Feeding Thousands . . . Again!

Mark 8:1-10, CEB - In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples and told them,  “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them away hungry to their homes, they won’t have enough strength to travel, for some have come a long distance.”

His disciples responded, “How can anyone get enough food in this wilderness to satisfy these people?”

Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”

They said, “Seven loaves.”

He told the crowd to sit on the ground. He took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them apart, and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they gave the bread to the crowd.  They also had a few fish. He said a blessing over them, then gave them to the disciples to hand out also.  They ate until they were full. They collected seven baskets full of leftovers.  This was a crowd of about four thousand people! Jesus sent them away, then got into a boat with his disciples and went over to the region of Dalmanutha.

 

Only Matthew and Mark include this story in their accounts along with the feeding of the five thousand (which all four gospels include).  This should cause us to ask, “why tell a very similar feeding miracle only few paragraphs after you’ve told the first story.  If you are the gospel writer and you want people to know about the second similar miracle, why not just quickly mention that Jesus “did it again” and move on.  Mark does this with other types of miracles saying things like, “He healed many others.”  Why not do the same thing here?  The reason is in the details.

Many of the details are exactly the same.  Jesus has compassion for a crowd that has been following Him and is hungry.  The disciples are almost offended that Jesus asks them to feed the crowd and they complain about how much it will cost. Jesus asks them what they have, the disciples take inventory, report to Jesus, and then Jesus uses whatever they have to feed everyone.  There is not only enough to feed everyone, but there are leftovers.  Mark takes care to use a lot of the very same words to tell the two feeding stories.   What He wants to stick out like a sore thumb is that the disciples have learned nothing from the previous feeding miracle.  If they had, they would not wonder about where the food is going to come from.  They would have known this meal will cost nothing because Jesus will provide.  Jesus will take whatever they have available and multiply it.  There will be enough and then some.  In fact, in both the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand, there is at least as much leftover as they had to work with when they started. 

We, the church of Jesus’s continuing disciples, are the people Jesus has chosen to continue His compassionate ministry to those who are hungry and in need.  Like Jesus’s first disciples, we sometimes “don’t get it” either.   Though we have seen Jesus provide in the past, we wonder if He will provide in the present, even in almost identical circumstances.  We complain that we don’t have enough resources or the cost is too high.  We fail to believe that, somehow in miraculous and mysterious provision of God, the little bit we have will not only be enough, but we will not really lose anything; the needs will be met and we’ll still have as much as we had before if not more.  As we’ll see a couple reflections from now, Jesus is frustrated with His disciples lack of understanding.  I’m pretty sure his frustration persists with us.

 

Questions:  When have you witnessed God’s miraculous provision when it seemed obvious that there would not be enough?  When have you witnessed ministry not being undertaken because the cost is high or there didn’t seem to be enough resources?

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, forgive us for our lack of faith and inability to learn from what You have done for us and through us in the past.  Have patience as we learn to trust in Your provision. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for churches that are struggling to stay open right now.

 

Song:  Battle Belongs – Phil Wickham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtvQNzPHn-w

Big and “Little” Miracles

Mark 6:30-44, CEB - The apostles returned to Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught.  Many people were coming and going, so there was no time to eat. He said to the apostles, “Come by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while.”  They departed in a boat by themselves for a deserted place.

Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, so they ran ahead from all the cities and arrived before them. When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.

Late in the day, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it’s already late in the day. Send them away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something to eat for themselves.”

He replied, “You give them something to eat.”

But they said to him, “Should we go off and buy bread worth almost eight months’ pay and give it to them to eat?”

He said to them, “How much bread do you have? Take a look.”

After checking, they said, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.”

He directed the disciples to seat all the people in groups as though they were having a banquet on the green grass.  They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.  He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke the loaves into pieces, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.  Everyone ate until they were full.  They filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish.  About five thousand had eaten.

 

This miracle is the only miracle recorded in all four of the New Testament gospels.  It is even more remarkable how similar all four accounts are.  This suggests that this is one of the more famous events that occurred during the earthly life of Jesus.  Given the fact that there are five thousand men present, it is estimated that there may have been as many as fifteen thousand people present.  That’s an incredible number of witnesses to this miraculous provision of Jesus.

