Uninvited Guests Sometimes Bring The Best Gifts!

"These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." - 1 Peter 1:7

One of the great tragedies of the Christian life is that if we fail to enter into a relationship with God that is born of the Holy Spirit, we are left with a religion, not a relationship. Many a person today lives with an intellectual belief in God, but without a relationship that is based on two-way communication. This is the greatest tragedy of all. It's like having a brand-new car but never having the gas to run it. It can't move you anywhere. It only looks pretty, but one cannot enjoy the ride or smell the newness inside.

Peter tells us that until our faith is proved genuine, we will never be able to give praise, glory, and honor to Jesus, because until such testing He will not be revealed in our lives. Peter describes this in the verse before: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials" (1 Pet. 1:6). Trials are designed to bring us to a level of trust and experience with God that we would never know otherwise. These "faith experiences" with God allow us to know firsthand the faithfulness of God, the love of God, and the personal nature of God. If you cannot recount several instances when God has met you personally, then chances are your faith has not been born of the Holy Spirit into a living relationship with God. It is easy to fall prey to a relationship to God that never experiences His real presence; rather, it is based on knowledge only. This is a tragic place to be.

If this is where you have been in your Christian experience, ask God today to make Himself real to you. Ask Him to show you His personal nature and love. He desires to do this. Those whom He has called know His voice. He will show Himself to those who are His. "He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him" (Jn. 14:21b).

Grace and Peace,

Ed

My Aunt Frannie Died

My step-mother's cousin died Saturday, April 5th at 11am in Good Samaritan Hospital. She was 90 years old. I can remember going "downtown" to see Aunt Fran, Aunt Mary and Aunt Sadie (who was aunt Frannies mom). Man could they cook. One famous meal I remember was at Aunt Marys, the whole gang was there and they made homemade sausage and zepoles with powdered sugar. While, in the living room the men were watching TV as the immortal words were spoken " One small step for man, one giant step for mankind." And we put a man on the moon. Lots of smiles that day.

Frannie moved in with us 17 years ago when she could no longer stay in her brothers home. She was going to move in to an assisted living community against her will and was experiencing bouts of depression. As a family we prayed about what the right thing was to do and my wife woke up the next morning saying that she dreamed about aunt frannie living here with us. So we had a family meeting, My Dad, my step-mom, my wife and I and we decided to drive to Brooklyn and offer aunt fran to live with my parents downstairs.

It was real good when my dad was alive. He kept the balance and they seemed to enjoy each others company. After Dad passed away tensions got tighter downstairs until my mom passed away from complications of a broken hip. So it was my imediate family upstairs and aunt fran downstairs. We moved my oldest daughter down for company for fran and privacy for my daughter. They had seperate entrance and seperate bedrooms.

Aunt Fran had been the healthiest person I ever knew personally. She was hopitalized at 9 with pluracy and stayed in the hospital for months. She never saw a hospital again for over 75 years! A few years ago she slipped and dislocated her shoulder and the emergency room doctor reset it and sent her back home to us. On March 29th Frannie was having some trouble breathing and had fallen. My daughter took her to the hospital emergency room where she was given a bed and diagnosed with pneumonia. She never recovered. She has a burial plot with her brother and his wife in Brooklyn. I'll be going to Brooklyn on Wednesday to say one last good bye to Aunt Fran. Ciao, Bella

Grace and Peace,

Ed

Phillips Bible Translation

I love the Phillips translation of the Bible. It is like the Amplified Bible but easier and more natural to read. Read this for example, II Corinthians 6:3–10: “…We want to prove ourselves genuine ministers of God whatever we have to go through—patient endurance of troubles or even disasters, being flogged or imprisoned; being mobbed, having to work like slaves, having to go without food or sleep. … Our sole defence [sic], our only weapon, is a life of integrity, whether we meet honour or dishonour, praise or blame. Called ‘imposters’ we must be true, called ‘nobodies’ we must be in the public eye. Never far from death, yet here we are alive, always ‘going through it’ yet never ‘going under.’ We know sorrow, yet our joy is inextinguishable. We have ‘nothing to bless ourselves with’ yet we bless many others with true riches. We are penniless, and yet in reality we have everything worth having.” (J. B. Phillips Translation)

Man, if that doesn't describe the Christian's walk! How often we forget that we experience a dual reality. While possessing nothing we posses all things. We are like Christ in this world and for the same purpose. This life is for them. To live is Christ and to die is gain. We are a drink offering for our brethren.

So let us rejoice this Sunday that God has deemed us worthy to suffer persecution and misunderstandings along with Christ. Let us celebrate His Victory! In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world and because He lives we can and will face tomorrow. This is the Victory that overcomes the world, even our faith!

Grace and Peace,

Ed