.
In 3rd John, He is your motivation.
In Jude, He is the foundation of your faith.
In Revelation, He is your coming King.

O Lord,

No day of my life has passed that has not proved me guilty in thy sight.  Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart; praise has been often praiseless sound; my best services are filthy rags.

Blessed Jesus, let me find a covert in thy appeasing wounds.  Though my sins rise to heaven thy merits soar above them; though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell, thy righteousness exalts me to thy throne.

All things in me call for my rejection, all things in thee plead my acceptance.  I appeal from the throne of perfect justice to thy throne of boundless grace.

Grant me to hear thy voice assuring me: that by thy stripes I am healed, that thou wast bruised for my iniquities, that thou hast been made sin for me that I might be righteous in thee, that my grievous sins, my manifold sins, are all forgiven, buried in the ocean of thy concealing blood.  I am guilty, but pardoned, lost but saved, wandering but found, sinning but cleansed. 

Give me perpetual broken-heartedness, keep me always clinging to thy cross, flood me every moment with descending grace, open to me the springs of divine knowledge, sparkling like crystal, flowing clear and unsullied through my wilderness of life.

The Valley of Vision

We had a rough evening tonight.  I chalk it up to failure as a teacher on my part.  It started with me trying to correct my son’s proclivity to thrust his tongue between his teeth.  It ended up with my son and myself in a yelling match.  I want him to at least try to act normal so he will be more accepted at church.  He’s accepted at school and has friends there.  I just wish he had more Christian friends.  Maybe I’m expecting too much of him.  Maybe I need to pray more.

There are times when I think I just want to throw my 18 year old autistic son out of the house. There there are times like this evening when I hear him in his bedroom singing “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord” at the top of his lungs… Blessed be His Name indeed.

I had a quick Facebook chat today with one of my oldest friends.  Sometimes she drives me crazy but I love her like a sister.  I started thinking about how to best witness to her.  I’ve always tried to show her Christ’s love and kindness.  But to this day I’m still not sure where she stands with Christ; she changes the subject whenever religion comes up.  Maybe that’s the problem, I need to talk less religion and more Christ.  I’ll be seeing her this summer for the first time in about 5 years.  I could sure use prayers for my conversations with her.  I’ve known her for over 30 years, I’d sure love to know her for eternity.  My heart aches to think of all my friends who have turned from Christ but especially for Melody.

There are many challenges to raising a special needs child.  For us, it has been especially challenging lately.  Nothing is more challenging than trying to teach your special needs child about God.  My wife and I have always had our doubts about what he is actually absorbing.  This afternoon my wife showed me something that truly encouraged me about the state of my son’s heart.

A small book that simply says “People” on the front of it.  Inside I found this page:

On that page was Scotty’s name and the name of a young lady he apparently thinks very highly of. I’ve removed her name to spare her embarrassment.  If you can’t read the writing in the picture it says, “Me and <name deleted> like to talk about people around the Modesto to believe in God.  Jesus died on the cros.”  Now, despite the grammar and misspellings, can there be any doubt about Scotty’s heart?  He wants to partner with this young lady and spread the gospel.  And who are the people he wants to talk to about God? 

Everyone…

Quite literally, everyone he has ever known.  These are all the people he hopes to see in heaven.  He has even started to develop a means to communicate with them about Christ:

A catechism book!  If you can’t read it the title is, “The Catechism For Young Children and Hige School Boys And Girls and Colleges Boys And Girls With Cartoons”  On his own he has been studying two simple catechism booklets that were handed out by our church a few years ago.  He is going to recreate those booklets and apparently update them for high school and college folks.  With cartoons no less.  Sounds like a winner to me!  As he does this project I’m going to go through the catechism with him and try to help him understand the concepts if he doesn’t already.

As our church moves into a month of expanding awareness of evangelism, I find it budding in my own home.   What some count as weakness may actually be strength beyond comprehension.  Time will tell.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9