HOPE

Helpers offer water and prayer as they clean up after the riots.

Yesterday some offered water, prayer, and help cleaning up.  Watch video above. 

TO FIND JOY

Evil-- how do we deal with it?  In a cruel, unfeeling act, a policeman killed George Floyd in Minneapolis this week.  I'm praying that justice will be swift. But now looters, anarchists, thugs, and criminals are spreading the evil by burning down and annihilating several U.S. cities.  One person has been shot and killed.  Small business owners have lost everything.  What does this solve?  Nothing.  These evil acts are uncalled for and lead to more pain.

My first thought when I heard about all of this was to call for Christians to pray and seek God to move in combating this evil.  My second thought was that these people were created in God's image.  They all need Jesus.  They need to hear about His Kingdom, His righteousness, His Honor, and His glory, and most of all about His precious blood being shed for their sins.  The only way to joy is through Jesus.

Above is a You Tube previewing how C.S. Lewis came to faith.  It was preformed in 2019.  If it comes to a stage near you I recommend checking it out.  I pray that many will trust in Jesus before it is too late. This is the only way to combat evil and to find joy.

THE BLESSING

Click on the arrow above to hear "The Blessing" by a virtual choir in the UK.

“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

—Numbers 6:24–26

HALLELUJAH CHORUS FOR YOU

Video created by Adam Billingham. Audio from April 2012 at College Church in Wheaton. Click on the arrow to listen.

BOATY MCFLOATY (WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE NAMED OUR BOAT)

Our river boat behind our Alaskan duplex 1951.

I heard a story about some teen aged boys who stole a boat and ended up drifting for eight days until they came to a deserted island.  They were rescued 15 months later.  Listen or read the transcript to the Breakpoint podcast by clicking here.

Speaking of islands, when I was seven years old, our family of 5, (before Davy and Wayne were here), would cruise in our river boat down the Chena River which ran through Fairbanks where we lived at the time. My sister, Evy, four years old, would not use the potty chair in the boat while we sailed.  Dad found an island which hadn't been flooded by the "break up" yet, (when all the ice and snow would melt).  We pulled the boat up on shore and found a private place to conceal the potty chair.  For some reason we left the chair on the island.  I assume we planned to use it next time we were near the island.  We would always refer to it as the "potty chair" island.

We may be stranded by coronavirus but we can still live in a civilized manner as those boys did in the above story.  We have time to read all the good books we have been meaning to read.  Most of all we can read what is true in the Bible.

II Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

HOLD ON

Waiting-- sometimes life seems like a game of hurry up and wait.  As a child I always looked forward--  never back.  If I was in a class with all new people I would search for a friend. I had a best friend in grades K through 5th but in 6th through 9th grades I wasn't successful. Maybe it was the problem of not growing up as fast as some.

Because I felt alone in 6th through 9th grades, I empathize with people who may feel lonely now during isolation due to the coronavirus.  You might know of someone who is alone and needs some encouragement.  The above You Tube is a 12 minute sermon on "Loneliness" by Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist church in Washington D.C. 

Below is a You Tube giving the history of the church.  If you have ever visited or lived near Washington D.C. the tour could be meaningful to you.

Jesus says in Revelation 3: 11" I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name."