Seek the Lord!

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1 O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. 2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. 5 Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered, 6 O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones. 23 Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham. 24 And the Lord made his people very fruitful, and made them stronger than their foes, 25 whose hearts he then turned to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. 26 He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron whom he had chosen. 45 that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c The Message)

Seeking the Lord is a theme of the entire Bible. So is being grateful. And these are two of the basic elements of living faithful and fruitful lives. Singing is also a key part. Yesterday, as my grandson, LIam, and I were coming home from the barber's (Yes, I finally got a haircut after a long time of staying home!), and I turned off the radio and began to sing. I sang songs from my childhood in English and Spanish. I must have embarrassed my grandson, but isn't that what grandpa's are for? I wanted to sing praises to my God and Redeemer, and wanted to impress upon his mind and life, that it is okay to sing, and a very needed thing. And if singing is praying twice, I truly needed it then, and now!

Let's get back to seeking. Honestly, the Lord seeks us. God loves us first and seeks to have a relationship with us. Sometimes we respond, most times we're oblivious to this search on God's part for us. I remember in seventh grade seeking strength. As a kid who bought comic books, I loved the ads on the back cover that featured Charles Atlas. Charles advertised that if you bought his training program you would never have sand kicked in your face, like the 98 lbs. weakling who takes his girl to the beach. Well, I didn't have a girl at that age, and didn't have a way to the beach and I hadn't weighed 98 lbs since I was six or so. And not having a job in Houston like I had in Kingsville, I didn't have the money to buy his rather expensive program. Until I met a new friend, who had the program and gifted it to me. I took the program home and read it and talked with my new friend and learned how to tear a Houston phone book (yes, it was thinner in those days), and bend metal and the like. My friend was also a devout Christian and so our discussions were ultimately on the strength we could find in the Lord. I sought also to get good grades because I knew I had to go to college, not sure of what was to be my calling; but I knew God would provide that soon enough, and He did. And it was then I began to sense God's call upon my life for ordained ministry. Since then, I have sought other needed things, but none quite so fulfilling or satisfying as serving our God.

The ancients, some named in the passage, knew that as well. They lived lives that are testimonies even today of what God can and does do for us. As they sought the Lord, they learned their purpose and meaning for their lives and did the best they could for the Lord; always striving, always attentive to God's voice and leading. I invite us to prayerfully seek the Lord, not matter what age we find ourselves; God always has something that still needs to be done! Seek Him. Serve Him. Praise Him!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, as we seek You, we thank You for all You have done for us. We are people of gratitude, and we rejoice in Your presence and power in our lives. Lord, You know our needs and we turn them over to You that You be glorified in all things. We pray for the protection and wellbeing of those in the hurricane's path; Father, if it be Your will that it diminish in strength and hit only those areas where no lives are affected. We pray for those awaiting medical procedures and treatments; for those undergoing chemo therapy that they be healed, and for those worried and anxious about so many things, that they might find rest in You; and this we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Seek to be the calm and peace in someone's life today as you seek the Lord!

Receive my blessings of joy and gratitude for you and yours.

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Say My Name!

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1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5 Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6 He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain." 13 But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, "What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, "I am has sent me to you.' " 15 God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, "The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations. (Exodus 3:1-15 NRSV)

God is awesome. God can take what we take for normal and make it special. God can take what we take for just being there, and make it holy. God can visit us in ways that we never dreamed possible and change the direction and purpose of our lives. Such was the case with the boy whom funny preachers have called the basket case, Moses. He had enjoyed a nice princely life, but his ties to his heritage and race led him to murder an Egyptian, and so while he should have been in prison, and again, this is pure conjecture, since he was from the Royal household and "Granddad" might have pulled some strings and made the case disappear; but Moses say that his people were not being treated fairly and he might not have lived in peace, for his spirit saw the injustices against the Jews and he would have been sentenced to live the rest of his life in the prison of staying quiet and not saying anything or doing anything to better their situation. So, he ran. He ran right into the family of Jethro, a holy man in his own right, rich in livestock and property, and Moses married one of his daughters, and Daddy-in-law fixed him up with a nice gig; shepherd. In those days that was quite the hustle; he was his own boss out there in the fields, and he was trained to deal with those things that might come against the flock. What Moses was not trained in, was the appearances of God. I'm imagining the heat out there in Egypt with the sheep was like being out in San Angelo, without the great steak houses they enjoy out there. And by this time, ole Moe could do this job with his eyes closed. But on this particular day, God came a'calling. God didn't arrive in a pickup truck, or a car, or a limo; God appeared in a burning bush. An angel of the Lord was inside the bush that was or appeared to be on fire, but was not consumed with fire; and it was quite the sight that Moe got closer, and it was then that God spoke, and wouldn't you know it, God knew Moe's name! "Moses, Moses!" He had to have turned around to see if perhaps there was another Moses there! Realizing that it was he that God sought, answered, "Here I am!" God then warns, "Come no closer!" Okay, I won't. "Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." Hmm, shrubs, rocks, heat, sheep leftovers; not anything that I would call holy, but if You say so, okay! "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Whoa! God knows the family line! I'd better hide my face! One thing Moe remembered from his Sabbath school was that to look upon God would mean death, and so, Moe was afraid.

God then shares what He knew, that drove Moses out of the area of the palace; God's people were suffering and God wanted to do something about it! God outlines all that was happening to His people, but the kicker was that God says, "I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." Gulp. Moses answers, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" The Pharaoh serving was more than likely, the true son or grandson of the Pharaoh under which Moe had been rescued from the waters of the Nile. And, remembering the way that Moe had left home made him fear the reception that he might get upon trying to return to the palace court. God counters Moses' protest with the truth; "I will be with you; and you'll know it when you come to this mountain to worship me here." Double gulp. Again, with the questions, Moses asks, "They're certainly going to ask me what Your name is!" God says, "Okay, my name is I am who I am. Then, tell the Israelites that I am has sent me to you." Sure. God continues, "The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my title for all generations.'"

Names open doors. Ask any salesperson. Names close doors, too. Ask any politician. To know a name is to know of a relationship. Ask God. God loved the fathers and mothers of the ancients; and God loved all of His people, especially the Israelites, and God loved Moses, and this was the start of that relationship that would ultimately open the doors of slavery into freedom, and open the doors of the new nation into a promised land. Names also give people away or help define them, and that is why we have studied how God changed names as their faith and roles changed, and now this basket baby's name would indeed mean, "Drawn out" for his role would draw the enslaved into freedom, and out of Egypt, and into the land long promised to the Jews. I can't close without just observing the awesomeness of God's name, I am. You've heard it before; God's name is not I was, or I will be, because God is a constant; always has been and always will be; an active, involved God. And there is no one to whom He can be compared.

PRAYER: GOD of the moment, God of the past, and God of what will be, thank You. For the way You acted on behalf of Your people, You will act on our behalf. You know our needs and our limits; You know the combination to the locks holding us back; may everything open that should, and all that should close, may it close; above all else, Your will be done; in Christ Jesus' awesome name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share a word of freedom with someone today.

Receive my blessings of love and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Words to Bless By

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Hear the devotional here: https://bit.ly/3gu9RJA

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." 20 No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:9-21 NRSV)

Happy Tuesday, dear Friend! This finds Nellie and me in Houston, patiently (ha!) awaiting the arrival of grandson number three, grandbaby number six (same person, different designations), and when we arrived in Houston late Sunday was the possible "joy" of a possible hurricane coming this way as well, but that seems to have been changed a bit. Your prayers are welcome and needed, and much appreciated!

The arrival of yet another baby to the family goes very much in line with what God is speaking through the Apostle Paul in this passage, for if you are/were/will be, like most parents/grandparents/uncles/aunts, you seek to share and live a life with your little ones that will shape them to be the best persons they can be. Paul lays out a wonderful framework for a great life, a Christian life, that blesses and honors God, and a life that loves God and all of God's creatures in positive ways.

The foundation is love. Love for self, not in selfish, conceited, boastful ways, but in the ways love blesses others in good, affirming ways. Love should be, as the Apostle says, genuine; kids know when we truly love them and not are sharing clichés and idioms; they can see love and they can feel love radiating from us to them. Hate is a strong word, that I try hard not to use; and more so, I try not to show; but there are some people and some things that I strongly, strongly, dislike! Paul says it's okay to hate evil. Evil sometimes is hard to describe, but what year was it? The Supreme Court back in some year, on another topic, said, "I know it when I see it." (SC Justice Potter Stewart, 1964), same with evil, "we know it when we see it," and more so, when we cause it, or live it!

Affection is vital to growth and development in children, and come to think of it, never really grows old for those who are raised in that way! Early in our dating life, Nellie and I had a married couple as close friends, and they and I were doing our internship with our seminary. We heard quickly from the woman that she had been raised with deep affection from her parents, and this man was not, and so did not know how to show it or how important it was to do so. Their marriage did not survive. Honor is both a word and an action that we don't see or hear much about in this age. I always made it a big part of my premarital counseling to explain the definition and importance of honor in any relationship, but especially in marriages. Imagine if we all honored everyone else.

