8-4-2019

    Good Morning All,

1 Peter2:25; “You were like lost sheep. Now you have come back to the shepherd and bishop of your lives”

    A number of years ago, there was a movie called “Runaway Bride”.  It starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.  The gist of the story was about Richard Gere being a journalist who was on the bad list of his editor and sent off on some sappy story about a girl who always ran away from her weddings.  Julia Roberts played the girl and ran away from many weddings; she even started showing up in sneakers.  Eventually love conquered and they married and she didn’t run.

    Many of us are runaway brides.  We run every time we can.  Even if we do not run we may feel like it.  This is one of the little tactics that the devil uses on us.  He tries to get us to run from God and from the relationships that he gives us.  The devil tries to separate us from God and he tries this by getting us to run.  When you look at stories of youth who run away, they always see it as the answer and it never is.  They think that getting away from the ones that love them will make it so much easier.  What they find is that pain, trouble and deeper despair.

    We are the same way.  We run from God; we run away from his love.  We think that what we have or know is far better to anything which God has so we run away from God.  We hide from God.  When we think of a small child who tries to hide from their parents by covering his eyes, thinking that if he can’t see his parents then they cannot see him.  This is how God looks at us when we try to hide from him.  We are still in plain sight even if we think we have hidden well.

    Many in the Bible tried to hide.  Jonah tried to hide.  Moses tried to hide.  Elijah tried to hide.  David tried to hide.  We are in pretty good company when we try to hide.  We all try to run and hide.  Some of us run to self-help books; some of us run to the “false prophets” of our day: the talk show hosts and the self-proclaimed “experts”.  Some of us run to drugs and alcohol.  Some of us run to a life of bad decisions, often compounded by even worse ones.  We run like the wind; we think but we only run as far as the nearest mud hole where we fall in and wallow. 

    This is why Jesus came to do his earthly ministry; to seek the lost and then save them.  He continues to do this today.  Jesus seeks you in all the mud holes and wallows and pulls us out with his merciful love.  He washes us and feeds us and then comforts us with his love.  Jesus never stops seeking us; no matter how many times we run; he just keeps coming.  So if you think you are so lost you cannot be found; just take your hands away from your eyes.  If a loved one seems to just run and run; keep praying and reaching out; Jesus is seeking them as well.  Trust in God’s love to work his will in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones.

   Dear Father, your mercies roll over us like a river.  As we run, you seek.  As we hide, you see us at all times.  Forgive us when our fears win out and our sin takes over.  Redeem us with you love and guard us from the devil’s power.  Give an extra dose of your grace to those who struggle with running from you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret