WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

I made the mistake this morning of glancing at the news headlines. Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria; North Korea about to declare war on South Korea; China wants to take over Taiwan; 6 articles about different groups being offended somehow; bear market maybe a recession; and on and on and on. I stopped looking. When I was a kid we had three tv stations. Early last night I scrolled through 2700 stations. Know what my bottom line was? “There’s nothing on.” When I got to work today around 6, I immediately took a walk. My first lap I took the headlines with me. The walk was of little help. I readjusted my perspective and took a walk with my new attitude. Again, not much help. What to do?

I came into the office and just sat at my desk and knew I would be unproductive today. Too much on my mind. I needed to declutter but was struggling with focus. I needed to do my Tuesday morning devotion and had to get it together quickly. The hurry did not help! Might as well go through my emails. Lo and behold, one of the emails had an attachment, a Bible teaching I listened to about the tabernacle in the wilderness. I learned something important that one day I will teach. The teacher reminded me just how much God wants to be with me. There it was! “God wants to be with me” is exactly what I need.

So I took another walk, this time with God, remembering His great love for me, His willingness to come near to me and help me when I am overrun with news. Exactly what I needed. As I walked I began to rest in His promises that I had memorized over the years. This time it was a two lap walk and quite glorious. It’s a new day.

~Grace and Peace~
Pastor Ernie