The rest of the passage has the list pretty well lined out: Be zealous in all things related to God and being of God; be on fire in your spirit as you serve the Lord! On-fire Christians do better than wet noodle Christians! Let joy be a part of your life and interactions with others; let patience be a virtue that shines forth from you, and be known as a person who prays and believes in prayer. Be generous in helping others, especially those blessed by the ministry of your church; be hospitable to all people, and be a person who gives life away in the form of blessings that flow forth from your mouth, to all people; those who love you and those who can't stand the sight of you! Be happy with the happy, and cry with those who cry. Be a person who gets along with others, hang out with all people, regardless of clothing or cash amounts they have; and think of yourself just as good as everyone else, without lifting yourself up in your own mind. Repay those who harm you with good things, and think of the noble you see and are blessed by, and live in peace with all.

Leave revenge and vengeance to the Lord. It is coming! Feed the hungry, especially those who would rather steal your food, and share water with all who thirst. Your actions of good may be received as burning actions by some; and that's okay. And in all things, seek to be the good among those who know only evil.

Whew! Now, go and do likewise!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Your Son's words are echoed here by the Apostle Paul, just as if he had just read the gospel of Matthew for the first time; but it shows that these words are timeless, and apply just as much now as they always have. Let us make the difference in the world for all, for a world revolution of good begins with me. It is in Christ Jesus' Spirit and Name that I pray, amen!

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be an overcomer of evil by the good you do, today and all days!

Receive my blessings of love and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

From Hero to Zero!

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Hear the devotional read here: https://bit.ly/2EsQFP8

21 Then Jesus made it clear to his disciples that it was now necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, submit to an ordeal of suffering at the hands of the religious leaders, be killed, and then on the third day be raised up alive. 22 Peter took him in hand, protesting, "Impossible, Master! That can never be!" 23 But Jesus didn't swerve. "Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works." 24 Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. 25 Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. 26 What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for? 27 "Don't be in such a hurry to go into business for yourself. Before you know it the Son of Man will arrive with all the splendor of his Father, accompanied by an army of angels. You'll get everything you have coming to you, a personal gift. 28 This isn't pie in the sky by and by. Some of you standing here are going to see it take place, see the Son of Man in kingdom glory." (Matthew 16:21-28 The Message)

May a marvelous Monday be yours, dear Friend! May all of God's blessings surprise us all with His love and peace!

Few among us are those who take bad news in a good way. The disciples were no exception. News from Jesus about His upcoming death were met with normal human responses, with Peter being the one to voice what everyone else was feeling; "Impossible, Master! That can never be!" The traditional response from Jesus, from other versions, reads, "Get thee behind me, Satan!" (Much like many of us say to chocolate cake, and it does!). This modern version has Jesus saying, "Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works." Indeed. Peter voiced his anger/fear much like we do. Jesus counters with the truth; because we do not know how God works, we usually say things we don't really mean. Here, as the sheep above said, we find Peter, who last Sunday was called the Rock on which the Church would be built, is now ranked right there with Satan. In a very real sense, from hero to zero. Have you been here before?

The disciples then heard Jesus speak to them as well. "If you're in this for the long haul, and you're truly committed to my work, then let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am." How true that is for most people that know how to drive. One of the first times I felt that was when I flew in an airplane for the first time in my life. The scariest thing was that I had absolutely no control on the direction, speed, altitude, etc. of that plane. And I feel the same thing every time I strap myself into a roller coaster. And I also think back to when I taught three of our daughters how to drive and the thing I kept saying or thinking, "If I only had a brake!" Peter voiced that in his own way, but reflected what the other 11 were thinking, "Let's put the brakes on this ride called death of our leader!" Hear the next words of Jesus, "Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self." One of the things that I have noticed through the years is that self-help continues to be a best-selling topic in books; the notion is that if we know what to say to ourselves and at the right time, all will be right with us. Jesus counters by saying to find our true self we have to deny ourselves and embrace self-sacrifice, the kind that hurts, and hurts bad. He was, after all, preparing for the most painful death of all, death on a cross for a majority of people that would not care at all. And, right next to the self-help section is the genre of getting rich. Jesus to this said, "What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for? Many have tried, and legend says some have in fact, sold their souls for temporal gain, only to find they missed out on the things that really matter, the eternal things of God.

Jesus ends this passage with His words on what would come soon; Himself, "with all the splendor of His Father, accompanied by an army of angels. You'll get everything you have coming to you, a personal gift." And that gift is eternal life. Jesus even said to His disciples that "Some of you standing here are going to see it take place, see the Son of Man in Kingdom glory."

