9-16-2025

Good Morning All,

       Psalm 10: 17-18a; “You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed.”

    When our oldest son was about 14 months old, he got into a routine of waking up at about 4:30 in the morning.  We would sit down in the chair in the living room and then turn on the TV while he had his bottle.  There wasn’t much on, we didn’t have the 200 channels of satellite TV yet.  So, at that hour of the morning we watched cartoons, specifically we watched “Underdog.”

 

 “Speed of lightning, roar of thunder, fighting all who rob or plunder!  Underdog. Underdog!”

 

 I think it was more for me than for my son but I loved it.

    Most people at one time or another watch movies or TV shows about heroes.  We like it when the hero, usually against all odds, fights for the oppressed people against the big bad villain.  Sometimes the hero is misunderstood or has been wrongly accused and while seeking out the truth, stops in different towns and solves the troubles of the local folk.  We all have our heroes; they make watching shows better.  It makes the “make believe” world that much better.

    The problem is that we live in the real world.  Dogs in capes don’t fly in and rescue us.  We struggle and do battle with all sorts of battles in our life.  Pain can be everywhere.  Parents or spouses who slowly lose touch with reality and us.  Loved ones who seem to lose the will or desire to live.  Strained love with spouses, when did that all change?  Try talking to your child; they roll their eyes and you just get angry.  Children with only one parent can be more the norm than the exception.  We work harder and harder and seem to have less to show for it.  So, what do we do?

    We can only look to God for our help.  He is our only chance or choice.  The thing we need to remember is that God fixes our lives but He fixes them from the inside out.  He fixes our soul and he fixes our hearts first.  This gives us the strength to trust in his promises.  The thing is that as our inside, our soul, is being fixed; the outside, our bodies, may take a while to fix.  So, we may have to wait while God continues to fix our inside because our inside, our soul, is what is important. 

    But we aren’t left alone to do battle with the troubles of this life.  God sends his Spirit to comfort us and he sends us his “masks,” the family and friends who sit with us and counsel us and basically are just there.  This is how God chooses to comfort us.  He helps us to remember those gentle words he speaks and he uses those around us to be our “hands on” comfort.  God defends and protects us; we need to trust in his love to accomplish this.

Dear Father, you are our source of hope and comfort.  You search us out and give us the hope that we need.  Comfort us with your Spirit and move us to be the comfort to those who are most in need of your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret