Walk This Way

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1 You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. 2 You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him. 3 That's right - you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set. 4 You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it. 5 Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set; 6 Then I'd never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel. 7 I thank you for speaking straight from your heart; I learn the pattern of your righteous ways. 8 I'm going to do what you tell me to do; don't ever walk off and leave me. (Psalm 119:1-8 The Message Bible)

A blessed and joyous Thursday to you, dear ConCafe Family! May you, dear Friend, be blessed beyond measure in your walk with Christ Jesus today in ways that bless those around you. We continue to lift up prayers for those who need them and whose paths are leading them away from God and into doubt and despair. May God's love lead them into love and hope is my prayer. Pray for one another; pray for your own needs.

"We're not lost; we're exploring!" I know it wasn't anything my wife wanted to hear, but I was not ready to admit that we were indeed lost. Yes, men, the stereotype says, hate to ask for directions. GPSs now help stubborn men "discover" new ways to go to old places.

This passage from the Psalms closes out this week's lectionary texts. Starting on Monday we saw Jesus encounter yet another challenge about Himself and the scriptures, and He answered wisely and correctly on the greatest commandments of their faith. The Hebrews passage spoke of Jesus being our high priest, Whose acts paid in full for our salvation and righteousness. Yesterday, we visited the OT passage in Deuteronomy where we first find the greatest commandment of loving the Lord God with all our being. And this passage speaks of our need to follow God's teachings and commandments in ways that bless us, and guide us.

As a boy I loved the library in Kingsville. It was a simple direction to get there and my visits allowed me to read all the Hardy Boys books. When we married we laughed because Nellie had read all of the Nancy Drew series and then started on the Hardy Boys. I shyly admitted that I too had started the Nancy Drew books as well. On one particular day my brother wanted to tag along. We encountered on our way there, a kitten who decided it might want to check out some books too, because it followed us all the way to the library. When we finished the time at the library, we found it was still outside and having been raised in the right way, I told my brother we needed to return it to the place where it had found us. So, we carried the kitten on our way home. Earlier, we had passed a man watering his lawn and he must have seen that the kitten was following, but now he was in a white police squad car, dressed like a police officer. He stopped his car in a police-like manner and huffily grilled us on our intentions. I politely replied that the kitten followed us and now we were returning it home. "Make sure you get it to the right place," he almost yelled. Not the best introduction to police encounters, but it was Kingsville in the late 50s; but I was lovingly well instructed on what was right and what was wrong, including not taking what was not ours. I knew the course and how to best stay on it, as the psalmist wrote, and as he knew, I was blessed for following God's directions, and doing my daily best to find Him and to be led by Him. This comes through prayer and listening. Our prayers should include that we walk steadily behind God and never regretting the paths He has set out for us. I just finished a great story in a national newspaper about a 100 year-old priest from Beaumont, Texas, who is being forced out of his pulpit by his bishop and the order to which he belongs. He started Cristo Rey Catholic Church in the 1950s and it has grown into quite a bustling church. Since 2015 he has baptized almost one thousand babies, and almost that many in First Communion. The church is not happy in losing him and on his last Sunday, the 17th of October, it was quite an emotional mass. Teenagers pushed their way back into the receiving line to get a blessing from the only priest they have known, crying openly for a man they know loves and cares for them. The priest reflected on the new assignment in his home country of Spain where he will work alongside other priests in a church that needs him, “It’s something beautiful,” he said. “God’s calling you to do this work.” Since the age of 12 this man has been walking in the path God shared with him. We will do good to follow too.

PRAYER: Loving God, for Your presence and guidance we are thankful. For Your love and peace we also are thankful. Guide us and bless us, and let us bless others on our way. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be a beacon of hope to someone today!

Receive my blessings of joy and love,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Family Foundational Teaching

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1 Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children's children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9 NRSV)

Wondrous and Blessed is the heart where the Lord lives! Is your heart, dear Friend, such a heart? I pray that it is; pray to have God open it to Him so that He may reside in you and grant you peace, joy, and guidance. May we pray for all who hurt today; for those who desire healing, and those who wish peace would make a home in their hearts. Pray for one another; pray for yourselves.

What would your home give away about you to a perceptive visitor? What do you have as folks enter your home? What decor dominates your walls? What magazines or books share space on your coffee table? What conversation items shape your chit chats with visitors? We come to the family foundational teaching for the Jews as they prepared to enter the land that God was giving to them. It was meant to cement in them their identity as God's people; the core was that God was their God, and they were God's people. The promise from God was that if they accepted and lived by God's decrees and commandments, they would be blessed with long, fruitful lives in this new land. They were entering into a land that was known for it being a land flowing with milk and honey; which is a suave way of saying that the land not only possessed the basics of life and extras beyond. They were about to become neighbors with people who did not yet know God, or even of God. Their mission was to make God real so they would come to know and love Him as well.

The foundational commandment, later called the greatest and first commandment, is from verses 4 and 5, which Jesus knew and loved, and shared with the religious leader who asked which of the commandments was the greatest. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." It is an awesome commandment. Love is the driving force behind this commandment, not fear. Many world religions were known for the great fear they had towards their gods. Those who believed in volcano gods knew only to fear the wrath of the god with each eruption. The list is long. Few, if any, stressed love as a reponse towards their god. It was to fear the god enough to live right out of fear the god would kill them. This commandment stresses the need for believers to love God because God loves us. And our love-response has to be whole-hearted, whole-minded, whole-strength, committed love. It was expected that the entire being of a believer had to be focused on God. Do you remember the first time you felt a special something for someone? Did you not write that person's name on your paper bookcovers that the school supplied so protect their books? Did you not take a knife and carve their initials on a tree, perhaps with your initials under a plus sign? And once you started dating/courting, did you not spend all the time you could trying to think about them, talk to them, and see them? This was the kind of affection and attention this commandment is trying to elicit from each believer, but this love is truly serious because it is eternal!

The words that follow verse 6 continue the teaching; "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart." The heart is source of all emotions, and if we keep love of God first in our hearts, that will translate into fruituf actions and blessings because of the source. The next is the need to teach this commandment of love to our children, by reciting them and talking about them when you are at home and when you are away; as you lie down for sleep, and as you arise in the morning. Verse 8 teaches something that even today the orthodox of the Jews took literally and formed leather boxes in which to place the written commandment, which they placed "as an emblem on your forehead," and printed the words on the doorposts of their home and on their gates. The core of each home needed to be God, and love for God.

The presence of God in each heart and home should be a change-maker, both for the individual and the family. We can decorate our homes however we like but unless evidence of a changed life is shown, it's only for show. I think of the bumper stickers or religious symbols some cars bear and the way the vehicle is driven shows nothing of a true spiritual being whose life has left behind evil and bad intentions. I think back to a story shared with me by a pastor who was living in the Austin area and he had been invited to preach at a neighboring church at a Sunday night worship service (remember those? Kids ask your grandparents!). On the drive there, he changed lanes in a rapid way and the driver he cut off, sped up alongside him and shared a finger with him (Kids close your eyes! Okay, open them now) and quickly cut him off as he had been cut. And again (Kids, close your eyes again) the finger. When my friend arrived at the church, the senior pastor welcomed him gladly and then said, "Come over here, I want you to meet our associate pastor." And into the office the two walked and there sat finger man! He could not find a place in which to hide and my friend could not hide his smile. Friends, we should let our actions give away the presence of God in our lives, not the crosses we wear or the t-shirts with religious sayings. Be a genuine believer in God whose lives have truly been changed for the better.

PRAYER: Loving Father, we confess that we are not perfect and we sometimes do not hide our dislike and even hatred towards others or the actions of others. Forgive us and give us new opportunities to truly live as those whose lives have been blessed by God in wondrous and joyous ways. Give us this day a huge helping of love from You; please place it in our hearts so that we can share it with others. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Find new ways to show God's love; but not to show off but to help out.

Receive my blessings of peace and love,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

PAID IN FULL!

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11 But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven's "tent" - the true Holy Place - once and for all. 12 He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. 13 If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, 14 think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. (Hebrews 9:11-14 The Message Bible)

Happy Tuesday dear ConCafe People! May the fullness of God's love be poured over your head, heart, and hands as God's sign that you have the authority and permission to get to work for Him in all areas of your life. Can you, dear Reader, do that? Of course you can! Dear prayer warriors, please lift up the premie born with several factors against him; now he's facing pnuemonia and other complications, but nothing greater than God's power, please lift up your prayers for this sweet baby. Pray for all who need prayers; pray for one another, and lift up your needs to the Lord!

Thank you to all who prayed for me, sent me cards, texts, emails, and phone calls! Yes, getting love as one grows older is very important to us, and to me! I felt blessed and loved! I've had three consecutive days of love! Even our dog, Wesley, accompanied Carli into our bedroom to wish me a Happy Birthday! He was very cute. He doesn't yet know all the words to The Beatles' version of Birthday, but he sure wags his tail in perfect time!

As a 9 year-old working in a grocery store, with permission from my parents to buy a snack from time to time, it became easy for me to grab an ice cream cone or candy bar and lift it so Mr. Chapa could see it and I would say, in perfect Spanish of course, ¡Apuntalo! which means, "Charge it to me!" What a smug satisfaction for a nine year-old to have that sort of power. What I did not realize was that in addition to the snacks that I was charging, there was the matter of the weekly groceries that my parents charged on our tab at Chapa's Grocery. For Mr. Chapa to have that kind of faith in us and so many others, well, it was an act of faith on this Christian man's part and a necessary part of making ends meet, and quite honestly, keeping people alive. When it was all said and done, in 1965, the economy made it necessary for my Dad to move to Houston without us to find work. He had tried everything and did not have much luck. His dream job, and my supposed dream job too, of being a milk man was yanked out from under him when the creamery closed and moved South to Harlingen, Texas. Soon, my Dad's move became our move too. I thank God for his faith to move to an unknown place to find work, and for my Mom to holding it all together with five kids worried and nervous for our absent Dad. I also praise God for my Mom's uncanny ability to save money. Because not a year later, of living in Houston, she wrote out a check for what we owed Mr. Chapa and they mailed it to him. It was a large amount of money in those day's standards, but it blessed my heart to see my Dad and Mom fulfill their obligation to a kind grocer named Juan Chapa. I also grew up with that mindset of not wanting to ever owe anyone anything. I remember the celebration of seeing the receipt sent back from Kingsville with a red stamp on it: PAID IN FULL! Hallelujah! Being Methodists we were free to dance and I don't believe any of us did, but inside our hearts we were dancing away. Our debt had been paid!

The writer of Hebrews knew all about this. His tradition had taught him that when the high priest of the temple entered in to the holy of holies and offered up the sacrifices and burnt offerings, God was writing on the tabs of sins the same message on each; PAID IN FULL! But this writer truly celebrates Who this was, Who once and for all, paid all the debts and not with the blood of scapegoats and other livestock and animals, but with His blood, He paid it all! His blood on the cross was enough; His death was the last death we needed to suffer because of sin. Jesus showed us He could die for our sins, and three days later, arise from the dead and bring the entire matter to a close. Our sin-debt was paid. Yesterday's Gospel message was all about God's love from the Old Testament and this is New Testament reality; Christ Jesus showed us what true love from God does look like and what it can do for all men and women, all boys and girls; pay the price of our sinfulness and make us new creations in God. As fas as this writer is concerned, this is a new reality; no longer would it be necessary for goats, oxen, cattle, birds, etc. need to die in our place; the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world, so that all who believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!

Dear one, it matters not what you have done, or what you think of yourself for having done what you have done, you are free enough to ask forgiveness, and you will receive it. A true story that I heard just yesterday was told by a priest who had gone to the hospital in his village to pray for the sick. As he was preparing to leave for home, he saw a nun in the hallway outside the door of a man. She said, "Father, you must go in and pray for this man, he is dying and this may be his only chance of salvation and getting into Heaven." The priest went in only to have the old man rail at him with terrible words and threw him out. The priest frightened at this welcome went out and again, the nun was there and said, "Father, please do not give up, share with him what he needs." The priest was reluctant but admired the nun's determination to have this man saved. He went in and said that it did not matter what he said, he was going to hear a prayer on his behalf and the old man said there was no hope for him. He confessed that something he had done many years ago condemned him to the fires of hell, and he deserved it. The priest asked what he had done. The old man said his job was to lower the crossing guards on the railroad on the main street of that village and one night he was so drunk he did not do it and a family in a car, with both mother and father in it, along with three children, were killed by a speeding train. "For those lives, I deserve to die!" the old man cried. The priest held the old man's shoulder and said, "The car that your'e talking about was my family's car and yes, my mom, dad, and brothers and sister were killed that night. I was not feeling well and I could not go with them; but I know that God has forgiven you, and I forgive you, and my family has forgiven you as well." The old man finally relented to hearing the prayer and receiving Holy Communion. The words he thought he would never hear gave him peace and two days later, he was able to die in peace. PAID IN FULL.

Dear one, you may think the "bill" is too long and the cost too high for you to ever pray it completly off, but that same message from that priest to the man has come to you through God's word; your sins, your debts have been PAID IN FULL by Jesus Christ. Receive that and be glad!

PRAYER: Loving Father, help all who hear or read this devotional, who have yet to hear those words for their own souls hear it now. PAID IN FULL is what Jesus has written on your account. Your sins have been washed away, and God's peace can be yours now and for always. May it be so in this heart, mind, and soul of this dear person; we ask it in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share the good news of PAID IN FULL with someone today!

Receive my blessings of hope, joy, and peace!

Pastor Eradio Valverde

The Greatest Commandment!

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28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.” 32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:28-34 NIV)

Happy Monday to you all ConCafe Family! May this be the start of a week in which we all work for God. May you, dear Reader, bless God and all of God's people is my prayer for you. Let us pray for those who need our prayers and let us pray for one another. Let us pray for our needs as well.

We have discussed that part of Jesus' stress is that His ministry was constantly under the strict scrutiny of all; those who loved and appreciated Him, and those who wanted to stop Him. And those loved nothing more than to question Him. And here is today's question. It is a Sunday school level question, meaning if you attended Sabbath school, paid attention, and loved God, you would know the answer. "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" Please keep in mind there are 613 commandments in Judaism. Which is the same number of seeds in a pomegranate, according to the rabbinical teachings. Please note there can be anywhere between 200 and 1,400 seeds, but the average number is 613 which prompted the rabbis to say there is a correlation between the commandments and the seeds. Now, most good Jews would normally say that each of the 613 commandments are important. To get Jesus to narrow it down to one may have made some of Jesus' enemies hope that He would mess up the answer and thus they could snag Him and condemn Him for not being a man of faith. Jesus, though, knew that the most important one was The Shema, the daily and nightly prayer said in most Jewish households. It served as a cornerstone faith. The prayer is simple and powerful. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

This prayer came straight out of Moses' mouth as he instructed the people of God about who they were and what was expected of them as they entered into the land God was providing to them. So, as Moses speaks, he stresses the need for them to hear, which means to receive that which God has shared with him to share with them. And the first thing they need to hear is that God is their Lord and He is our God, and unlike the gods of the neighbors, the Lord God is one. And what is expected of us in response to His being our God? We are to love Him with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and with all our strength. In other words there should no part of our very being which is not utlized to love God. True love takes focus. True love takes all of our heart. True love takes all of our soul, and all of our thoughts and all of the strength. God should be the key of our thinking, our feelings, our energy and drive. This, of course, was the answer the Jewish leaders were looking for.

Jesus shares what He says is second greatest commandment is, "Love your neighbor as yourself." And He says, "There is no commandment greater than these." And, if you think on this, if we truly love God as we should, then we should love our neighbors with the same kind of love; a deep respectful, reflective love not only for God, but for those who live near us. And if the world needed a commandment to bless it, it is both the first and second commandment. We cannot fail in loving one another. We have to have a healthy love towards ourselves in terms of self-care and respectful treatment of ourselves; and the same should be the same about how we love who are different from us. And the man responded with his thoughts about what Jesus had said, and Jesus blessed him with His reponse about how he stood in his relationship with God; "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And for the time being, this interaction stopped further questioning of Jesus.

Dear one, which of the two commandments is the stronger one for you? What can you do to strengthen the other? If we bear the name of Christian, it should be the brand which we represent to others, and that brand is all about love. Turn on the love for the world now!

PRAYER: Loving God, bless us with a double portion of love with which we can bless Your world. May we be all about doing for others and caring for one another. May we see others, especially strangers as those whom we need to bless with our love; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Find someone who needs a special dose of love in Christ's name today.

Receive my blessing of joy and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Feasting on Crumbs of Rumors?

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1 Job answered God: 2 "I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans. 3 You asked, 'Who is this muddying the water, ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?' I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head. 4 You told me, 'Listen, and let me do the talking. Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.' 5 I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand - from my own eyes and ears! 6 I'm sorry - forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." 10 After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune - and then doubled it! 11 All his brothers and sisters and friends came to his house and celebrated. They told him how sorry they were, and consoled him for all the trouble God had brought him. Each of them brought generous housewarming gifts. 12 God blessed Job's later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. 15 There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance. 16 Job lived on another hundred and forty years, living to see his children and grandchildren - four generations of them! 17 Then he died - an old man, a full life. (Job 42:1-6, 10-17 The Message)

Saludos de Austin! Some of you missed my narrations of the devotional and as I've responded to the faithful, I am on yet another insurance gig, this time enrolling staff and faculty of a school district north of Austin. This one requires a multi-night stay in a hotel and quite frankly the first day was draining and I got "home" too tired to look for a microphone and I thought I had forgotten it, but looking through my backpack again, I found it, so this one may be in your ears tomorrow! I worked Monday, and had today (Tuesday) off and so Nellie and I enjoyed a day off and together as we drove to Fredericksburg for a day of walking around that quaint city. I have yet to see the entire Museum of the War in the Pacific and that's still on my list, but today it was the stores and shops. Sad to see so many once familiar places closed now. And the pandemic is being blamed for some of that, but still sad. Please remember to be in prayer as we welcome this Wednesday into our lives, the 20th day of October,year of our Lord, 2021. May we continue to pray for one another, for our pastors and their families, and for our own needs.

We come to the conclustion of the Job narrative. Years ago, one of my nephews called me to ask for five Bibles. He was at an age where sleeping was a scary proposition at times, and he thought that if he owned five Bibles, he would sleep better and any and all monsters might not scare him at night. I told him one Bible would take of that and so I gave him a Bible with the understanding that he had to read the Bible before going to sleep. Some time later I asked him, "Mijito, did you read your Bible?" He said, "Yes, Tio, I read Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, and got as far as the book called Job (And he was pronouncing it like work). I don't know if he needed a job or if he hated his job, but that was as far as I got!" Today's passage begins with the conclusion of the showdown between God and Job with Job asking God for forgiveness. Job realizes truly Who God is, and who he is. I'm reminded of an old joke between two male friends who asked about a mutual friend and his girllfriend and one of them says that they broke up for religious differences. "Really" asks the friend? "Yes, replies the first friend, "He thought he was god and she didn't, so they broke up." Indeed, sometimes we do find ourselves playing God when we shouldn't. Job admits his role in muddying the waters, and babbling on things he didn't fully understand, and admits that his relationship with God was based more on what others said rather than his own personal relationship with God. I love the line, "I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." We do note that Job prayed for his friends and with that, God restored to him all that was lost double-fold. The new estate is listed in the passage as is the record that shows Job living another 140 years and four generations of his children and grandchildren; "Then he died - an old man, a full life." And yes, I question the third daughter's name and how that may have impacted her growing up. But, that's a cultural thing and interestingly enough the real name of the first daughter is Jemamiah which the modern version lists as "Dove." And the Darkeyes name is more in keeping with their society and times.

How do we take this story? It begins as a heavenly drama with Satan being present with God and all the court, where it is Satan's challenge to God that Job is a believer and a faithful one at that, simply because of all that God has given him. "Take that all away," Satan says, "And see how he doesn't turn against you!" The challenge on Satan's part was to have Job curse God. If at any point Job had indeed, Satan would have won. But in spite of losing all of his family and all of his wealth and poseessions, he never cursed God. The most tense part was the scene where things had gotten so bad that even his wife urged him to "curse God and die." She suffered alongside Job and believed that it might be better to die than to live wtih the hurt and pain of all of the losses. The lesson is that even when loss comes, and even the losse of loved ones, we cannot pause to curse God. Quite the opposite is true; God is with us and that is what we should acknowledge and celebrate. God's heart breaks before ours when we lose a loved one. The Rev. Dr. William Sloan Coffin was the senior pastor of New York City's famous Riverside Church when his son went out drinking and became so drunk that he drove off a pier and drowned. As Rev. Coffin was in the midst of his grief, a well-meaning woman from his church said, "It was part of God's plan..." Dr. Coffin stopped her and said, "Ma'am, it was not God's plan that my son go and drink the way that he did; it was not God's plan that he get as drunk as he did, and certnaly it was not God's plan that he drive off the pier intot he water; but one thing I know is that God's heart was the first to break when my son died." That is truth. It's hard, biblical truth and something that helps us better understand; God stays with us and hurts with us, and God has shared with us a better way to live and die, and we hold to the hope that Jesus shared with us through the years. Today's Upper Room devotional spoke of a new believer upon receiving her faith thought she would never suffer another day of hurt or pain, but she discovered that was not true; what was true was that God was with her as the challenges and pains came to her through the years.

This story shares a good ending after a long period of intense pain and suffering. While it may be in Heaven when we are restored all we have lost that is good enough hope for me. If some restoration does come to us during this life, praise the Lord and to Him be all honor and glory. Bartimaeus received his sight later in life and he was still estatic about that; we don't read him saying, "Lord why weren't you here when I was a child learning all the things while blind? That would have been so much better!" No. This man knew that when his sight was restored, that was enough to get him on the road following Jesus. May we find that which we need at the right time, God's time, and may that set us on that same road following Jesus.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, increase our faith to fully receive and appreciate that which we need when we need it; but may it always be Your will, not ours, that gets done. Bless those who hurt to feel Your presence and peace; bless and heal those who hurt; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen!

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Help someone who is hurting find peace in you!

Receive my blessings of joy and peace!

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Christ is Our High Priest Forever

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23 Earlier there were a lot of priests, for they died and had to be replaced. 24 But Jesus' priesthood is permanent. He's there from now to eternity 25 to save everyone who comes to God through him, always on the job to speak up for them. 26 So now we have a high priest who perfectly fits our needs: completely holy, uncompromised by sin, with authority extending as high as God's presence in heaven itself. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he doesn't have to offer sacrifices for his own sins every day before he can get around to us and our sins. He's done it, once and for all: offered up himself as the sacrifice. 28 The law appoints as high priests men who are never able to get the job done right. But this intervening command of God, which came later, appoints the Son, who is absolutely, eternally perfect. (Hebrews 7:23-28 The Message Bible)

Happy and Blessed Tuesday, dear ConCafe People! May the Lord shine His light on you, Friend, so that you may radiate His love to everyone is my prayer for you! Prayers for you and yours. Pray for one another, prayers for your own needs. We are prayer people who pray for victories in those places where it seems only defeat stands a chance; prayer people see light where darkness seems almost overwhelming; and who see hope where hopelessness has taken up residence; Jesus says, "Move out devil!"

We all have what we may call our favorite preacher or priest. It may be someone from your childhood or from you formative years, and it may be someone who is absent from our world because they have crossed over into the Church Triumphant. This past two weeks have made many of us reflect on two brothers who died; The Rev. Dr. William J. "Billy" Abraham, a retired Elder from our conference, The Rio Texas Conference, who taught for over 30 years at Perkins School of Theology at SMU, and lately had been leading the Methodist Studies Department at Truett Seminary at Baylor in Waco, TX; and The Rev. Larry Howard, a long time pastor and former district superintendent who retired in 2010. He died on Saturday. My list would have included both of these dear brothers and others, who gave of themselves for our sake. October being Pastor's Appreciation Month is a good time to reflect on the men and women who give of themselves to serve us and bless us. The writer of Hebrews as he or she writes the first verses is remembering the list of priests who died and who were replaced, but celebrates the reality of Jesus' priesthood which is permanent; who upon His death enter the heavenly realm where He assumed the duties of being the final high priest, the ultimate bridge between God and us. Hebrews say that Jesus is there forever with the purpose of saving all who come to God through Him, and it is Jesus who speaks on our behalf. He is our high priest who perfectly fits our needs; He is completely holy, un-compromised by sin, Who holds all authority which allows Him full access to God in Heaven itself; and unlike the other high priests, Jesus does not have to offer sacrifices for His own sins and takes time to speak on our behalf each each day, because He was our sacrifice. In the old days, it was the law who appointed men as high priests who never quite got the job done right; but it was the intervening command of God, who appointed His Son, Who is perfect, absolutely and eternally.

We thank God for the men and women who have blessed our lives with their ministry. And we pray that God continue to raise up new church leaders and pastors who will take the reins of the church in the coming years; but we should recognize the role that Jesus has now as our personal high priest who does all for our behalf. As we pray, we pray in His name and it is He Who presents those to God. Christ speaks on our behalf when we ask for forgiveness of our sins and makes the case before God on our behalf. Christ is the always on-duty, call-returning, ever present, ever-caring, ever-loving priest who serves us. And His job is not to please us but to please and serve God; and God is best served when we respond to Jesus' invitation to change and to work for the better in all matters here on earth. And our response to Him is to be like Him; to be there for others, to point others to Him so that they can find their way to life and that in abundance. Like Bartimaeus of yesterday's gospel lesson, many are those who need to see just what is there for their good thanks to Jesus; we need just to point the way to the Lamb of God who takes away our sin and introduces us to God who will one day give us eternal life.

PRAYER: Loving God, we thank You for Jesus, our high priest and Savior. We know Jesus to be the light and the way to life; help us to find it for ourselves, and so that we may lead others to You; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Lead someone to life today through your loving example.

Receive my blessings of peace and joy,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Let Me Be Able to See!

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46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mark 10:46-52 NIV)

A happy and wondrous Monday for you, ConCafe Family! And may this bless you in being with God during this devotional time, Friend, is my prayer for you. May we continue to lift our prayers for baby Hudson, who continues to need our prayers. Please continue to pray for all who seek God's help and healing. Pray for one another and pray for your needs.

A dear friend of a certain age and I were speaking of our experiences with glasses. I did not need glasses until I was about forty-two years old. I was blessed with wonderful vision but age began to claim it away from me. I clearly remember the day I graduated to wearing bifocals, but instead of the lined kind, it was a progressive lens. I remember the anger I felt for not having the correct perspective on depth perseption and was angrier when I had to walk down some stairs. I am thankful I had Nellie to calm me down. My gripes pale with the bigger issue Jesus deals with in this passage. Jesus encounters a man who is blind. This was a man whose birth during the days of Jesus meant he was severly limited in what he could do and couldn't do without sight. He did not have the luxury of seeing an eye doctor and getting a prescription with which to get corrective lenses with which to see. Here was a man who could not see a thing and totally depended on the kindess of strangers. He could not hold a job nor a trade with which to support himself or a family. That's a nice way of saying he was sentenced to a life of begging,which is what Jesus hears as He enters into the city of Jericho. Upon hearing the name of Jesus, this man, whose name was Bartimaeus, begins to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Those who heard him rebuked him and ordered him to be quiet; this made him yell all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" The man had heard the stories and rumors about Jesus and came to have faith in this man who is going around Israel and doing the undoable, the miraculous, and the unexplainable. To have a reputation for givin the blind new sight was in line with what the prophets had spoken about the coming Messiah. The scriptures also spoke of the One who would proclaim release from captivity, including the prison of total blindess and so the faith of this blind man grew, and soon he came to believe that Jesus could be truly the Son of David, and that makes him an early Messianic believer. Bartimaeus knew the history and the prophecy and even though he was blind, as the sheep above said, He "saw" the Messiah when he heard he was there, he knew who Jesus was. His faith upset those who also knew the prophecy and did not regard Jesus or anyone as the true Son of David. Their expectations were different; Bartemaeus knew Who the Son of David could truly do for Israel and him. The "mercy" he cried for was for the opportunity to just see which would make him a different person, with more opportunity to provide for himself and his family. Jesus tells the disciples to call him and Bartimaeus made his way to Jesus who asks what it was that he wanted. All he knew to say was, "Rabbi, I want to see." Jesus replies, "Go, your faith has healed you." At that instant he could see and followed Jesus along the road.

Only the Son of God, the Messiah long expected by Israel could do the impossible. He gave sight to the blind. And to be the one on the receiving end of such a miracle made you special and blessed. To receive light after a lifetime in darkness is a miracle. It is freedom to live in a new way and to face a world now with unexplored opportunities and possibilities and that may have been both exciting and frightening. Yet, to have the One who gave you this miracle near you made a big difference in what tomorrow might be like; the Son of God has given you sight, and that also means He has given you hope. This was among the main themes of Jesus' ministry; to make real the God of scripture and to know the love that our God has for all people.

Today many people live in darkness, some even totally blind to God and God's presence and power in their lives. Some sadly, die from not ever seeing life as it could be with seeing God at work in their lives. Some even die in blindness. As we move on as a society and culture, we find the competition for our attention grows. So many things offer themselves as attractive and alluring and we take God for granted or we ignore Him. The idea of surrendering to Him and His way of living seems dull or unattractive or impossible. What saved Bartemaeus was his thirst for something more. It was that thirst that perked his ears to hear that there was quite possibly a remedy or cure to this blindness; he heard loudly, "You don't have to live in this way anymore because there is someone who can make you better and lead you in a way to a life you did not know really existed. And it became evident on that day that Jesus entered into his realm that he just had to cry out and say, "Jesus, here I am in need, and only You can make me better!" And truly that was what made a difference, a life-changing difference in him and he reached a point where he knew that his life would never again be the same.