Friends, we have heard the gospel message. The things that really matter are discounted by the world; the things of God are laughed at by those who do not know God nor His love. You and I know, or should know. better. The things of God may not matter to some now, but the day is coming when those who have walked away or rejected Him will cry out in hopes of getting in. Just today I heard a preacher say their sign for this week in front of their church read, "Pray like the Third Monkey on the Ark!"

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we have heard You speak Your truth through Your Son, Jesus in this passage; may what we have heard serve us in a mighty way of being obedient and faithful. Bless the needs we bring in our hearts and minds, and in all things be glorified; this we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Live a life that is a sermon to someone who needs to hear it.

Receive my blessings of joy and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

If It Hadn't Been for the Lord...

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Hear the devotional narrated here: https://bit.ly/3gcE0gD

1 If God hadn't been for us - all together now, Israel, sing out! - 2 If God hadn't been for us when everyone went against us, 3 We would have been swallowed alive by their violent anger, 4 Swept away by the flood of rage, drowned in the torrent; 5 We would have lost our lives in the wild, raging water. 6 Oh, blessed be God! He didn't go off and leave us. He didn't abandon us defenseless, helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs. 7 We've flown free from their fangs, free of their traps, free as a bird. Their grip is broken; we're free as a bird in flight. 8 God's strong name is our help, the same God who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124 The Message)

Happy and tremendous Thursday to you, dear Eradio! pray this finds you and yours doing well; that is my prayer. As we pray today, I ask prayers for our daughter, Caitlin, our son-in-law, Jesse Muñoz and our soon-to-be-here baby; this morning the doctor may have to "intervene" due to how Caty's liver is functioning (or not), so she suspects inducing labor may be the intervention, and as you can imagine, she is worried, as are we, and our compadres, Jay and Janie Muñoz. Your prayers are much appreciated. And, of course, pray for one another, and pray for yourselves.

The truly grateful heart knows where to point when asked, how was this possible? The psalmist knew as do we; If it hadn't been for the Lord, or as the new version says, "If God hadn't been for us," well, the list can get rather long with all that would not have been, including our very lives. So, we praise and bless the Lord for His faithfulness in the things that have come against us.

"God's strong name is our help," and may that guide us throughout this day and all days!

PRAYER: Loving Father, if it had not been for You, none of us would be here, nor would we have been as blessed as we are because of You. Thank You! In Jesus' name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share a prayer for a dear one who is hurting or anxious.

Receive my blessings of love and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Moses!

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Hear the devotional read here: https://bit.ly/3hb6iZY

8 A new king came to power in Egypt who didn't know Joseph. 9 He spoke to his people in alarm, "There are way too many of these Israelites for us to handle. 10 We've got to do something: Let's devise a plan to contain them, lest if there's a war they should join our enemies, or just walk off and leave us." 11 So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. 12 But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had - children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn't stand the Israelites 13 and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. 14 They made them miserable with hard labor - making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload. 15 The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. 16 He said, "When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the sex of the baby. If it's a boy, kill him; if it's a girl, let her live." 17 But the midwives had far too much respect for God and didn't do what the king of Egypt ordered; they let the boy babies live. 18 The king of Egypt called in the midwives. "Why didn't you obey my orders? You've let those babies live!" 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women; they're vigorous. Before the midwife can get there, they've already had the baby." 20 God was pleased with the midwives. The people continued to increase in number - a very strong people. 21 And because the midwives honored God, God gave them families of their own. 22 So Pharaoh issued a general order to all his people: "Every boy that is born, drown him in the Nile. But let the girls live." 1 A man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and had a son. She saw there was something special about him and hid him. She hid him for three months. 3 When she couldn't hide him any longer she got a little basket-boat made of papyrus, waterproofed it with tar and pitch, and placed the child in it. Then she set it afloat in the reeds at the edge of the Nile. 4 The baby's older sister found herself a vantage point a little way off and watched to see what would happen to him. 5 Pharaoh's daughter came down to the Nile to bathe; her maidens strolled on the bank. She saw the basket-boat floating in the reeds and sent her maid to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the child - a baby crying! Her heart went out to him. She said, "This must be one of the Hebrew babies." 7 Then his sister was before her: "Do you want me to go and get a nursing mother from the Hebrews so she can nurse the baby for you?"8 Pharaoh's daughter said, "Yes. Go." The girl went and called the child's mother. 9 Pharaoh's daughter told her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me. I'll pay you." The woman took the child and nursed him. 10 After the child was weaned, she presented him to Pharaoh's daughter who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses (Pulled-Out), saying, "I pulled him out of the water." (Exodus 1:8-2:10 The Message)

Happy Wednesday to you, dear Friend! I pray the length of today's passage not scare you from reading it, for it is a complete story of the Hebrews and how they came to be enslaved in Egypt. But, I pray this finds all of you doing well today.

