I Could Use a Nap

Psalm 121:1-2

I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Here we are – mid week. A few days away from Annual Conference and a few days until summer begins. Time marches on.

The baseball season is going well for the Baltimore Orioles. They have the second best record in the Major Leagues as of the writing of this post. Unfortunately – the best record is the team ahead of them in their division. The Ravens are in camp and looking forward to the new season with high expectations. We get all excited about sports – but this is not real life! These are games and mean little to most people!

Life comes at us fast. Life can throw us curves. Life can tire us out real fast. Like the family birthday party that ended with 3 deaths and other wounded by a shooter. Like the diagnosis of cancer and the medical opinion that they’ve done all they can. Like a denomination leaving orthodoxy and straying from Bible truth and the Book of Discipline of the church.

Where do you go when you are tired and exhausted in real life (like most of us are right now)? When you need rest – where do you turn? I’ve had a busy couple of weeks. The last two years were to be the start of my retirement – yet – ending two years of being an interim and another year to come – and I can say it has been an exhausting time. Being creative in ministry is not easy folks. Being a pastor is stressful. I woke this morning around 3 am – not unusual – and checked my phone and found out about Trinity’s connected to the mass shooting in Annapolis and couldn’t get back to sleep.

As we enter our 3rd year at Trinity in a couple of weeks – I could use a nap! Taking a nap seemed like a punishment as a child. As an adult it is something I look forward to taking! Who agrees with me? 😇💤

Jesus Understands Us!

Hebrews 4:15

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. NLT

Yesterday we preached a sermon titled God’s Grace is Sufficient. You can listen to the message on this page – along with other messages from First United Methodist Church.

In part of the message we talked about our weaknesses. We talked about how God’s grace is sufficient to cover over all our sins – if we confess – repent – and turn away from sin and turn toward God.

It always amazes me that Jesus loves us so much that He left heaven to come to earth – to live and die for us. We have a High Priest that loves us so much – He yielded his equality with the Father and lived this human life.

Here is today’s passage in partial context. Hebrews 4:14–16 – ¹⁴ So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. ¹⁵ This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. NLT