Dear Cobham Park Church Family,
I had ten family houseguests over for the Labor Day weekend. While hosting can be a lot of work, it was well worth it! My normally quiet house rang with laughter and animated conversation; many priceless memories were made. After church on that Sunday morning, I was the last to get home. As I passed the pile of shoes just inside my front door, my heart warmed. Right then and there, I joyfully thanked God for the gift of my family!
Our families share our lives and love us through thick and thin. They shape our identities. We can find tremendous fulfillment and purpose in giving back to our families—especially the new generations following us.
All that being said, I am not naive. I know that our families can also wound us deeply. Many people are separated from their biological families by division, distance, or death. But the Bible reveals another family that is far larger and longer lasting than our blood kin: the family of God. In Christ, we find all that a good family should be. Here, we experience the very presence of Jesus! While recovering from a surgery, one of our church members described this family of God:
“I have seen Jesus in the past months. I have seen Him in phone calls, text messages, and get well cards. I have seen him in a gentle touch and in a hug. I have seen him in prayers said on my behalf. I have seen him in meals brought… I have seen him in visits from friends. I saw him on a lawn mower and carrying a weed-eater. I saw him bush-hogging on my tractor. I saw him deliver a golf cart so I can move about. I saw Jesus in a man working on replacing…brakes in our car. I saw him in doctors and nurses caring for me in the hospital. When life gets hard Jesus appears in so many places…you see him working through people that share the love of Christ. Dear Lord, I see you everywhere.”
It’s high time for you to catch up with God’s family! Make some new precious memories. Give of yourself. Invest in the next generation. See Jesus!
“Now you are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but you are
members of God’s very own family…(Ephesians 2:19a, The Living Bible).”
In His Family,
Pastor Keith
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