If you have not yet done a DNA test on yourself, I would highly recommend it. No, I don't own stock in any of the companies that do that sort of testing, but you will be truly amazed at what is in your lineage. The only person that I know whose blood is "pure" or so he claims, is Conan O'Brian. If you don't know who Conan is, he's a late show host on TBS. He's a tall, redheaded gentleman, quite funny, and absolutely Irish. And, believe it or not, I have Irish blood in my veins too. And Jewish blood, and quite a mixture of what we used to lovingly and jokingly called our mixed doggies, "The Heinz 57 Variety," well, that would be me, and probably you, unless you're related to Conan. I begin with that because of what we learn about our relatives the Jews in today's passage.

If you start with verse one of chapter one, you get the complete story that basically says that Joseph and all his brothers and family died, and from the survivors came a heap of Hebrews, so numerous that the new Pharaoh says, "Whoa! There be too many Hebrews and if we ever get into a scrap with some enemy, they might just change sides and whoop us!" So, the descendants of the governor of Egypt became slaves to the new ruling class in Egypt. And guess what ruling classes get from slaves? A lot of free labor and as the scripture says, these slaves built the storage cities of Pithom and Rameses, and as verse 12 says, in a very honest way, the more they worked in the hot sun, the more children they had. Or, as this author words it, "children everywhere!" So many children that the Egyptians could not stand the Israelites any more. They got treated worse and piled on the work. And the new Pharaoh went and had a talk with the two (only two?) midwives who were told how to treat the newborns; if they're male, kill them; if they're female, let them live. What a nice king, no? But thank God, these ladies were God-fearing ladies and they made up an excuse for the number of boy Jews that were being born. And this prompts the king to say to all the people, if you see a baby Hebrew, drown him, but let the girls live. Then a certain woman became pregnant and had a son. "She saw there was something special about this and hid him." For three months. And the mom made a water proof basket in which to float the baby for his own good. Long story short, that was Moses, who was found by Pharaoh's daughter who claims him as her own, and seeks a wet nurse to nurse him, and who do they find? His own mother! And when the boy was fully weaned, his mom presents him back to the princess who adopted him as her own son, even naming him Moses, meaning, "Pulled Out" or "Drawn out" for he was pulled out of the water.

A couple of weeks ago we addressed the reality of families and we know there are no perfect families, but thank God there are some good moms and dads out there, and this, the mother of Moses, was just such a good mom, who did all she could to save his life and to make sure that he was guaranteed a good life. Keep in mind that after weaning him, she no longer had custody of him. I can almost bet that during that short time she had him under her care, she tried to impress in his soul who he was, where he was from, and who was his God. We already know of his great leadership and the important role he played in the freeing and forming of God's people in that massive event we know as The Exodus, and it came as a result of his mother's faith. I don't mean to downplay Dad, because I know he played a role too, and whatever his role, he blessed the work of God in that baby, not knowing that one day the people of Israel would still be around because of what that baby was able to do once he was grown. We should never underestimate the importance of a kind and uplifting word to a young one; it may be the word that stays with them and allows them to shine for such an hour as may be needed. I saw a video yesterday from a Harvard professor who did not drop out of school because of what one high school teacher said to him on a day when he needed to hear such a word. And so, that professor found the teacher's phone number and called him and the old man wept to hear the professor say that it was because of his interest and the words shared with him that he became a professor in one of the world's finest institutions of higher education. The two got together that Christmas holiday and it was in person that the high school teacher said,, "You called me on the very day that I was retiring and the school had a nice farewell but I was feeling sad that perhaps I had not reached any student in a good way, and then the phone rang.

Words have power on their own, and so I encourage you my dear friend, use your words wisely and carefully, and use them to build the cathedrals of tomorrow by building up the little ones now.

PRAYER: Awesome Father, we the world over are blessed by the actions and faith of Moses. I know that perhaps the mother and father may not have even seen what their son was able to do because of what they had done; much in the same way, we may not know what our little ones might do because of what we have shared with them. So, allow us to share faith and hope in ways that nothing nor no-one can take it away from them; and when that hour comes when they have to shine, may they shine brilliantly and mightily as only those with You in them can. This we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! May we truly bless someone today with a strong, solid word!

Receive my blessings of hope and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Present Yourself as an Offering to God!

Photo by Eradio Valverde, Jr.

