verseoftheday

Mark 7:32-33 CEB [32] Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and they begged him to place his hand on the man for healing. [33] Jesus took him away from the crowd by himself and put his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. Mark 7:32-33 CEB Do you notice the pattern in the way Jesus meets with people, the pattern in the way these healings unfold? No I didn't notice it either - they all seem different.  Crowds, no crowds, touch, no touch, distance, and this one so up close Jesus poked his fingers in the man's ears, and it seems put his spit on his tongue! Very strange! Jesus meets people in different ways. And there is no reason why given. Perhaps this is what we're meant to see, that Jesus meets with people in different ways, that comparing isn't helpful, and if we try to figure it out we probably won't get an explanation... Perhaps this is about Faith. Faith in a person who is at least as comple...

Mark 7:31 CEB [31] After leaving the region of Tyre, Jesus went through Sidon toward the Galilee Sea through the region of the Ten Cities.  Mark 7:31 CEB This is at least 2 days walk and Jesus is on the move - he's just come from Jerusalem to Tyre and now on the move again. The thing that interested me about this account is that Tyre and Sidon are now in a country called Lebanon. I tend to think of countries and borders as permanent things...but they haven't always been there. Jesus moved from place to place, no border control, no passport. That got me thinking about Jesus IN my life - He wants access everywhere but I'm the one who puts up Border Controls in my heart. Not sure I want Jesus going There. Yet He wants to keep moving. He moved around teaching, encouraging, challenging, and healing. Healing. Maybe that's what He is up to in the cross Border excursions in my heart... He wants His Redemptive Love to permeate all of me, all of us... #gospelofMark #GoodNews  #in...

Sunday Psalms; Psalms 10:1, 17-18 CEB [1] Why do you stand so far away, LORD, hiding yourself in troubling times?   ... [17]   LORD, you listen to the desires of those who suffer.  You steady their hearts; you listen closely to them, to establish justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that people of the land will never again be terrified. Psalms 10:1, 17-18 CEB This song asks one of those tough questions. Where are you God when bad things happen? When the world seems to be ruled by corruption and evil. When my life, my world, is upended, when things aren't as they "should" be. And the Redemptive Strand is here. He does listen. He is close. In Jesus He did make a way. And there will be Justice. There will be freedom, shalom, peace. One day all will be made new. The hope of the Gospel, the Good News, is here.  It's OK to want to see God's Justice now, in a world where so much seems upsidedown, in the same way the writer of this song wanted to see that, ...

Jude 1:24-25 CEB To the one who is able to protect you from falling,  and to present you blameless and rejoicing before his glorious presence,  to the only God our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, belong glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, now and forever. Amen. Jude 1:24-25 CEB When it seems that nothing or no one in this world can hold us, Jesus can. When our grief or hurt or despair or sense of unjustice, our fears, seem too big for us, Jude reminds us that we are held by someone bigger. When we don't believe we are enough, that in our humanity we're not good enough, and definitlely not good enough for our God, Jude reminds us that Jesus absorbs all of the blame, and sees us as complete, all we were meant to be. Jude reminds us that we are seen, known, and dearly loved. By the Eternal. Because He can. Because He chooses to. Because He is Love. We may get glimpses of what it's like to be fully known and fully loved, but one day that will become ou...

Friday! Proverbs! Proverbs 8:1-4 CEB Doesn't Wisdom cry out and Understanding shout?  Atop the heights along the path, at the crossroads she takes her stand. By the gate before the city, at the entrances she shouts:  I cry out to you, people; my voice goes out to all of humanity.   Proverbs 8:1-4 CEB How often have I walked past Wisdom? Ignored it. Sidestepped it. This Proverb reminds us that God's Wisdom is available to us.  Wisdom is in our face. So what's my problem then? I want an easier path, something that makes a promise that seems more pleasant. My own heart can be deceiving about what Wisdom is, where I should be looking. My world is clamouring, telling me wisdom is contained in Instagram reels or somewhere. Somewhere else.  In something else. In what someone else has or does or something. Where am I looking? Where am I walking straight past Wisdom? What do I really need? #proverbs  #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing  #seeWisdomto...

Jude 1:22-23 CEB [22] Have mercy on those who doubt. [23] Save some by snatching them from the fire. Fearing God, have mercy on some, hating even the clothing contaminated by their sinful urges.   Jude 1:22-23 CEB What is Jude's big point here as he wraps up his letter? See people.  See through their collections of choices and defence mechanisms and things that they do to isolate or insulate them from their heart aches, their need of connection with God, their doubts, and to see people through the eyes of mercy.  I'm wondering seeing others through the eyes of mercy is easy for some...and not so easy for others... And what about seeing ourselves through the eyes of mercy? Maybe we need to try that... #Jude #letters #invitation #eyesofmercy  

But you,  dear friends:  build each other up on the foundation of your most holy faith,  pray in the Holy Spirit, keep each other in the love of God,  wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will give you eternal life.  Jude 1:20-21 CEB When there's doubters, scoffers, those offering and suggesting "better" ways of being in the world, when the world is against us, here is Jude's antidote. Community that builds each other up in our faith.  Prayer. Keep each other. Hold on to the hope that we have in Jesus. If there weren't days when our faith wavered, our hope is hard to see, when praying alone seems fruitless, Jude invites us into this picture of community, where on the days I'm wavering, struggling, dry, you're strong, clear, hope  full. We need one another. Find, seek out make, community of faith. And hold on. #Jude  #letters #invitation  #community  #hopeishere