Dear one, we don't have to live in darkness. We are near enough to Jesus to ask of Him that which would open our eyes and make us see the brighter and more dynamic life that comes from letting Jesus open our eyes. What would hold you back from asking of Him that which would change you for the better?

PRAYER: Awesome Father, We know we am close enough to Jesus to ask Him for what we truly need for our lives to be better. We wamt to see more, experience more, and love more, and We know that is possible because of what You offer. Give us the courage to ask for what we need; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Seek to see like God would have you see! And help others to do the same.

Receive my blessings of peace and joy,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Psalm 104

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1 O my soul, bless God! God, my God, how great you are! beautifully, gloriously robed, 2 Dressed up in sunshine, and all heaven stretched out for your tent. 3 You built your palace on the ocean deeps, made a chariot out of clouds and took off on wind-wings. 4 You commandeered winds as messengers, appointed fire and flame as ambassadors. 5 You set earth on a firm foundation so that nothing can shake it, ever. 6 You blanketed earth with ocean, covered the mountains with deep waters; 7 Then you roared and the water ran away - your thunder crash put it to flight. 8 Mountains pushed up, valleys spread out in the places you assigned them. 9 You set boundaries between earth and sea; never again will earth be flooded. 24 What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. 35 O my soul, bless God! (Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c The Message Bible)

A most blessed Thursday be yours, ConCafe Family, and may the joy of the Lord be your strength today; go forth and make history for Jesus! Please pray for Ms. Terry Schoenert, former Conference President of The United Methodist Women and a dear friend of many, is awaiting a double bypass surgery in the very near future. Pray for one another, and pray for your needs. Please remember that October is Pastor Appreciation Month; show your love and appreciation for your pastor(s) by doing something nice for them.

I would always marvel on those Sundays when I would preach two services per Sunday, and usually from a series and not from the Lectionary,and there were times a Sunday school teacher or a class member would say, "That's icnredible that we covered the very same thoughts in our class that you preached on this second service. Or, some days I will send out a devotional and a fellow devotional writer will either share the same thought or same passage and as we scratch our heads we realize that the Holy Spirit has been at work in unexplainable ways and God gets all the glory. I say that because what we studied last night was as if David, the Psalmist sat in as God and Job had their discussion and David writes what God shared in His response to Job. God does work in mysterious ways. Hear the words of the psalmist as he praises God. For one who has not seen God personally he does know what God's splendor and glory is like as he surveys nature. God dresses in sunshine and wears a glorious robe of love and grace, with all of heaven as His own tent. God's palace is made from the oceans depths, His chariot is a series of clouds, and uses the whirlwind as His wings. God's power can commandeer the winds as His messengers, and can use fire and flame as His ambassadors. God placed earth on a firm, unshakeable foundation so that nothing can ever shake it. Earth shares space with the waters of the oceans, and even tall mountains can be covered up with water. God's voice can even scare the flood waters off, using thunder claps to assist in the dispsosal of them. God has assigned each part of creation to`its proper place; the boundaries between earth and sky also assigned by God, with a reminder that never again will the earth be destroyed by flood waters. Ours is a wildly wonderful world shared by God for us; made by God for us. God has placed wisdom by His side and caused earth to overflow with all of God's wonderful creations. And for that we say, Praise the Lord!

Some of our toughest battles happen within. God's encounter with Job may have just been within Job's mind and soul and not in a darkened theatre. And while the "battle" may have been fought in that arena, outside the beauty of the earth continues for all to enjoy. Some of your darkest and toughest battles may have been earth-shattering epic struggles of faith and no one saw or heard it; not they needed to, but you did. You experienced the pain and the horror, but the sun still shone, the wind still blew, and the choir of creation still sang their praises to God. This is not to downplay your battles, your suffering, your shame; but even within you were not alone. Your brokenness did not scare off God; quite the contrary it invited God closer to your side. Though you felt alone and felt the cold no one else was aware of, God's embrace warmed your spirit. And no, it is not bad to have these battles or encounters out of the sight and reach of others, but our invitation is always to come out and go toward the presence of God as God is seen in nature.Our faith is an ever forward moving journey with God. Yes, we take some blows and sometimes we collapse and fall, but never alone, and God helps us up and helps us move forward towards life in abundance. The dark places have their purpose but serve us negatively if we allow them to detain our place alongside God. Ours is the joy of running with God, in the sunshine or the rain, in the puddles of water or the dust of dry parched land, onward we move in faith and hope, trusting and loving God and allowing God to love and bless us. To God be the honor and glory, amen.

PRAYER: God of all times and places, bless us at all times. Thank You for being with us when we battle evil or in our silliness sometimes battle You; but deliver us from this to the places where we can more fully enjoy You; this we pray in Christ Jesus, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Help those around you who are battling God and themselves today in ways that God will show you.

Receive my blessings of joy and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

It's God's Turn!

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1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: 2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? 34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? 35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? 36 Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding? 37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens 38 when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together? 39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? 41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food? (Job 38:1-7, 34-41 NIV)

May this Wednesday begin, continue, and end with God's signature on all things, especially your heart, ConCafe Family! And may you, dear Friend, lead the charge to glorify God in all things today! As we pray, let us pray for Mrs. Alison Davis, staff member of FUMC-Gonzales, who once again was in the hospital with a major health concern. Pray for her healing and quick release from the hospital. Please continue to pray for one another, praying also for your concerns and needs as well. Make prayer the key to a blessed life always!

If you're a regular reader of ConCafe, you will remember that last Tuesday, Job had his turn in addressing God, beginning with his asking where God lived, so that he could approach Him and address all his concerns with God in hopes that all the terrible in his life would work out for the better. And, today it is God's turn to answer Job. It's quite an answer and you might want to get some popcorn! Light salt on mine, please! Imagine walking into a darkened theatre with the huge recling seats and this theatre has a state of the art sound system. What you are about to experience is not a movie, it is real life. In true digital sound. All your senses will be employed and it will be worth your while to sit there quietly, thanking God, you are not Job! Okay, that was a kind of spoiler alert.

Every light source in the theatre is turned off and it is deep cavern dark. You cannot see you own hand in front of you; it is that dark. The silence is almost deafening. Okay, someone in the theatre needs to turn down his hearing aid please! The first sound you hear is a faint sound of a wind approaching. It gradually builds up and soon the noise is almost unbearable, it has turned from a gust of wind to a storm level blast of air. You can hear birds, insects like crickets and frogs nervously singing their praises for what is about to happen. It is out of a storm's whirlwind, that God's voice comes thundering out. This is of course, a powerful drama; a human being has poured out his heart and anger towards God, and now God is answering back. Most of us would have run and hidden somewhere out of fear that if we truly anger God are we strong enough to take whatever God may throw back at us? It is theatre and it is life, and though we may not have written this drama, some of us have lived part of it and sometimes we have wondered where God has been hiding and when God answers we don't know where to hide! Yet, here we are invited guests to this needed encounter between God and His human, the star of the entire drama. We must remember that Job did not ask to be the central character of this entire show. He did not want to lose his family and his possessions or his health. And we may have even have said something to that effect during our adolescents, "I did not ask to be born, Mom and Dad!" And yet, here we were, stars as it were, of different dramas that made many of us think that we had had enough. But back to the drama at hand; God has yet to speak!

