6-6-2019

Good Morning All,

   Colossians 1: 21-22; “Once you were separated from God. The evil things you did showed your hostile attitude.  But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his physical body. He did this so that you could come into God’s presence without sin, fault, or blame.”

       There is something known as “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”  It is what it sounds like.  It is an area where garbage, mostly plastic, floats in the Pacific Ocean.  It gathers in an area where the predominant currents are weak.  So as garbage flows on the current, it gets blown into this dead zone area and just floats there.  Eventually, it gathers together and forms something of a floating island of garbage.

    Many of us can relate to this story.  There probably have been times, maybe even now, when we feel like we are part of “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”  We feel our life is listless, not going anywhere and just plain garbage.  Maybe you have been out of a job for a couple of years; the one you have is half the salary and no benefits and it doesn’t look any better.  Maybe your health has been going downhill for a few years now.  Maybe you don’t remember the last time your spouse said, “I love you.”  Maybe you just don’t feel connected to God or anything else; your life feels like “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”  We just feel nothing; it is like we are dead.

    Life throws a lot at us.  The devil plays hardball all the time.  Any chance he gets, he wants us to be dead, to live in “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”  The devil wants us disconnected from our loved ones but to especially feel like we are disconnected from God.  When we feel this way, we are lost in the sea that is despair and sadness.  We just float there because there is nothing to move us.  The current is away from us so we just float in this sea of garbage; we have no hope or comfort.

    Just like that garbage, we cannot move unless something moves us.  This is what Jesus did when he came to earth to die for our sins.  He moved us out of “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” and into the flowing current of his love and grace.  There was no way for us to move so God moved us.  We were dead in our sins but made alive in Jesus.  This occurs to us every day.  God makes us alive, every day, by his grace and mercy.  This is a truth, a promise; it is a certainty.  We may or may not “feel” it but God’s grace is active and alive in our lives.  He desires you to be saved, to be comforted, to live your life in his love.  He desires us to live, not in “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” but in his wonderful kingdom of grace.  We can live secure in his mercy certain of our salvation and the blessing of today and the comfort for tomorrow.

Father, too often we feel like we are in a sea of garbage with no hope.  Give us the confidence in your grace to see that we are never alone and living in the sea of garbage but are always living in your wonderful grace.  Keep us alive in this knowledge, move us by your grace to hold onto your loving truth.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret