Monday, April 28, 2025

The Power to Heal

 


And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. ~Matthew 4:23

I take the photo featured in the header last week.  Why?  Because I spy it hanging on the wall in one of the last places I would expect to see something like this.  Yet, there it is, as plain as day.  Care to guess where Danny and I are?

Believe it or not, this plaque is on display in the patient check-out area of a doctor's office.  I must admit, I do the proverbial double-take, then whip my phone out of my purse to document this anomaly.  Like dear Doubting Thomas, I have to confess that until I see this with my own eyes, I would never take someone else's word that this plaque is proudly displayed in a doctor's place of business.

Will wonders never cease?

In our predominantly secular society, God is rarely given the credit when it comes to healing.  That's become the domain of physicians, nurses and medical researchers.  We humans have a dangerous tendency to posit our trust in those who have more knowledge, education and training in the field of medicine than we could ever hope to understand.  Sadly, from this worldly perspective, we put our faith in perceived professionals instead of the One who created us all.

This plaque, with its succinct and truthful statement about healing turns our upside-down thinking into right-side-up understanding.  Our competent and skilled doctors are just that because they've been endowed by God with the gifts of healing.  It is their calling.  But they are only the vessels of those gifts, not the source.

In the end, whether it's by divine intervention in this life, or not until we enter our eternal rest with the Lord, we will be healed, fully and completely, as God assures us in His Word.  I have some dear friends who struggle with pain and its debilitating effects on their wee-being each and every day.  No amount of medicine or therapy can change that for them.

But they know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God walks with them every step of this earthly journey.  They don't complain.  They lose neither faith nor hope.  They continue to pray.  I continue to pray for them.  God hears all of our prayers, and will answer them in His impeccable timing.

Jesus may no longer be physically among us, teaching, preaching and healing in person, but He knows every pain we endure and each diagnosis that causes us suffering.  He's gone through it all, and more, Himself.

May we be truly thankful for our medical professionals, but remember always the only One who has the lasting power to heal us.

Amen!

Monday, April 21, 2025

The Smart Move

 


As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. ~1 Peter 4:10


I've never been one who buys anything for the sake of merely owning it.  I'll use it up or wear it out before replacing clothes or other items that don't require an upgrade of sorts.  Take my phone, for example.  Even though it's seen better days, and no longer holds a charge reliably, I dig in my heels and obstinately refuse to entertain the idea of a new one.

And then, just like that, Danny persuades me otherwise.  His reaction is prompted by the tariffs proposed that will more than likely raise the price of smart phones in the foreseeable future.  We determine that it's better to invest in an upgrade now than wait and watch the costs soar.

Danny's brother recently purchases a Motorola Edge 2024 and is pleased with the product.  We decide that this same model will work well for me, too, without costing the proverbial arm and leg.  I pay for the phone, and much to my surprise, Danny orders a 68-watt charger separately, one made specifically for this particular model.


When Danny claims this gadget will charge my phone to full in 15 minutes, I'm skeptical, of course.  How can anything work that quickly and efficiently?  Oh, but how wrong I am!  It works lightning fast, and the new (for me) phone holds that charge to the point where I only have to think about giving it some "juice" every three days at the most.  Wow!  I can't tell you how many times I wake up in the past to discover that my smart phone is "dead."  Not anymore!  Not having that to worry about will take some getting used to.

And best of all, Danny is correct about the cost.  Had we waited until today to purchase it, instead of two weeks ago, it would be $75 more than what I paid.  Now, I'd say that is one smart move for one smart phone!

We know we are blessed to have the financial wherewithal to afford things that can be viewed as non-essential.  But this hasn't happened by accident.  Danny and I believe that we are to be good and faithful stewards of every blessing God sees fit to give us, and that includes our finances.  We work diligently to strike a balance between saving for later and giving in the moment to our church and to those in need.

And always, always, we give thanks to God for the undeserved grace that He freely offers to every one of His children when we first seek His kingdom above all else.

If you haven't already, make the truly smart move:  Allow God's great grace to fill your hearts with peace, joy and abundant life.

His power is always there to recharge you.

Amen!

Monday, April 14, 2025

What's so Good About Good Friday?

 


At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.  And at three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" (which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")  When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."  Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.  "Now leave him alone.  Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.  With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!" ~Mark 15:33-39

What's so good about Good Friday?  This is a question I have pondered in my heart over these many years.  After all, this is the day our Lord and Savior, Jesus, suffered an excruciatingly painful and ignominious death on a cross.  Shouldn't we be calling Good Friday the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Friday?

Bishop Justin Holcomb of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida offers some insight as to why this holy day is called "good."

Still, why call the day of Jesus' death "Good Friday" instead of "Bad Friday" or something similar?  Some Christian traditions do take this approach.  In German, for example, the day is called Karfreitag, or "Sorrowful Friday."  In English, in fact, the origin of the term "Good" is debated; some believe it developed from an older name, "God's Friday."  Regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God's plan to save his people from their sins.

Good for us.  No, wait!  Grand and glorious for us!

Because of Jesus' willingness to obey His Father's plan, we are forgiven our sins, once and for all.  And we can look forward to the coming Easter celebration with hope and joy, and the promise of a renewed relationship with our Father in heaven.

But on Good Friday, let us all take time to see ourselves sitting at the foot of that cross.  Let us become Mary and the disciple whom Jesus loved, who witnessed His immeasurable suffering.

Let us be fully present for our Lord as He gives His all for us.

Let us weep and mourn and pray.

And let us give thanks always for God's undeserved gifts of forgiveness and grace because Jesus took the cross of sin upon Himself for our salvation.

Amen!

Monday, April 7, 2025

See, I am Doing a New Thing!

 


See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. ~Isaiah 34:19


This spring, we living in northwest Georgia have set record pollen counts, with a week ago Saturday topping the charts with a whopping 14,801 grains per cubic meter of air.  Oh, I feel so sorry for people who suffer with seasonal allergies, especially when pollen is reaching unprecedented levels.

I discover these unfamiliar, to me, slender flower-like strands on our back deck just the other day.  What can they possibly be?  Danny uses the Google Lens on his phone and voila!  It turns out these are the nascent flowers from our sugar maple growing right beside our house.  But why have we never seen these before?  More research reveals that sugar maples don't reach seed bearing age until they are between thirty and forty years old.  And since Danny estimates that he planted our maple a little over 30 years ago, it makes all the sense in the world.

Using his zoom lens on his camera Danny captures some amazing photos:




Our mature sugar maple is doing a new thing, and now it springs forth in a way that both delights and fascinates us.  Isn't that just how God works at times?  When we least expect anything about our old, familiar shade tree to do anything else but leaf out for the summer and to grow taller each season, God shows us that there is so much more that He does behind the scenes that we, in our limited knowledge, cannot even begin to fathom.

When the ways before us are seemingly choked with obstacles and debris, and our souls feel parched and sere, the Lord will be there always to make straight our paths and refresh us with His Living Water, the well that will never run dry.

Amen!

Too Blessed to be Stressed

  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. ~James 5:16 Our Fourth of July weekend is not at all what we expect.  For seve...