There are echoes in this miracle of two Old Testament miracles. The more obvious of the two is God’s provision of manna (a bread-like food) for the Hebrews during their lengthy time in the wilderness. (Exodus 16) The second, though not as impressive, was when the prophet Elisha used 20 small loaves of bread to feed over a hundred men (2 Kings 4).  The detail that really seems to be echoed in Jesus’s miracle is the mention of plenty of leftovers after the meal.  Certainly, in the crowd fed by Jesus, there would have been musings that in this very moment, these people found themselves in the middle of an event that, like manna in the wilderness, would be spoken about for generations to come.  They were present for movement of God comparable to the days of Moses and the prophets. 

While I haven’t been present for a mega-scale miracle like this, I have many experiences when I realized God’s power was tangible.  Sometimes, they are worship services with a large number of people, but more often, they take place in way more ordinary circumstances.  I realize that God has put exactly the right person in my path at exactly the right time.  Serendipitous circumstances that only God could have orchestrated come together to provide just what was needed in the moment.  There have even been a couple of times when I realized that a vision of that God had placed in my heart had been realized many years later.  While the scale of this miracle is mammoth, the same kind of thing is going on.  People are hungry and need to be fed.  There doesn’t seem to be enough resources, but somehow, God provides anyway.   

The reality is that miraculous provision is being made for us all the time.  The feeding of the five thousand should remind of us of that truth and open our eyes to the “invisible” provision around us. The oxygen that keeps us alive every moment is no less miraculous than multiplying loaves and fishes.  Spend some time taking note of the miracles taking place in the space around you today.

 

Question:  What is something that points to the power of God at work right in this moment and space where you are right now?

 

Prayer:  Jesus, help us see Your mysterious provision for us in the ordinary moments of life.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who are hungry right now.

 

Song:  Ordinary Miracle – Sarah McLaughlin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqZE4ZDnAkQ

They Think They Know Him

Mark 6:1-6, NIV - Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?  Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.  He was amazed at their lack of faith.

 

 I am not known as a “crafty” guy.  By crafty, I mean “good with craft projects. My family often teases me about this.   However, on a couple of occasions, I have tackled a craft project and done an admirable job.  On those few occasions, my family has had a hard time believing that it was me that created the project.  I share this, not to complain about my family, but to illustrate a harmless example of what happened with Jesus in Nazareth.  Our brains tend to categorize people in ways that allow us to operate in our relationships with ongoing assumptions about them.  This creates relational and mental shortcuts that, for the most part, make relationships easier.  The downside is illustrated in this story. 

 These assumptions that we carry about others tend to “pigeonhole” them into expected behaviors.  When they behave differently or do the unexpected, it throws the relationship out of balance.  When we’re talking about whether I’m crafty or not, it is of very little consequence.    But when we’re talking about whether the “carpenter’s boy” is a prophet or even the Messiah, it tends to throw people into relational disarray.  In the original Greek, “they took offense at him” can also be translated “they stumbled because of him.” 

 The people of Jesus’s hometown could not place their faith in Him because they were not able to abandon their carried assumptions about Him.  This has an effect on the situation that still baffles me:

                He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.”

Jesus could not do any miracles because of the lack of faith in those present?  Why does our lack of faith have any effect on Jesus’s ability to do miracles?  The only clue that comes to mind is the story that immediately precedes this story – the healing of the woman with the flow of blood.  In that story, Jesus proclaims to the woman “your faith has healed you.”  Her faith, combined with the power that Jesus felt “go out from Him,” heals her.  Without the power of Jesus, miracles cannot happen, but our current story takes it a bit further.  That power is made efficacious by faith.  The power AND the faith are required. 

 And here’s why assumptions that we carry are so potentially harmful.  They can “block” the flow of faith and actually prevent good things from happening that would have been possible otherwise.   Relationships, including our relationship with God, can be robbed of their power by faulty assumptions. 

 

Question:  What assumptions do you carry about God or other people that may need to be questioned?

 

Prayer:  God, forgive us for our false assumptions about You and others.  Help us see the ways in which good things could happen if we begin to question some of our assumptions.  Amen

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the orderly and safe running of our elections process in our country next week.

 

Song:  I know I have used this song a couple of times before, but it is the best song I know about questioning faith assumptions.

