9-22-2015

  Good Morning All!!

      Psalm 23:2; “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”

             I am probably a rare breed; I am fascinated by television commercials. Commercials often times reflect the mood of the culture or society.  Thoughts and ideas that were acceptable 25 years ago are completely off limits today.  You can also sense the mood of the people that the commercials are aimed at.  During economic good times, many commercials feature sunny days and times in the park and times of happy prosperity.  During times of economic downturn, the commercials tend to involve stormy weather scenes, dark and windy nights with strange noises. 

    One of the commercials that I got a kick from was one of a little boy who was placed into his car seat as the family headed home.  It was stormy and the first scene was the car backing up to turn around and it gets close to a tree and in the little boy’s mind; the tree comes to life and tries to grab the car.  Then he thinks a bear is running beside the car trying to catch them.  Finally, as the car passes a boat on a trailer, he sees it as a man-of-war ship on the open seas being tossed around by the waves.  He then arrives home safe and sound but the trip, at least in his mind, was quite eventful.

    There are many people, including some Christian pastors, who teach and think that once you are a Christian the trip to the green pasture and still waters is a sunny ride in a brand new convertible.  Many believe that the trip will be smooth; they believe that they have earned a smooth trip.  They also believe that if your trip is scary or bumpy; you deserve that as well.  Nothing is further from the truth.  God promises to be with us and to lead us to the still waters; sin might make the trip a little rough.

    Sometimes, the trip seems scary.  The devil misleads and distorts our vision in our trip.  Just like the little boy saw things that weren’t there, we often fear the unknown and the unseen only to find out it didn’t exist.  We worry about events that don’t happen and lose sleep and peace in the process.  Sometimes the trip is rough.  Illness, broken families, poor choices that follow us all the time; all of these can make our trip rough.  Rough trips are the result of sin not of God’s anger.

    God loves you and accompanies you on your entire journey and he leads you to the still water.  You may not see the path ahead but God is always with you.  Trust in his mercy to lead you to the still waters, to the green pastures. 

                                                    (Collect for guidance)

Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love is supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen  

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret