Weekly Devotion

I’ve been aware of my Christian roots for most of my life and throughout this journey I’ve also tried to be aware of God’s plan for me. Several times I felt I was sailing along in the direction He set me on, only to be disrupted, bumped, and turned another way. One day I’m on cruise control and the next, I’m scratching my way up a steep hill with nothing to hold onto. God uses all of us in different ways, He just doesn’t tell us what those ways are.

Many events take place in chapter 17 of Acts. Luke captured all the historical details to describe what took place with Paul in Athens. More importantly, he captured the necessary details to show us the proper way to spread the gospel to an audience of mixed believers.

Life didn’t get any easier for Paul and others involved in the development of the early church. Paul had already traveled in this region before on a previous mission trip. According to William Barclay, Paul’s first mission was about five years before the events of chapter 16. We can assume that Paul was eager to see for himself the fruits of the work of the Lord among these churches since his prior visit.

As a teenager in high school, I would sometimes get into fierce arguments with friends about which rock band was better. When I say friends, I’m not talking about casual acquaintances, I’m talking about close, longtime friends. The conversations would sometimes go from humorous to nasty in 60 seconds. In our divisive world today, it’s virtually impossible to have a civil disagreement about anything. From politics to vaccines to social justice, it’s normally fuel for a heated discussion. Surprisingly, churches can be even worse in terms of tolerance for disagreement.

A long time ago, I heard a significant sermon from a past Pastor that has stuck with me for more than two decades. He told us of a memorable story of being stuck on a small sailboat out at sea, being blasted by a freak storm. His message began with a vivid image of sailing out of a harbor baked by the afternoon sun. He mentioned the sun peaking through the tall grasses on the side of the shoreline, looking like a golden coating. The water was dancing, shimmering from the power of the August sunshine. I remember clearly, his almost sarcastic smile as he told us he knew that God was blessing their journey, their boat, and of course, them too.

God makes us all different and equally wonderful in His image. He made me a bit of a procrastinator. I had a huge project that I was late on delivering, you guessed it, partly due to procrastination. In order to deliver the presentation the next morning on September 11, 2001, I had to pull an all-nighter.

There’s a big difference between knowledge and wisdom, and the older I get the more value I put upon the former. Knowledge can be gained from our own efforts. Wisdom is imparted from God. Wisdom has taught me to know that we can never put ourselves in others’ shoes. During the height of the Pandemic, I would sometimes downplay the pain and isolation that people were enduring.

Two weeks ago, we learned about my son’s friend T and his faith journey. We learned about how his trust in God’s perfection and his surrender of personal control led to the unequaled freedom and indescribable love of the gift of his daughter. This week, we’re going to learn about T’s wife M.

Back in October we wrote about losing our self-righteousness and abandoning our pride as pointed out in Psalm 46. This Psalm also speaks about a bigger aspect that God offers; His shelter. God offers us permanent refuge, strength, and 24/7 assistance in times of trouble. A few weeks ago, a long-time friend of our son sat down with me on her visit and shared her beliefs.

It took 2 years in the making, but we finally got the entire family together for a week at the beach. Our son and his wife are actively engaged at a very large church in Raleigh. They asked if they could invite some good church friends to join us for a few days. After what felt like an eternity of exclusion due to the Pandemic, my wife and I welcomed them with open arms.