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Reflections

Welcome to the JCPC Daily Reflections Blog. Reflections are daily devotionals authored by JCPC pastors, staff and members and provide insight, guidance and comfort to help you make it through each day. If you’d like to receive Reflections each day via email,  provide your email address.

Thursday, July 11 2019

For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

-Hebrews 3:4

 

I've spent the week combing through picture and video footage of our youth and parents in Mexico last week. This year, we had the privilege of using a time lapse camera gifted to us by a generous JCPC member. It captured the building of the exterior of this small house over two days. And we used other cameras to capture the changes from the inside. It's incredible to see the transformation inside and out in just three days with the work of a dedicated community.

 

 

 

This is the second build in three years for our youth group and about half the group worked on the last house. We got to visit that house and that family, which was so inspiring. Their lives have stability and joy like never before. But it is just as incredible to me as their leader to see how much our youth have transformed in those intervening years. The youth who were just rising sophomores and juniors back then walked onto the foundation and the roof as seasoned rising seniors and college freshmen. They taught younger youth the skills they would need this week and did so with new maturity and wisdom. They worked harder and with greater purpose. Like the house, they've been transformed inside and out through time and people dedicated to making disciples of them.

 

This Sunday, our youth will tell you their story and share pictures and experiences of the week-long trio serving in Mexico at both 9 and 11. I hope you'll make time to be at one or both services and see and hear how they and the people we have served have been transformed. Maybe, one day you can join us in the mission field or at the shelter or for a Sunday evening. Help us build God's kingdom. 

 

Prayer for Today

Lord, help me to be a builder for eternity by being your hands and feet, ready to serve. Amen.

Posted by: AT 06:55 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, July 10 2019

When Denise began dating her boyfriend, she attempted to maintain a slim figure and dress stylishly, believing she would be more attractive to him in that way. After all, it was what all the women's magazines advised. It was only much later that she discovered what he really thought: "I liked you just as much when you were heavier and didn't worry about what you wore."

 

Denise realized then how subjective "beauty" was. Our view of beauty is so easily influenced by others. It's often focused on the external, forgetting the value of inner beauty. But God sees us in only one way-as His beautiful, beloved children. I'd like to think that when God created the world, He left the best for last-us! Everything He created was good, but we're extra special because we're made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

 

God considers us beautiful! No wonder the psalmist was filled with awe as he compared the greatness of nature with humans. "What is mankind," he asked, "that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?" (Psalm 8:4). Yet God chose to give mortals a glory and honor that nothing else had (v. 5).

 

This truth gives us an assurance and reason to praise Him (v. 9). No matter what others think of us-or what we think of ourselves-know this: We are beautiful to God. 

 

Prayer for Today

Father, You know how insecure we can feel about ourselves. Thank You for the assurance that You love us!  Amen.

Posted by: AT 06:54 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, July 09 2019

Have you ever been really thirsty? What is it like to take a cold drink of water when you are very thirsty? Think about that feeling for a moment.

 

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)

 

What are some of the dry or thirsty places in your life? Take a moment to identify them and place them before God.

 

Are you in need of a drink? Are you in need of living water? Are there people in your life who are in need of it as well? What would living water look like for them?

 

As you have read over the past couple of weeks, I spent some time in the desert. It was dry and water was important. I noticed my skin and body experienced something different from the humid and warm climate here. Each time I encountered a cup of ice-cold water on our adventure it was so welcome. I also encountered two rivers on our experiences during the week, the Chama and Rio Grande. We spent some time near the banks of the Chama river before we encountered a native pueblo community, Ohkay Owingeh, on their feast day. I can visualize these encounters with water and they remind me of the ways that God nourishes us and the creation around us with water.

 

Find a time and place this week when you can stop, take a drink of water and consider places in your life where you need God's living water to flow. I hope that you will be refreshed and renewed so that you can share this good news with those around you.

 

Prayer for Today

Creator God, 

Thank you for promising to satisfy our thirst, to fill our cup, and to cause it to run over. Thank you for giving us living water that comes from the well of Your Son, from the river of Your Spirit, and from the water of Your Word. 

In Christ's Name, Amen.

Posted by: AT 05:45 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Monday, July 08 2019

Barbara grew up under the care of the British government in the 1960s, but when she turned sixteen, she and her newborn son, Simon, became homeless. The state was no longer obligated to provide for her at that age. Barbara wrote to the Queen of England for help and received a response! The Queen compassionately arranged for Barbara to be given a house of her own.

