3-2-2026

Good Morning!

       Mark 4:2; “He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:”

     Everybody loves a story.  Telling stories is one of the easiest and one of the most reliable ways to convey a message or a teaching.  Jesus loved to tell stories.  We call them parables but they are common everyday events with meaning.  The story of the sower, or the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son and all the others were gleaned from everyday life events of the people who were listening to Jesus speak.

    One of the reasons we like stories is because we all have stories.  Stories put together the individual events of our life and bring them to life in a kaleidoscope.  We all have a story about us; the events that shape and mold us into who we are.  It might have been a childhood illness, or the death of our parents when we were young, it might have been military service or any of a number of events that make up your story.  The really amazing thing is that all of our stories are connected together with the stories of people who lived before us, combine to make up human history.

   That history was very bleak.  It is filled with corruption, with pain and brokenness, with loneliness and sorrow.  That was the human story, so bleak that its gloom and pall are incredible.  So, God stepped in and completely altered the story of mankind.  With Jesus, the kingdom of God changed the course of our lives.  As the redeemed children of God, our stories changed and we are now part of God’s story.  Instead of traveling down the road of despair and destruction, God has placed us into his story of redemption and salvation.  God has taken us from the emptiness and the hollowness that was our sinful existence and made us redeemed children, loved by the Father, and kept by the Holy Spirit.

    Our old story is one we should leave.  We should not see it as a chance to bring God into our story but rather that we are moved into his story.  We can leave our story behind.  The failures and the pains of the past are just that, the past.  Our present is in God’s story and our future is in God’s story; so why go back?  God’s story is one of hope and eternal life in the restored creation.  God’s story is one of peace.  God’s story is the complete opposite of the story we were in.  So, grab onto God’s story, one of hope and salvation, make it your story by his grace.  Live with joy in the kingdom of God as it moves forward to the day of the Lord when all is perfected and restored.

Gracious Father, you gather us up and bring us into your marvelous kingdom of grace and mercy.  Keep us in your precious arms.  Guide us and guard us as we continue on the journey which you have laid out for us.  Be with those who are struggling and in pain and seem to have lost their way.  Send them your Spirit of healing to each.  Guard and protect our families.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret