Thirsty Ground, Thirsty Soul

It is quite dry in the part of the world where I live in these days.  Some area municipalities have asked for voluntary conservation from area businesses and citizens.  Television weather forecasters say that the annual rainfall for our area is about five inches below normal.      

The area where the Bible was written was and still is a very dry, arid region.   The Israelites knew that as a constant reality.    While we might know in our area dry conditions for a while, they knew dry conditions all the time.

One day, Jesus met at the local watering hole a woman who was thirsty.  She was there at Jacob's well with bucket in hand.    This woman was thirsty not just for a liquid to hydrate her body, but also for something that would quench her soul.  Read these words in John 4:12-14 which say:

12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”   13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

Like that woman at the well long ago, there are so many people in our world today who are thirsty.    Whether they live in a dry region or an area that has known plenty of rainfall, they are thirsty for something more than what they know.   I believe that Jesus Christ is still the source for our thirsty souls.  Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    Fill my cup,  Lord. Come and quench this thirsting in my soul;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

Look at the Birds

One of the things I enjoy about our home are watching the birds as they come to the bird feeders outside our living room window.    Among the birds we have seen feeding at the bird feeders are cardinals (which are pictured above.)       Our grandchildren, Eloise and Madelyn (who are visiting with us now), also enjoy watching the antics of the birds.  Madelyn also enjoys helping me weekly fill the bird feeders.

            As I watched the birds recently, I was reminded of this verse from Matthew 6:26-27 which says: 

²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

            I see so many people each week worrying about this and that.   I am told that most of  the things that we worry about never even take a place.     While it is enjoyable to watch the birds, perhaps it would be even better to be more like the birds.  And as we become more like the birds and worry less,  I think that we also will find ourselves be more Christ-like.  Have a great week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God,  we thank you for life and love, for faith and forgiveness.  Help us to worry less and trust you more;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

Following Directions

The roads are busy this summer with people taking trips.  Ann and I took a trip a few weeks ago to the Florida Keys.    While we had been to Florida before,  we had never been to the Keys.  What a beautiful part of the world and beautiful part of this country.

On most every trip by car, there is a driver and a navigator.  When Ann and I travel together, I usually am the driver and she is the navigator.    Since Ann loves looking at maps,    that arrangement works quite well.    There were some times along the trip where I ventured off course.  The main reason was because I failed to follow the detailed directions that Ann gave.  The journey went well and smoothly as long as I followed directions.

As it is easy to get off course on a trip, so it is easy to get off course on the road of life.    Most of us have made a "wrong turn" in life or went in a direction that ultimately was a deadline.  God offers a wonderful resource for us on the road of life:  the Bible.    The Bible is filled with books that were written centuries ago that has surprising much to say to us today if we simply take time to read it and study it.    Psalm 119:105 puts it this way:

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

I don't know about you, but I need some direction on the road to a new direction and some direction on the road to life.    I encourage you to open your Bible and see what a wonderful resource it is.    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:     Thank you, God, for the power of your Word, the Holy Scriptures.  As your disciple, help me to open the Bible that its words might be food for my soul on the journey of serving you;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.