Praise the Lord – Crowder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0s1kIXmFdQ

Jesus's Death: Shock and Awe

 

Jesus's Death:  Shock and Awe

 

Matthew 27:50-54, NIV - And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

 

Oh to see what is described in this passage!  It would have been terrifying, awe-inspiring, and faith-building all at one time.  I have been around to witness miracles before, but nothing like this.  It’s as if the death of the Son of God, Jesus, caused such a metaphysical disturbance that all of creation reacts by life springing up elsewhere when death claimed Jesus.  Creation testifies that Jesus is the Son of God and the centurion and other guards simply state the obvious. 

These events are the “proof” that the chief priests and other mockers of Jesus were taunting Jesus in his dying moments.  They dared Him to prove that he was the Son of God by coming down from the cross.  Ironically, Jesus “proves” the true nature of God by NOT escaping the cross, but submitting fully to death.  The violent reaction of creation and the resurrection of others who had died gives witness that it is the death of Jesus that is where God’s power is truly seen - not in escaping death by supernatural power, but in God’s sacrificial love for all.  Death is not conquered by physical miracles, but by Miraculous Love – the Love Incarnate whose name is Jesus.  N.T. Wright puts it this way:

“A new sort of power will be let loose upon the world, and it will be the power of self-giving love. This is the heart of the revolution that was launched on Good Friday. You cannot defeat the usual sort of power by the usual sort of means. If one force overcomes another, it is still “force” that wins. Rather, at the heart of the victory of God over all the powers of the world there lies self-giving love, which, in obedience to the ancient prophetic vocation, will give its life “as a ransom for many.” Exactly”   (The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion)

People have been missing this point ever since Jesus died.  Supernatural Love, not supernatural force, is the greatest power in the universe. 

                When we follow Jesus, we invite this Power to be at work in our lives.  This power doesn’t rescue us from suffering and death.  We all still suffer and we will all one day die.  But when Love is at work in us, our suffering and death has power just as Jesus’s suffering and death has power.  It is precisely the power of Jesus’s suffering and death at work in us!  Our suffering accomplishes things that cannot be accomplished any other way and our deaths are but an entrance into eternal life.   

 

Question:  Have you invited the power of God’s self-giving love in Jesus to be at work in your life?

 

Prayer:  Lord, we are impressed by miracles, but we are transformed by your Love.  We invite the power of Jesus’s suffering and death to be at work in us.  Amen,

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to transform the suffering of those you are led to pray for today.

 

Song:  The Power of the Cross – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6LhbNTsDgo

Figs and Faith

 

Figs and Faith

February 7, 2022

Matthew 21:18-20, NRSV - In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.  When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”  Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.  Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”

 

                This passage is a mixed bag for me.  On one hand, I love it.  What Jesus does with the fig tree endears Himself to me.  Feeling a bit, as we say these days, “hangry” (hunger that causes a heightened sense of irritability), Jesus spots the fig tree and He thinks He’s getting breakfast.  Finding the tree without any fruit, he curses the tree and makes it fruitless forever.  In other words, he takes out His frustration on the tree.  I am somehow comforted that Jesus got frustrated like I often get frustrated.  I read this little episode and I know that Jesus knows how I feel when I smash a project I’m working on when it’s not going my way.

                But then, the story changes.  The disciples see how the tree literally withers before their very eyes and they are amazed.  For the life of me, I cannot not understand their amazement because these guys have witnessed Jesus resurrecting the dead.  They have seen hundreds healed of every possible disease, the blind receive their sight (as recently as the day before this fig tree incident), the lame begin to walk again, and other miraculous displays of power.  Why would they be impressed by their Rabbi simply draining the life out of an insignificant tree?  Perhaps it is because they are familiar with Jesus performing life-giving miracles, not life-taking miracles.  I don’t know.

                In any case, Jesus uses their question about it as a teaching moment.  He informs them that they could do the same miracles, and anything else for that matter – even command a mountain to be thrown into the sea. 

“Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive,” Jesus concludes.

Here’s where I (and millions of others) get hung up.  Here’s the problem.  This statement is not literally true.  Since Jesus uttered these words, I suspect that millions of requests/commands uttered in complete faith have not resulted in the specific miracles requested/commanded.  To clarify, I have personally witnessed dozens of miracles that I absolutely attribute to prayers lifted in great faith.  What I can say with conviction is that, while faith does change what is possible in any given situation, it does not always conjure the specific result that we want.  And if we’re honest, this is a good thing. 

