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Showing posts from July, 2012

A Little Lad

John 6:1-21 “ One Can Make a Difference with God” Today’s Gospel calls us to look at the miracle that Jesus did in multiplying the loaves and fish. Jesus sees the crowd and asks one of his disciples, “ Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” 6:5 He was trying to test Philip the Gospel writer John tells us or “prove” him, for he “himself knew what he would do.” 6:6 Philip sees that they do not have enough money to buy bread for all the people and is “ not sufficient for them” 6:7 But another disciple seeing the same situation Andrew who was Simon Peter’s brother says unto Jesus, “ There is a lad here which has five barley loaves, and two small fish.” 6:8 Even he realized that they were not enough among so many. 6:9 We all encounter situations in our lives where we have to choose courses of action and make decisions. Should we just give up? Some seem to do that. That talk may be under some of our feelings in one way or another. Now giving up is not such a bad idea as it soun...

Coming Home

Coming Home “ Mark 6:30-34;53-56 Familiar places are just that. Familiar. And warm and comfortable as well. Coming home is a treat in so many ways. We know where to turn. We do not have to look for the road signs. We know the area . We are at rest because we do not have to deal with unexpected things usually. We come home to our own bed and our dog greets us with a warm hello or a crazy one in my case. Jack jumped all over the house when I came home. He spoke in loud barks for a long time and was so happy to see me that I had to get on the floor and touch lay with him and touch him, even before my wife. Yes, coming home is a delight. The disciples had just witnessed the death of John the Baptist at the hand of King Herod. They were obviously sad and forlorn. Their activities had dominated the weeks before. And now they came to report to Jesus what they had seen and done. “ And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, a...

Glorying in our distresses is not what we asked for but....

“MY Grace is Sufficient for Thee” 2 Corin. 12:9 Of all the books next to the Bible the most read is ,? . If you guessed Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, then you are right. He has several things that speak to us and one is Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: “I returned to my old fears again, but with a great deal of grudging and peevishness, for I feared the sorrow of despair; ‘nor could my faith now longer retain this word.’ - 190. But the next day, at evening, being under many fears, I went to seek the Lord; and as I prayed, I cried, ‘and my soul cried’ to him in these words, with strong cries:--O Lord, I beseech thee, show me that thou hast loved me with everlasting love (Jer 31:3). I had no sooner said it but, with sweetness, this returned upon me, as an echo or sounding again, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” Now I went to bed at quiet; also, when I awaked the next morning, it was fresh upon my soul—’and I believed it” If...