Hear the devotional narrated here: https://bit.ly/3aAKJ2p

1 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 3 I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. 4 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5 The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, 6 let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; 7 if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; 8 if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face. (Romans 12:1-8 The Message)

A blessed Tuesday to you, my dear Friend! Why do we pray? Because God answers prayers! And this morning I asked a pastor friend of mine, The Rev. Scott Bradford, to pray for rain in these parts and guess what we got? Rain! Not too much, but enough to show, "I do answer prayers! All according to my will!" Amen, Lord, thank You! It was enough to drop the temperatures a bit and to cool off this area if for a bit, but we'll take it!

And another man who believed in prayer and was constantly in prayer, was the Apostle Paul. He was open to whatever God may show him and he used almost everything in his writings and teachings. Years ago, a pastor in the Southwest Texas Conference sold a monthly service called Windows to Truth, in which he shared what he had gleaned from readings and from friends, in this monthly service of sermon illustrations. I subscribed to it because I loved the stories in there. Yet, I will never forget a noted preacher once saying, "If you want sermon illustrations, just keep your eyes open!" Indeed. That's what Paul did. And in his visit to Corinth, he went through an ancient museum on anatomy, (See my photo above from that same museum in Greece) and saw how the human body was composed of many members, and used it in this letter. He did the same with the Roman soldier guarding him and was inspired to write about the full armor of God. But, he begins with exhorting us to live our lives in the best way possible as an offering to God. And, we are not talking tips, or pieces of our lives; though a wise man said, "I wish people would tip on their income, they'd have to give at least 15% and 18% if they liked the sermon!"

What Paul is saying is don't compartmentalize your life. Every aspect of your daily life should be consecrated to God as an offering; "Your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around-life - and place it before God as an offering." Think about that. How do you sleep? What do you dream? If our dreams are a reflection of our lives, fears, wishes, worries, joys; who's taken center stage? Every night as the curtain is drawn to the stage of your dreams, who is in the starring role? If we are living a God-centered life, we will have the kind of dreams that reflect that. Yes, as often happens when we're watching tv we might see a commercial or a program pop up that we quickly change the channel, sometimes an invited "guest" may come on stage, but just as a reminder that we're not that far removed from earth. I love the lyrics of Fernando Ortega's "King of Angels" says, "Jesus, King of angels, Heaven's light Shine Your face upon this house tonight Let no evil come into my dreams Light of Heaven keep me in Your peace Remind me how You made dark spirits flee And spoke Your power to the raging sea And spoke Your mercy to a sinful man Remind me Jesus, this is what I am"

Our eating should also glorify God, but I won't ask you to revisit the blue plate special from today, or last night's pizza. Paul says, all areas of our lives should show that we are grateful to God and we offer ourselves in gratitude to Him as a love offering. Note how he goes on to address how "well-adjusted" we can become to the culture, that we "fit into it without even thinking." He urges us, "Fix your attention on God." And the desired results will come; "changed from the inside out." Remember, we are citizens of Heaven first, then we add whatever label or flag we want to live under. And if we are truly a part of Christ's body, then all of us, working and living together, work for the good of Christ in the world; not the other way around. When the world ends, or if we end before the world, what will be left?

Whatever it is that you do for God, do it well and do it all the time. If you follow me on Facebook, you know that recently I have posed questions for pastors, knowing all who relate will share, and my question on prayers brought several funny responses, including the small town pastor asked to check a nonworking microphone and it was not grounded, and when it was plugged in and this pastor was holding it, a word that would not, and should not, be uttered from the pulpit on Sunday or Wednesdays, escaped his mouth! And may have shown a little of what was still in there that Jesus hadn't quite taken as perhaps the man was still holding on to it.

We give of what we have, and who we are. And I pray that all of us, not hold on to what we know should be gone; instead strive to be righteous and holy, and from that starting point move every onward and upward.

PRAYER: Loving Jesus, we all love You. We pray You would remove from us that which sometimes gives us away in ways that honor someone else and not You. Forgive us, and sanctify us for Thy service. This we pray in Thy holy name, Jesus our Lord and Savior, amen!

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Do something for God in the name and spirit of God for anyone in need.

Receive my blessings of joy and comfort,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

I Dunno...

Image from pastordawn.com

Hear the devotional read here: https://bit.ly/3g2wepw

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesare'a Philip'pi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Eli'jah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20 NRSV)

Happy Monday, dear Friend! May all that came against you since the last time we gathered here be gone! And may all the good God has intended for you come to you fourfold! I will share a couple of praise offerings! First, it was some years ago yesterday, that Nellie and I received our fourth baby girl into our hearts and homes. Caitlin re-wrote the Valverde Family Book on Discipline in a very short time! And not in a bad way, but in a delightful, amusing, and pleasant way. While our first three had the honor of sitting with Mom and Dad on Sunday mornings in church, Caty did not. She was born when I was senior pastor of her Mommy's home church for eleven years. She has been a blessing as well as her sisters to us, our home and ministry, and now she's almost going to be a mom for the second time, expecting her second son on the 16th of September (a very patriotic day in Mexico), but her son has grown quite a bit and trying to make his appearance on his time, not the doctor's. Please pray for Caty. Second, our nephew David Valverde of Georgia, who is a few months old, spent a couple of nights in an Atlanta hospital and was released yesterday (Sunday). He had a high fever and doctors were able to get that down and get to the cause of the problem, and all is well. Please keep him in your prayers as well! Thank you dear prayer servants.