                I have wished “unpleasantness” (I’m intentionally using ambiguous word) upon people who have hurt me and people I cared about.  I have done so, having complete faith that God is indeed capable of granting my ill-conceived wish. Furthermore, I’ve made such wished with at least part of me willing that God would use that omnipotence to do me the favor.  It’s only later that I am relieved that God did not act on my anger and frustration.  I feel pretty sure most of us have had similar experiences. 

                There are other circumstances though where my faith-filled intentions and requests are good, at least in my own estimation.  I truly believed God could have removed my aunt’s cancer and my brother-in-law’s brain tumor and I prayed with all the mustard seeds I could muster for God to do exactly those things.  They were both incredible people and the world would certainly have benefited from them continuing to live here on this earth.  It was not to be and now, they are both in Heaven.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not bitter about that.  On the contrary, I celebrate that my loved ones have been delivered from the miseries they endured and now know complete joy.  I also celebrate that I have not said goodbye to them forever.  Because the same faith that I exercised to pray for the removal of their cancer, I know I will see them both again.  Praise be to our God who conquers even the power of bodily separation and death!

                So, I return to what I said earlier about what my best guess is as to what Jesus is trying to teach His disciples and us.  What is possible in every situation we find ourselves is changed when we possess faith. I do not believe that God gives us everything we want because we have faith.  But in faith, we gain access to God’s unmatched and equally mysterious power.  Our wish is not God’s command, but our faith brings hope that God will somehow bring about goodness from situations where all the news seems nothing but bad.  I aim to keep asking for specific miracles, but also simultaneously trusting that God knows what miracle is needed.  This doesn’t mean that I will always understand or even like the result.  But my greater aim is to keep trusting God even when I don’t understand or like what God does. 

 

Question:  How has faith changed what is possible in your life?

 

Prayer:  Omnipotent God, we seldom understand your ways and that is frustrating at times to say the least.  Help us see our circumstances through the lens of a faith that changes those circumstances by inviting you into the equation.  Amen.

 

Prayer:  Pray for people that you know are angry and/or frustrated with God.

 

Song:  Yet I Will Praise – Melissa Boraski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hujNAmtA0c

Matthew 11:20-26 - A Jesus That Makes Us Uncomfortble

 

Daily Devo w/ Pastor Eric October 18, 2021

A Jesus that Makes Us Uncomfortable

 

Matthew 11:20-26, CEV - In the towns where Jesus had worked most of his miracles, the people refused to turn to God. So Jesus was upset with them and said:

You people of Chorazin are in for trouble! You people of Bethsaida are in for trouble too! If the miracles that took place in your towns had happened in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have turned to God long ago. They would have dressed in sackcloth and put ashes on their heads. I tell you that on the day of judgment the people of Tyre and Sidon will get off easier than you will.

People of Capernaum, do you think you will be honored in heaven? You will go down to hell! If the miracles that took place in your town had happened in Sodom, that town would still be standing.  So I tell you that on the day of judgment the people of Sodom will get off easier than you.

At that moment Jesus said:

My Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I am grateful that you hid all this from wise and educated people and showed it to ordinary people.  Yes, Father, that is what pleased you.

                 

When we began this study of Matthew, I initially thought that it we would take selected passages of Matthew and move at a steady pace through the Gospel.  You might have noticed (since we are only on Chapter 11 two and half months later) that I was led early on to deal with every passage and skip none.  My primary reason for making this decision was that I did indeed feel that God was leading me to do so.  Along with that though, was a recognition that I needed to resist a tendency I have to skip over passages that are hard to comment on and uncomfortable to hear.  The above passage for today is one of those.  Reading and hearing this particular passage is important because it speaks directly to the resistance in us that tends to only pay attention to Jesus when his words are comfortable to hear. 

As Jesus traveled the Galilean countryside preaching, teaching, healing, and performing other miracles, some places were very receptive to his ministry and they turned wholeheartedly toward Him and the Kingdom He proclaimed.  This turning toward also implies a turning away from the way things were – this simultaneous turning away from and turning toward is the core definition of repentance.  The people who embraced Jesus’s kingdom saw their lives transformed.  This was Jesus’s intention for them and, by the way, it is still Jesus intention for us. 

But there were other towns, like Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, that may have enjoyed Jesus’s miracles, had their ears tickled by His teaching and may have even believed that Jesus was who He said He was, but there was no substantive change in their lives as a result.  They did NOT turn away from their old lives and they did NOT turn toward Jesus’s kingdom.  They may have enjoyed Jesus’s performance, but they were unchanged in any significant way. 