Upon hearing God's voice, we still want to hide. It is not a scary voice, what is scary is knowing that our words have brought the King of the Universe to this place to speak His peace. We do well to hear carefully, each of God's words in answer to Job's accusations. God first asks who it is that would dare to question Him in that way? And we hear God using words like "obscure my plans with words without knowing what they truly mean." Is God calling Job a word that means one without sense or wisdom? Would you dare to say that God is angry on what we have heard thus far? Hear God again; "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me." The sound system in this theatre is good! It makes me tremble a bit; where did I see the Exit, just in case? Okay, that's fair. Job dared to question God, and instead of an answer, God has His own questions that He would like for Job to answer. I can't help it; like Father, like Son remembering Jesus always answering questions with His own questions. "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand." Ouch. Yes, great question. Where were we when God made all things? Uh, we weren't quite made yet, Lord. You want to yell, "Say something Job!" But God knows that and that is part of the plan with which God wants to answer Job. God continues, "Job, were you there to measure off the earth's dimensions, using a measuring line, and understood how the foundation was laid, and did you see the laying of the cornerstone; did you hear the choir of stars singing their praises to God and did you happen to catch the angels shouting for joy? And can you shout at the clouds and have them bring a flood of waters to cover your earth? Can you dispatch lightning bolts; and do they take orders from you? Have you instructed any birds with wisdom; and are you wise enough to count the clouds? Can you tip over the great bucket of water in the sky so that the dry, parched earth can quench itself with life-giving water? Have you ever fed the lioness or her cubs or helped curb the appetitie of the lions when they are hungry? Is it you who provides food for the raven when its young are hungry and crying out to God about the lack of food?" I want to answer for Job, "No, but we sure would have loved to be there and seen all of that!" But alas, I can't. This is not my movie or drama; or is it?

All I know to say is, wow. But not too loudly; I feel that we may have already directed some attention away from Job to us! God has taken His turn and shared quite honestly and frankly the reality of all things. He is after all, The Architect of the Universe, the One who made all things, and provides all things for all things, Who knows way more than we could ever hope to know. What we have experienced was a Father talking lovingly and strongly to a questioning son or daughter; "Son/Daughter, do you have wisdom enough to know at least that I do know what I am doing?" We may want to know all things, and the when of all things, but that is not really our responsibility. It makes me smile to think of a father or mother who has to answer the "are we there yet?" question at every other mile marker who knows that while your 3 or 5 or 9 year-old does not know the map or the purpose of the trip, she or he still will ask, "Are we there yet?" quite possibly until you are there, and usually if the destination is one which they know and love, they will then fully understand all things; be it the ice cream cone they've been wanting, or the vacation at the amusement park which they've never had. As that child grows so will their understanding and appreciation for their parents until that day when they are in the place where they have to answer the questions for the kids. The curtain falls and leaves us frozen in our seats; some of us have to close our mouths.

Friends, we may not know what God is up to, or why, or when; but we need to mature in faith to the point of trusting more and moving forward even in the face of adversity or pain or challenge. The God who created us, will walk with us and see us all the way through. The way may not always be clear, nor the path straight and safe, but with every curve and twist and turn, God is with us and God will not allow us to fail.

PRAYER: Loving God, may our ways be Your ways, and when we think we may know more, grant us wisdom to seek You and Your counsel. May whatever is troubling us be eased with the knowledge that You who made all things, including us, will walk with us and bless us. May we bless others as we journey together. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! May you guide others to deeper faith with your openness to God today.

Receive my blessings of joy and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Our High Priest is Jesus!

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1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” 6 And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:1-10 NIV)

A most joyous of Tuesdays be yours, ConCafe People! And may you, Friend, lead the charge against the devil and his ways of making people sad, sorrowful, and desperate; ours is a God of hope and power! Friends, in what brought great joy to my heart today was this email from Ms. Thelma R. Cantu regarding a sad situation about a mother with Covid and her not being able to hold that newborn baby; read these news with joy:

"Hi Pastor, I wanted to let you know that we are praising God for the miracles that He has granted Amara Rodriguez, who has battled COVID-19 after giving birth to her baby boy months ago. Thanks to you and your listeners for prayers because she was released last week despite her prognosis. She has a long road of recovery but having her baby in her arms, even for a few minutes gives her the motivation to get well. He is truly a Miracle Worker!" Indeed, and amen! Friends, I can't begin to thank you for your faith in the power of God to answer prayer; this is truly an answered miracle prayer! May we continue to pray for Amara and her recovery that she and her baby have long lives together in blessed health and peace. Please continue to pray in faith for all the needs that have come across our hearts today. Yes, use Kleenex! Pray for one another. Pray for yourselves.

Friends, I have told you before about my Old Testament professor who lamented that we, as Americans, did not have full understanding of a monarchy like our British brothers and sisters, and I would add that we don't have full understanding of the office of a Jewish high priest and their role in worship, prayer life, and all things spiritual for the people of Israel. While many of the components of that faith are meant to be practiced and observed at home, the gathered corporate community needed the office and person of the high priest. His was the most holy of all tasks before the presence of God. The word priest comes from the Latin pontifex, which means bridge, and the whole idea of a priest was for them to truly be the bridge between the people and God. As verse one explains, the high priest came out from among the people and was appointed to represent the people in matters related to God such as offering gifts and sacrifices for sins. Being from among the people, a high priest knows to treat all people with gentleness, especially those who may have wandered away, being that he himself is subject to weakness, and thus not sin-free. As he worshiped and asked for God to remove sin, he was asking for himself as well as for the sins of the people. The writer of Hebrews knows that this is both an honor and a huge responsibilty before God, because it is God Himself Who calls these persons into that role of high priest. This writer says that Jesus, during His ministry among us, was truly our high priest because of all that He did; He offered prayers and petitions on our behalf with "fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission." Jesus was God's Son, and He learned obedience from what He suffered, and through that discipline, He achieved perfection and through His perfection became the source of our eternal salvation for all who obey Him. God designated Jesus to be our high priest in the order of Malchizedek.

The whole person of Malchizedek is an interesting one, and one with much debate as to who he really was or is. He first appears in the first book of the Bible when Abraham has won a decisive victory against one of God's enemies, the people of Chedorlaomer and his three allies. Melchizedek presented bread and wine to Abraham and his weary men, demonstrating friendship. He bestowed a blessing on Abraham in the name of El Elyon (“God Most High”) and praised God for giving Abraham a victory in battle (Genesis 14:18–20). It is also interesting to note that Abraham presented Melchizedek with a tithe (a tenth) of all the items he had gathered. By this act Abraham indicated that he recognized Melchizedek as a priest who ranked higher spiritually than he. And, later in Hebrews 7:3 we will learn that "that Melchizedek was 'without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.' The question is whether the author of Hebrews means this actually or figuratively." If the writer of Hebrews meant it actually, then it makes sense to say it was Christ Jesus Himself who makes this appearance in Genesis in this mysterious way. Who else could it have been? No mere earthly king “remains a priest forever,” and no mere human is “without father or mother.” If Genesis 14 describes a theophany, then God the Son came to give Abraham His blessing (Genesis 14:17–19), appearing as the King of Righteousness (Revelation 19:11,16), the King of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), and the Mediator between God and Man (1 Timothy 2:5).

If the writer meant it figuratively then the details of having no genealogy, no beginning or ending, and a ceaseless ministry are simply statements accentuating the mysterious nature of the person who met Abraham. In this case, the silence in the Genesis account concerning these details is purposeful and better serves to link Melchizedek with Christ.