Jesus had a startup. It was an itinerant ministry of signs and wonders. Jesus followed the lead of the Holy Spirit to wherever the need was; and most local authorities met his visits with some reluctance and even some almost violent opposition. Jesus personally recruited all twelve of His disciples and the mission statement of the organization was constantly being presented in demonstrative ways, some might say Matthew 5 is as good a place as any to visit and see what Jesus was up to. In a word, turning everything upside down. Or, maybe right side up. The emphasis by the Church of the day was on money, not ministry. Profit over prayer, and so Jesus had quite a task in confronting these matters and making something positive come of them. And Jesus never really had an in-depth interview with any of the disciples in which He would have said, "I am Jesus bar Joseph, of Nazareth; I was born in Bethlehem, spent some time abroad in Egypt, and finally my folks made their way back here to Galilee. My dad was a carpenter, as was I for a bit; but Dad died, left me to help Mother for a bit, especially with the kid brothers and sisters; but I sensed God's timing was ready for me to launch this ministry. Oh, by the way, I am the Messiah, the long-expected anointed one of God. Yep, that's me." It is in this passage that Jesus asks them, "Who do people say that I am?" Nice way to start; what are you hearing, what are people saying? They respond, "Well, Jesus, some believe You to be John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah, and others, that You must be one of the prophets." This was the ideal time for Him to ask, "What about you? Who do you say that I am?" Most of them wanted to say the title of today's devotional, "I dunno." They really were not sure! They were impressed and could not explain half of the actions or teachings that He shared with them. Only one, Simon Peter, who replied, "You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God." Bam! There it is! Jesus is pleased and says so, "Blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah! Because flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but it was my Father who is in heaven, who has revealed this to you. And I'm telling you, Peter, on this rock (Peter's name was Rock, and a far cry behind is Dwayne Johnson) I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Here's where Peter got the job of Gate-Keeper in Heaven), and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." We need to remember that Peter was a fisherman. He probably had a fishing business, but he was one who liked to fish and get dirty in the day-to-day of the business; but he was invited by Jesus to join this spiritual startup because of his courage and his faith. When others ran and hid, Peter did not. When attackers came to arrest, Peter drew his sword. And yes, when challenged by others about his relationship with Jesus, he did, as Jesus had foretold, he denied Him. But, later he was elevated by Jesus to show that all was forgiven.

Peter got a bump. Up. Way up! And he may have realized it, but if he didn't, he soon would, that this job promotion would come with a huge requirement namely all that talk about "take up your cross and follow me," would literally involve a cross and he on it. But that's for another devotional. All it took on that day was for one voice to lift up the truth about Jesus. Others may not have been as sure about it as Peter, and some may have really said, under their breath, "I dunno," like some of us when we confront some major challenges in our life. Instead of an "I dunno" response, we are called to say, with boldness, courage, and conviction, "I know!" And sometimes we say, "I know Jesus! And Jesus is with us, and all will be well."

PRAYER: Loving Lord, in the midst of all that may come against us, fill us with that that goes against whatever or whoever would derail our intent to serve You. Give us boldness, courage, and conviction; and lift us into faithful and fruitful service. And this we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Find a time to say boldly, "I know Jesus!"

Receive my blessings of peace and joy,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Two Hour Christianity

Image from cartoonstock.com

Seven days hath every week With 56 hours spent in sleep

For 112 we spend awaking While 21 with food partaking

Now were left with 91 Down goes 40 - there's work to be done

51 hours in our week remain I stand in church and sing a refrain

But the sermon's run late I look at my watch and I hesitate

I've spent one hour in spiritual fare The big game is on and I must get there

51 hours to do as I please Very few minutes spent on my knees

"But wait", I'm heard to say "I read a devotional every day"

"I'm yours, dear Savior, so do what You will But please, do hurry, There's no time to kill"

"If you saw my schedule and the work that I do If you knew the stress I've been going through"

Two hours a week I spend with my Lord If more than that - I might get bored.

Just two short hours in 168? I finally realize an appointment awaits

I weep as I take intentional time To spend with my Savior - Jesus - Divine

"O how I've missed my time with You And I plan to stay - as long as I need to.