 

The Queen of England had the right resources to help Barbara, and her compassionate assistance can be seen as a small picture of God's help. The King of heaven knows all of our needs and sovereignly works out His plans in our lives. As He does, however, He longs for us to come to Him-sharing our needs and other concerns-as part of our loving relationship with Him.

 

The Israelites brought their need for deliverance to God. They were suffering under the burden of Egyptian slavery and cried out for help. He heard them and remembered His promise: "God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them" (Exodus 2:25). He instructed Moses to bring liberty to His people and declared that He would once again release them "into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey" (3:8).

 

Our King loves it when we come to Him! He wisely provides what we need, not necessarily what we want. Let's rest in His sovereign, loving provision.

 

Prayer for Today

Loving God, thank You that I can bring my needs to You. Help me to be content in whatever paths and provisions You choose.  Amen.

Posted by: AT 05:43 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Friday, July 05 2019

Pastor and writer Eugene Peterson had the opportunity to hear a lecture by Swiss physician and highly respected pastoral counselor Paul Tournier. Peterson had read the doctor's works, and admired his approach to healing. The lecture left a deep impression on Peterson. As he listened, he had the feeling that Tournier lived what he spoke and spoke what he lived. Peterson chose this word to describe his experience: "

 

Congruence. It is the best word I can come up with."

Congruence-it's what some refer to as "practicing what you preach" or "walking your talk." The apostle John stresses that if any of us "claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister," then we're "still in the darkness" (1 John 2:9). In essence, our lives and our words simply don't match up. John goes further to say such people "do not know where they are going" (v. 11). The word he chose to describe how incongruence leaves us? Blind.

 

Living closely aligned to God by allowing the light of His Word to illuminate our paths keeps us from living blind. The result is a godly vision that gives clarity and focus to our days-our words and actions match up. When others observe this, the impression is not necessarily that of someone who knows everywhere they're going, but of someone who clearly knows who they're following.

 

Prayer for Today

Jesus, I want my words and actions to match up. There are times I fall short, but my desire is to grow more consistent each day. Help me, please, so that everyone listening and watching my life will be drawn to You. Amen.

Posted by: AT 11:48 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Thursday, July 04 2019

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

-Jeremiah 29:11 

 

This week, 16 youth and 8 adults from JCPC have labored in Rasarito, Mexico to build a house for a single mom, Ita, and her three beautiful sons.

 

Today, while the family is out shopping for groceries, the team is assembling new furniture and setting the kitchen to make that house a home, ready for that family.  

 

The youth and adults have worked, talked, and laughed with the Apreza family for three days.  Today is the day we call, "the day we cry."  We will welcome the family back to the site, present them with gifts and the keys to the house, each of us taking a turn to share heartfelt words of gratitude, memories, and hopes.

 

There is a plan for the house and its construction, the needed materials, and all the workers necessary, as well as our master builders who lead us.  However, there is room for creativity and personalization.  The family chose where to place the windows and door, various personal details, and then...from us, a few surprises.  The builder helped us craft an overhang for the front door.  Several of our guys and girls constructed and decorated a flower box for the front window.

 

We have a few more days ahead of ministry work that includes a visit to the family whose house we built 2 years ago, an orphanage, a rehabilitation ranch, and service breakfast at the mission in Tijuana to the homeless population.

 

Pray for the people we serve, our team, and that God's love and hope will shine in the days ahead.  Thank you for your prayerful and financial support.  Thank you for helping us realize God's plans and our creative answer to God's call.

 

Prayer for Today

God, be with our team serving in Mexico.  Open my eyes and ears and heart to answer your call and live and serve into your plans for my life.  Amen.

Posted by: AT 11:46 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, July 03 2019

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat!

-Isaiah 55:1, NIV

 

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. We will see many symbols that remind us to give thanks for our nation and all that is good about it. One of the symbols we often see this time of year is the Statue of Liberty. It stands there in New York City and for years it has welcomed those seeking a new country. It has welcomed those who were looking for a new start, or for those who valued the principles on which this country was built.