Are Melchizedek and Jesus the same person? A case can be made either way. At the very least, Melchizedek is a type of Christ, prefiguring the Lord’s ministry. But it is also possible that Abraham, after his weary battle, met and gave honor to the Lord Jesus Himself. But we still make this affirmation based on this passage; when we needed a high priest, there is no one greater than Jesus to be our high priest. His strength, connection to God, His humanity and divinity, are key to our salvation. The only true bridge between you and me to God can be Jesus, Who intercedes, even today, on our behalf. This becomes yet another asset in our daily walk with Him; Who better to hear our prayers, to guide our path, and to grant us eternal forgiveness? No one, just Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

PRAYER: Loving Father, thank You for Jesus. May we take great comfort in knowing Him as our Lord, as our Savior, as our Friend, as our Brother, and as our High Priest. Help us know that In Him we can find all that we may need in our relationship with You, Father. Let it be a deeper, more fuller understanding of the power we can find in Him, for our needs as Your disciples. Grant to us new opportunities in which to more fully serve You.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! The Lord Jesus as our High Priest may need you to be His acolyte today!

Receive my blessings of joy and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Special Seating for Christians?

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35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." 36 And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" 37 And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." 38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" 39 They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." 41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Mark 10: 35-45)

A blessed and happy Monday to you all, ConCafe Family, and may this be the day of great joy for you, dear Friend, is my prayer.

Most everyone enjoys special privileges, like good seats at special events, or free admission to places where you thought you might not get to enter; an interview for a job you dreamed about having, and the list goes on. Thinking back on my childhood, I had a connection with the box office lady at theTexas Theatre; she was my grandmother's employer and so if she was on duty, I would get in free to see the movie of the week on Saturday. That saved me ten cents which in those days could help me buy a candy bar and a Coke. Or a bag of fresh, hot popcorn for ten cents. If I had an extra nickel I could add it to the dime and splurge on a hot dog; usually I didn't like or trust theatre dogs. Years later in Houston, my father landed a Saturday and Sunday job directing cars to parking at Rice Stadium so I got to see free Rice University football games (Okay, they rarely won, but the bands I got to see! The Owl Band in and of itself was awesome and I was there the first or maybe only time they formed a fire hydrant when they played the Aggies theme and lifted their legs mocking their mascot and what it would do to a fire hydrant); and on Sundays the Oilers used Rice Stadium before the Astrodome was complete. Yes, I told you I was old!). And there are others, but the point is the request of these two disciples. They came to love and trust Jesus. They came to love His mission and purpose, and knew that great things were going to come as a result of HIs preaching, teaching, and miracles. Whatever it was, they wanted to be a part of it. You and I would be pleased just to be included in it, but these two, well, they had a grander dream. "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in Your glory."

It is here that Jesus hints at what's ahead for these two and the other ten. "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" In those terms, yes, most of us would say we would be able. To be fair, these two probably were thinking of the actual, physcial act of drinking from the same cup and being baptized in the same way of Jesus; and though they said yes, Jesus agreed and added that they would indeed be drinking from the same cup and would be baptized with the same baptism; but to sit at His right or left, that was something Jesus says it's already been decided as to who it would be.

The scene does not end there because the other ten found out what these two were asking, and they attack them. Jesus becomes the referee again, and he compares them to Gentiles. Which was not a good thing; for "they" like to lord their authority and act like tyrants, and not at all what Christ-followers do. Jesus' view was never a world view, HIs was a Kingdom-view; "Whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave to all." For some that does not make sense, and for others it makes all the sense in the world and beyond. The Christ-attitude is the one that seeks to serve others and to give, even one's life to save others. The Christ-attitude is the Servant Attitude that allowed Jesus to be the Messiah in the only areas of life that matters, the eternal.

So, the special seats for Christians really do not exist here except for those who serve. The best seats will be in Glory when Christ will invite us to sit at the Great Banquet and every seat will be a great seat. The worst seats will be the ones not at the table but at the "other place" for those, like the rich man, who only knew to choose himself and ignore the poor, like Lazarus. Ours is to seek the needy, the overlooked, the unseen, and the hungry, thirsty, naked, and lost; and all things will be added unto us.

PRAYER: God of all people, ingnite in us the fire of love and compassion, the kind that gets to work in seeking and serving. Forgive us the times we have served only ourselves and our needs; help us to bless those in need. May we truly have not only the mind of Christ, but His hands and feet to seek and serve those who need it most; in His powerful name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Seek the perishing and rescue them!

Receive my blessings of love and peace,

Pastor Eradio

Teach Us to Live Well!

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1 God, it seems you've been our home forever; 2 long before the mountains were born, Long before you brought earth itself to birth, from "once upon a time" to "kingdom come" - you are God. 3 So don't return us to mud, saying, "Back to where you came from!" 4 Patience! You've got all the time in the world - whether a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you. 5 Are we no more to you than a wispy dream, no more than a blade of grass 6 That springs up gloriously with the rising sun and is cut down without a second thought? 7 Your anger is far and away too much for us; we're at the end of our rope. 8 You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed since we were children is entered in your books. 9 All we can remember is that frown on your face. Is that all we're ever going to get? 10 We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty), And what do we have to show for it? Trouble. Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard. 11 Who can make sense of such rage, such anger against the very ones who fear you? 12 Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! 13 Come back, God - how long do we have to wait? - and treat your servants with kindness for a change. 14 Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long. 15 Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime. 16 Let your servants see what you're best at - the ways you rule and bless your children. 17 And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do! (Psalm 90: 1-17 The Message Bible)

Happy and blessed Thursday, ConCafe Family and you, dear Friend, is my prayer for you! May the Lord amaze us with His awesomeness and love; may we in turn, surprise those around us with blessings of life and peace! We continue to pray for those who have asked prayers of us. If you have any updates you wish to share with us, please let me know so I can pass on the news. We pray because God answers prayer and is gracious to us all! May we pray for one another, and for our personal needs as well. Please make prayer an act of genuine worship in which we glorify God and listen to Him; not an act of handing off a to-do list in hopes that God will find time to fulfill our requests!

And speaking of prayer, this is a prayer written with Moses in mind because of his faithfulness even in light of the difficulties he was receiving from his own congregation! I will admit that the first two verses read better to an old mind such as mine because it is one on which I grew up and old with. Here are those two verses in more "classic" versions: NIV: "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." KJV: "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." But, you have to love Dr. Peterson's "God, it seems you've been our home forever; long before the mountains were born, Long before you brought the earth itself to birth, from 'once upon a time' to 'kingdom come' - You are God." The psalmist is declaring his faith in the dwelling place we can find in God. If ever we find ourselves in a strange place or a situation where we feel we are almost homeless, God is there for us. God's love, like God's tracking of time, is endless! God is a patient God who counts no difference between one day and a thousand years; yet, the writer realizes that we sometimes can seem to test God's patience by our actions and deeds. We have indeed placed many a frown upon God's face; but still God loves us. And though the bitterness of the psalmist heads south with his remark about our seventy years being a series of trouble; adding "toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard." Then he realizes God's not to blame for our sinfulness; we are! So, his cry, "Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!" Indeed. It falls on us to correct our actions and our lives, and to seek how best to live in God's favor instead of our own misdirection. And he holds on to the hope that in the morning, God will surprise us with love as the sun rises, and our mood will change from negativity into a time for skipping and dancing all day long. And he holds out hope for time to make up for all the bad we've seen with God's help; and this will be the time when God can show to us what truly can be ours by turning back to Him. May God's loveliness indeed shine on us and may we confirm the work God is doing in us in ways that bless others.