It's here where Jesus’s words get uncomfortable.  Judgement is coming for the those who do not turn away from their wickedness and lest we think that judgement is no big deal, Jesus recalls three cities whose terrible fates (Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom) will be better than the unrepentant cities he visited.  Tyre and Sidon were conquered and destroyed; Sodom was completely burned to the ground and wiped from the face of the earth.   All three cities were implored by the prophets to repent but did not prior to their destruction.   Like Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, they were unchanged by God’s word and works towards them.  Jesus emphatically proclaims there are dire consequences for making that collective choice.

My pastoral instinct is to try and soften Jesus’s words here – to offer some explanation for this harshness from the mouth of our Savior.  But to do so would be an attempt to “domesticate” Jesus, to make Him and His message something less jarring.  But the truth is that Jesus intends for His message to be jarring.   People do not change their ways when they are perfectly comfortable with their present ways.  There is no repentance (a simultaneous turning away from what was and a turning toward what is coming) in people who like what was just fine. 

So instead, my invitation today is “sit with” the discomfort of Jesus’s words above (and elsewhere).  Let that discomfort permeate your defenses and unsettle that in you which needs to be unsettled – those things in you that need to change.  Because Jesus proclaimed these warnings to whole cities (large groups/systems of people), I also invite us to let Jesus’s words unsettle in our own groups/systems of people that which needs to be unsettled – those systemic changes that need to happen in order for our cities to be aligned with the Kingdom of God. 

Tomorrow, we will hear the Jesus we like to hear, a Jesus who is “humble and gentle at heart” and who offers to lighten our load.  But today, we need to sit with the Jesus expects us and our cities to be changed by His words and warns us of the dire consequences coming if that change/repentance never comes. 

 

Question: What is something that would have to change if you were to turn toward Jesus even more than you have at this point in your life?

 

Prayer:  Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me, Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—then guide me on the road to eternal life. (Psalm 139:24-25, The Message) Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for specific places/situations of injustice that you are aware of right now in our world.

 

Song:  Lord Have Mercy - Michael W. Smith ft. Amy Grant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID0Mpy6zfts

Matthew 11:1-6 - Seeing the Forest for the Trees: John the Baptist Edition

 

Daily Devo W/ Pastor Eric October 13, 2021

Seeing the Forest for the Trees - John the Baptist Edition

 

Matthew 11:1-5, NLT - When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he went out to teach and preach in towns throughout the region.

John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”

Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”  And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.

 

Poor John is beginning to have his doubts.  The bold wilderness preacher has been keeping tabs on what Jesus is doing. He hears about the miracles, but he was expecting judgement. Remember back in chapter 3, just before Jesus’s baptism, John proclaims, “Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees.” (3:10)  What John is hearing about is not judgement.  Healing, resurrections, and the Word being preached are all well and good, but the Messiah is also supposed to bring judgement.  Are you the one to bring it or are we waiting for someone else?

Jesus’s message to John doesn’t seem to address the question because He simply tells John what John already knows – the miracles.  But Jesus is quoting prophecy in Isaiah:

“Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, lame men and women will leap like deer”  (Isaiah 35:5-6)

“He sent me to preach good news to the poor” (Isaiah 61:2)

John does already know these prophecies too, but we all need to reminded of things we already know when our heart seems to be set on something else.  John has been fighting with the authorities since he began his ministry and needs to know that those with whom he has been fighting are going to “get theirs.”  The reality is that the inbreaking of a new Kingdom does bring judgement on the old, but it does so by ushering in such good news that people begin to embrace the new with their whole hearts, dropping the old in the process.  Jesus’s message to John (and the crowd gathered) is that what John is hoping for is indeed happening, but maybe not in the way John imagined.   

                We all need that reminder sometimes.  We all get discouraged and long for vindication from time to time.  In those times, it can be easy to begin to fixate on our enemies being exposed for what they are.  But Jesus’s words here remind us that our focus should not be primarily on our enemies, but on what God is doing.  Good things are happening, but we will overlook them if all we are thinking about is what is not happening.  It was a good Word for John and it is a good Word for us as well.

 

Question:  Is it possible that you are missing something important that is happening right now because you are focused on something that is not happening?

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, help us not to confuse our expectations with Your Will.  Gently remind us today of the goodness in our lives to which we should be paying attention.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people in prison today

 

Song:  Accentuate the Positive – Dr. John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTMWNWrE3Uc