There is a Savior, What joys expressed,
His eyes of mercy, His word is rest,
For each tomorrow for yesterday,
There is a Savior who lights our way.
This is a song that I used to sing to myself a long time ago and it just popped into my head this morning.
Yesterday in church pastor John talked through Matt.14:22-33. This is the story of 2 Jesus, and Peter, walking on water. I think that most people, whether Christian or not, have heard this story some time in their life. What a great reminder of God's power over everything, even the storm, and then a great reminder of God's timing in this event. Jesus could have calmed the storm from where He had been praying, but then the disciples would have thought that it was just a quick storm going through and would not have known that Jesus was truly God. Also in the story is the account of Peter walking out of the boat going to Jesus. When JZ was talking about the reasons given by some commentators I wrote Teresa a note and said, "It's because he wanted to be right next to Jesus, because he loved Jesus so much". Peter was certainly type A, but Peter also was tender to his Lord. What a great reminder that Jesus holds us up in the storm, He wants us to be close to Him, and He gives the faith and strength to carry on. For Peter, the rest of his life he could look back at that night as a marker of God's care and love for him, and this would give him boldness and faith. WOW, what a sweet story.
Matt.14:22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29 "Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Our computer savvy youth pastor, Sean, has given me a link so you can all listen to my first Sunday morning back in our youth ministry. I shared my heart a little and this will give part of the story in audio form. I hope you are encouraged by this.
Click here to listen to the audio of "How Good is God?"
Please pray for a young man named Andrew. He fell out of a tree about a week ago and he broke both arms and part of his spine. He appears to be doing better, as he can move his big toes now and both arms, but this is a probably a marathon recovery. Pray that they would know what to do when and that the parents would have peace in this time.
Also, a 7th grade Grace Academy girl who is in our youth ministry named Bekah was playing a game of capture the flag on Friday night and ran into another participant. She is pretty slight and he is a pretty big guy. The collision resulted in her falling backwards and hitting her head and cracking her skull. We saw her yesterday at home and she is doing well, but is going back to school pretty soon with her neck brace on. Pray that she would do what the doctor tell her to do, she has a lot of energy, and that God would be glorified in both of these situations.
What a sweet God we serve,
Chuck
Click here to read the next part, "From the Father of Light, the Giver of Life"
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