So, dear one, may our prayer today, and especially tonight be one of our affirming that God indeed is the source of all things and our desire is to know, to see, and experience the good that comes from God; may our times of cursing turn into times of blessing, and a time for affirmation.

PRAYER: Loving God, make real in us the desire to know You like never before. May we strive to be persons of love and blessings even in the face of evil, knowing that all will end on God's good note! It will be then when we will all join in the victory celebration that will be ours. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Turn your bitterness into blessedness today; and try not to hide it!

Receive my blessings of peace and joy,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Where is God?

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1 Then Job replied: 2 “Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. 3 If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! 4 I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say to me. 6 Would he vigorously oppose me? No, he would not press charges against me. 7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him, and there I would be delivered forever from my judge. 8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. 16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. 17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face. (Job 23:1-9, 16-17 NIV)

A wonderful Wednesday be yours, ConCafe Family! And may you, esteemed Reader find ways to make the day even more wonderful for others; like those nearest you and those you feel the furthest from too. May we continue to pray for the sick, the sad, the lonely, the widowed, the orphans, the strangers, the foreigners among us, and those who think they know it all! Pray for one another; pray for your needs. We also just learned that Nellie's first cousin, Pedro Garza III died today. Please pray for his family and for Nellie. Pedro's wife died about a year ago from Covid. Her death was very sad as no one was allowed to be with her and Pedro took that to heart. May God's comfort be with the Garza family.

The classic book of Job, so powerful, so brutal and yet so under-read provides the setting for today's devotional. There is a fear about this wondrous book and its message. It is a drama that involves and implicates God, the servant Job, and those who call themselves friends of Job. You are perhaps familiar with the drama of God and Satan having a conversation that starts the long adventure that is the life of Job. Satan's belief is that Job is faithful only because he is very blessed, and strongly believes that if God would remove those blessings, Job would turn against Him. And in a sad accumulation of events, Job does lose everything and everyone near and dear to him, and begins a chapter of suffering in his life. It gets so bad that even his wife, who has suffered alongside him urges him to curse God and thus die, believing that death would be better than the pain with which he has had to contend. His friends have come, supposedly to comfort and console Job, but one questions the true intent of their words and visit. And it is in response to this challenge that Job has this dialogue. His friend Eliphaz has made sure that Job hears what he believes and that is that it is Job's wickedness which is so great before the Lord that that's why he's suffering.

Job begins by admitting that he is complaining and even bitterly, and yes, he's complaining about God. Job believes that God might ease up against him because God must surely know his pain and suffering. And Job's desire is to find God and talk to Him face-to-face. "Oh, that I knew where I could find Him; if only I could go to His dwelling! I would state my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments." Job truly believes he could make a decent, respectable defense for his case and God would side with him and finally stop the suffering. But, where to find God? Many of us have said simliar things; God, where are You? And why is this happening to me? Remember the sisters of Lazarus wondered that about Jesus and told Him as much. "Lord, if only You had been here or answered our prayers like we prayed, our brother would not have died!" The key though, is that Job never questions God's existence. He knows that God exists and stands firm in his faith about the existence of God; unllike some who abandon their faith and reject God thinking that God has rejected them.

Job's desire is to hear God explain His side of things. If only God would answer him, then he would know what God is thinking and the why behind His actions against him. Even then, Job in answering himself says, "Would (God) vigorously oppose me? No, He would not press charges against me." His faith reassures him that even in the presence of God he would find mercy and justice. And he believes this for all people who believe in God and are "upright" before the Lord. Job believes that he would be delivered by his judge, Who is God. Yet, he laments, I havent' found Him in the east, nor in the west; if He's at work in the north, I can't see Him, and when God heads south, I don't seem Him either. My condition is sad and my heart is growing faint; God has made me afraid, but even with darkness all around me, and "the thick darkness that covers my face," I will not stop praying and calling out to God.

And so it may be in your life, dear friend, that what has come into your life and changed it seems like a burden heavier than you can ever carry alone; and you may even believe your prayers can't even make their way through the ceiling of your room or the roof of your house, but still that small amount of faith that remains in you does not, and will not, allow you to give up. It is sometimes from the smallest glow of a spark that eventually a fire will roar and defeats the darkness and the cold; and God will hear you and deliver you. Hold on to your faith, dear friend and do not give up.

PRAYER: Loving Father, bless all who read this as their prayer. At times we have been in what we perceive to be a darkness so thick that we are completely alone and afraid; but I pray that the glow of faith not go out in this person's heart or spirit. Make strong Your presence and peace, and quickly come and ease the pain and the sorrow or whatever is troubling them; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be the one who helps stoke the fires of faith of those near you.

Receive my blessings of joy and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

The Word of God

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12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. 14 Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:12-16 NRSV)

A blessed and joyous Tuesday to you, ConCafe Family. May you, blessed friend, shine as a true disciple of the Lord in ways that bless Him and you! May we continue to pray for one another and the ever increasing list of those who know God answers prayer and know that we lift others in prayer. Pray for one another; pray for your needs.

A sociology professor once asked our class how one disposes of an old, used Bible. He asked if there was a ritual or liturgy to follow like there is for old United States flags. The answer is, as far as I know, not any set order of worship to dispose of a Bible, I ask, is there a deep respect for what the Bible is that one cannot bring oneself to simply tossing it into a trash can? And during my years of ministry I've had some dear church members who have had some interesting views of the Bible. One believed no other book or object could be on top of any Bible. I teased some when I saw their family Bible on top of the television with their believing in Immaculate Reception through a Bible sitting on the TV (Kids, talk to your parents about TVs back in the day being oval and square or box shaped and a thing called a television antenna). I have to confess that I am one who could not bring myself to simply throwing away a Bible but a firm believer in donating it to a museum or church where someone might use it.

But onto the passage. The Bible is God's living and loving word. As the Hebrews writer tells it, he knows it to be "living and active." I've shared where persons from other parts of the world when exposed to the Holy Bible have reacted to what they have experienced from reading it, and even some who have said, "The Bible read me!" One missionary to America recounted how he snuck into his father's room to read a Bible in his language that a missionary left on his bed. He shared how he could not put the Bible down because he had never encountered a "talking book." The Bible spoke to him. A friend of mine in ministry is in ministry because he was given a gift of a free Bible after a lifetime of no exposure to anything religious or Christian. That night he could not put the Bible down and by morning, he knew that God was calling him into ministry. The Bible is unlike any other book, and Hebrew's claim that it is alive cannot be refuted. That the Bible is active cannot be disputed either. The only stagnant Bibles are those which are left unread. The Bible also does not pull any punches, thus the "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Ouch! Yes, God's word is just like that! One has to notice the awe and wonder of the author as he writes with gratitude that he has come to know the truth and power on the pages of God's holy word. No one can hide as they enter the pages of God's word; God knows who and what we are, and as we read the pages of His word, God reveals to us what we should be.

The focus in the passage shifts to Jesus. Jesus is our high priest who sympathizes with our human weaknesses, knows us and identifies with us and awaits our petitions at His throne of grace which we should approach wtih boldness and confidence for it will be there where we will receive mercy and grace during our times of need. God knows us and yet God loves us and receives us and still grants us what we need. This is Good News; this is what the world still yearns to hear; that we are not yet written off, we are the beloved of God.

PRAYER: Loving God, we celebrate and thank You for Your word for in it we find the way to Your mercy and grace. May we help others come to know You through what we know and what we share. May we truly spend time with You through time in Your word to learn more and grow more; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. Show others the Christ Jesus you have in your heart.

Receive my blessing of joy and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde