7-17-2025

Good Morning All,

          Acts 17:27; “that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”

          Have you ever gone into a darkened room and tried to find the light switch?  There was a room in a gymnasium at college where the light switch was at the other end of the room.  If you accessed the room from the office, the switch was by the door.  If you came in through the gym you were on the wrong side.  The room had no windows so when the door closed it was pitch dark.  So, in order to find the light, switch you would run your hand along the wall and then carefully slide your feet along the floor.  You would have to go slow just in case there was a chair or a ball or something on the floor. You would also slowly slide your hand up and down to be sure that you found the switch.

     Sometimes you would get all the way to the other door and finally realize that you were too far and have to slide back and then try to begin the process all over again.  The really frustrating thing was that you knew where the light switch was.  You knew it was on the wall about 30 inches off the floor.  It should be so easy to find but it usually took a few tries and more than a little frustration.

    Our life is a lot like that.  We can never fully see where we are going.  So many of our life experiences are really just felt out in the darkness.  When I listen to some of the high school kids and we talk about the future and what they want to do, many don’t really know and their options are such that they really don’t know.  I visited with a young girl as she was talking about what she thought she would look for in a future husband.  The more she talked the more confused she sounded; then she asked me, “How do you ever know?” 

     That is a question that can perplex us to no end.  We go through life and we make decisions everyday but how do you ever know?  We are given choices but often we don’t know the full range of consequences to those actions.  So, we feel our way along trying to find our way.

     We need to always remember that, above everything else, we are God’s redeemed children and he is with us.  He is there to offer us guidance and hope.  We may have options that we cannot see the end to but we need to always remember that God loves us and wants us to be contented and live our life in peace and in hope.  So whatever decisions we make, we can make them confident of God’s love.  His love for us is always there; he will not abandon us. 

We live our life in faith, trusting in his mercy at all times.  Some of our choices may not always be the best but no matter how dark the hall, God is always near us.  His grace never leaves his redeemed children and you are one.

Dearest Father, we look at life and often only see darkness and we feel our way along the wall.  Give us the faith to trust in your mercy and grace for our life.  Give us the strength to trust that all things work to the good for those whom you love.  Give us your peace especially those who feel that their lives are completely lost in the dark.  Show them your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace

Pastor Bret