 

 

In 1883 Emma Lazarus wrote a poem that was largely ignored for many years. It was a sonnet to the Statue of Liberty that was discovered after her death. A patron arranged to have the last five lines become a permanent part of the statue itself. By 1945, all fourteen lines of the poem were placed over the Statue of Liberty's main entrance. The last five lines go this way:

 

            Give me your tired, your poor,

            Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

            The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

            Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

            I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

 

I think about how those words sound similar to the words of Isaiah: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat!" (Is. 55:1, NIV) What would it be like for us to become a nation that focused on what really mattered? What would it be like to open our arms to those in need, in the same way the words of that poem inspire us to think about? Maybe in response to God's amazing grace, we need to refocus our lives on those things that really matter - the things that show God's love and grace to all who thirst. Jesus said, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Matthew 25:35, NIV)

 

Prayer for Today

Gracious God, we thank you for quenching our thirst for you. Use us to quench the thirst of others in your name. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Posted by: AT 11:45 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, July 02 2019

All of the decisions and plans that happen during the busy seasons of the year can feel like a huge mountain to climb. In an effort to encounter these times with a different mindset, I began to ask myself these questions:

  • Do you feel that each day is overscheduled? 
  • Have you ever had to collect your scattered self so that you could make an important decision? 
  • Do you ever lay awake at night thinking about all you have to do? 
  • Do you ever ask why your life is so full?

Simplicity may sound like an oasis in the desert during this time of year. I spent last week in the high desert of New Mexico on a pilgrimage exploring the landscapes and religious communities near Abiqui, New Mexico and Ghost Ranch Presbyterian Retreat Center. On our last day there, we traveled to Plaza Blanca (The White Place), made famous for some by Georgia O'Keefe's art of this geologic landscape. It is a unique landscape of sculptures of volcanic ash that has been eroded by wind and water for a long time. Long before I arrived and long after I left. This was one place that was an oasis in the desert for me last week.

 

My time there reminded me that living simply is not about deciding to get your life under control but about giving control of your life to God.

 

I think that in times like these, God calls us to assess our situation and take some time to retreat for a few hours, a day, or a weekend to reflect and prepare for all that the busy seasons of the year require. I would invite you to reflect on when Jesus talks about wealth and worries in Matthew 6, his message is simple: seek God, trust God, and receive God.

 

How can we live simply in a consumer focused culture?

In the midst of all of the busyness, how can we focus our lives on seeking God, trusting God and receiving God?

How might these responses effect the way we enter into this day or then next busy season of our lives?

 

 

  

 

Prayer for Today

Direct my steps, O God, toward the actions You want me to take to help someone in need. Thank You for allowing me to be a part of Your work on earth. Amen.

Posted by: AT 11:43 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Monday, July 01 2019

Thomas knew what he needed to do. Having been born to a poor family in India and adopted by Americans, upon a return trip to India he witnessed the dire needs of the children in his hometown. So he knew he had to help. He began making plans to return to the US, finish his education, save a lot of money, and come back in the future.

 

Then, after reading James 2:14-18 in which James asks, "What good is it . . . if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?" Thomas heard a little girl in his native country cry out to her mother: "But Mommy, I'm hungry now!" He was reminded of the times he had been intensely hungry as a child-searching through trash cans for food. Thomas knew he couldn't wait years to help. He decided, "I'll start now!"

 

Today the orphanage he began houses fifty well-fed and cared-for children who are learning about Jesus and getting an education-all because one man didn't put off what he knew God was asking him to do.

 

James' message applies to us as well. Our faith in Jesus Christ provides us with great advantages-a relationship with Him, an abundant life, and a future hope. But what good is it doing anyone else if we don't reach out and help those in need? Can you hear the cry: "I'm hungry now"?

 

Prayer for Today

Direct my steps, O God, toward the actions You want me to take to help someone in need. Thank You for allowing me to be a part of Your work on earth. Amen.

Posted by: AT 11:42 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Friday, June 28 2019

It can be difficult when we're told "no" or "not now," especially when we sense God has opened a door for us to serve others. Early in my ministry, two opportunities came my way where I thought my gifts and skills matched the churches' needs, but both doors eventually closed. After these two disappointments, another position came along, and I was selected. With that ministry call came thirteen years of life-touching pastoral labors.

 

Twice in Acts 16 Paul and company were redirected by God. First, they were "kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia" (v. 6). Then, "When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to" (v. 7). Unknown to them, God had other plans that would be right for His work and workers. His no to the previous plans put them in a position to listen to and be confidently led by Him (vv. 9-10).

 

Who among us hasn't grieved what we initially thought to be a painful loss? We've felt wounded when we didn't get a certain job, when a service opportunity didn't materialize, when a relocation got derailed. Though such things can momentarily be weighty, time often reveals that such detours are actually divine diversions that God graciously uses to get us where He wants us, and we are grateful.

 

Prayer for Today

Father, I praise You that in Your wisdom You know how to best arrange my life. Thank You for protecting me through Your detours.  Amen.

Posted by: AT 01:45 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email

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