God Has A Plan For Each Of Us!

Philippians 1:6

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Thanks to all who responded to yesterday’s first devotional thought – since coming back from my staycation. I felt like something was missing from my daily walk with Jesus without writing them and I’m glad to be back. I’m also glad that they help some in their walk with Jesus.

There are so many thoughts running thru my head these days. Father’s Day has become hard for me – with the passing a number of years ago of my earthly father. Mother’s Day too with the passing of my mother. I have so many memories of my mom and dad. Days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day bring them to the forefront. Tears ran down my cheeks often this weekend.

So – in the last few weeks – I have celebrated to life of a couple of 80+ individuals – a 90+ individual – and a 24 and 30-year-old. Life is not guaranteed – for any number of years. We never know when our life will end. What we do know is we have the here and now and need to use each moment to draw near to God and to serve Him.

We Should Ooze Jesus!

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

In my younger days – one of my first jobs was as a Soda Jerk. People loved to order an ice cream cone from me because I gave them a good measure for their money (the pharmacist approved of my methods). A single scoop cone always got a scoop pushed into the cone before a scoop was applied to the top. Nothing worse than an empty cone! I worked at Pink’s drugstore on West Street a block away from my home on Locust Avenue in Annapolis.

One of the reasons I write weekday devotional thoughts is to give the members of the congregations I serve and have served and others more than just Sunday morning theology. I think we need to be digging into Jesus every day – not just on Sunday – and my hope is that these daily thoughts help to trigger something inside us to want immeasurably more from our relationship with Jesus. I try to use everyday ideas and thoughts to connect us with some spiritual thought for the day so that our hearts are pricked to think more about Jesus (let me know if they help).

Sin Is Crouching At Our Door

Genesis 4:7

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

As I write this devotional thought I’m listening to Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.

Doing the right thing is not always easy – is it? Most of us know the right thing to do – in most circumstances – but at times we fail to do the right thing. We struggle with doing the right thing – it doesn’t seem to come naturally to many of us.

Most of us won’t kill someone – literally – but we at times kill them figuratively with gossip or hurtful/abusive talk. Today’s passage comes from the story of Cain and Able. It is a sad story for sure – brother taking the life of another brother.

One of my friends and colleagues who serves a church in Baltimore reminds us constantly of the number of murders in Baltimore – typically equally or greater than the number of days in the year. These are brothers and sisters – killing brothers and sisters – boys and girls – even the elderly.