"You gave your life to rescue mine And all I can think is, I have no time.

I say, "You are my life's foundation" As shifting sands lead to temptation

You gave Your life because You love me While the hours I give are two, sometimes three

But Your grace extends to my lack of minutes While Your attention to me remains without limits.

So today is the day I invite You along I've been time-stingy, I admit I was wrong.

Two Hour Christianity by Glenn A. Hascall

Thanks to Dr. Richard Evans for sharing with me.

Copyright 2001, CMI Publishing & Glenn A. Hascall Something To Think About is one of four free subscription services provided by Christian Media Inc. To subscribe, send an email to: something2think@ILoveJesus.net Visit our website at www.kcmi.cc

Unity

Image from dailyverses.net

1 How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along! 2 It's like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard, Flowing down Aaron's beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes. 3 It's like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion. Yes, that's where God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life. (Psalm 133 The Message)

A happy Thursday to you, dear Friend! Prayers coming your way for a wonderful day, with opportunities to share and grow in the Lord!

Three verses. The first one says it all. So does the photograph above. Unity is a Godly thing, anything else is not. We can't say we are surprised that a king like David would write a psalm like this, for a righteous leader in any setting, desires unity, for more is accomplished when there is unity, than where there is division. And, the psalmist continues, if this is accomplished, then the greatest blessing of God, eternal life, will be bestowed upon His people.

I can't help but love the imagery that he shares in the second verse. David did not live during the time of Aaron, Moses' brother, but he had read and heard about him. Aaron was a true leader whose primary leadership role was to lead the people to God through worship and making God's teachings real through sermons and lessons. And ever the poet, the psalmist could imagine what an experience like sitting in worship with Aaron leading might have truly been like; the oil of anointing and blessing, rich and abundant, flowing lavishly during the praise of God and falling and flowing down Aaron's beard. And, the imagery of natural beauty in wonder such as "dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion," completes the picture. All that is missing, at times, and David knew this, is unity.

The week's scriptures have addressed the lack of unity in some relationships and some families, with God's desire to be in relationship with us always stressed, so this psalm serves as the last invitation of the week to call people back to God, back to the heart of love, and back to sharing in love with all people, so that unity may be complete.

Dear one, take the broken pieces of your life, heart, mind, or spirit, and joining hands and hearts with God and God's people, rebuild and work towards making unity possible. The world will be a better place once we have unity.

PRAYER: Loving Lord, You who see the insides of my heart, mind, and spirit, be at work in me to rebuild me and make me more like You. Help me be a foundational step towards unity in all things; this I ask in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen!

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Reach out in love to bless someone however you can.

Receive my blessings of love and peace!

Pastor Eradio Valverde Hear yesterday's Bible Study here: https://youtu.be/LkzSsgDaOu4

God's Big Picture!

Image from newlifenarrabi.wordpress.com

Hear here, the narration of today's devotional: https://bit.ly/33QDy4Q

1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, "Send everyone away from me." So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come closer to me." And they came closer. He said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, "Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.' 12 And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here."14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him. (Genesis 45:1-15 NRSV)

Welcome, Wednesday! You, the most welcome of days for those working and watching the clock! Yes, I was one of those in my secular days! May you be open to the blessings this dear reader may share with you as s/he prays, reads, understands, accepts, and acts on all God revealed to them! So, Friend, be open to what God may share with you during this day!

I could have called this The Big Reveal, because as you heard read or as you read this passage, the big picture of God was finally revealed to all, especially those we might have deemed as not worthy of receiving anything! Yes, many would have said, what those brothers who sold their brother deserved was to be thrown into a jail cell where they would spend the rest of their days thinking about what they did. It makes us think back to the days we were disciplined. I have shared how my father and mother both believed in spankings. My father's strict rule was that if any of us got spanked by Mom, when he got home, we would be spanked again. Yes, the same man who would tell my teachers the very thing; if my son misbehaves in school and has to be spanked or swatted, please do, and let me know if that happens and then I will again spank him when I get home. Gulp. As the only child for four years I played best alone. When my sister came along, I was disappointed, and didn't know how to play well with her. She only knew to intrude, interrupt, and irritate. And somehow, I only knew to push and hit. And she knew to cry in automatic response. She would have made a world class soccer player, as you and I have seen, who get slightly touched in play, and they will fall in such pain and horror that a penalty is called. She would have done well in the WNBA as we'll, any slight touch on her, and she would have fallen in agony to the floor where she would scream loudly awaiting the trainer and team doctor to come to her rescue. And she would have easily won the Oscar for her performance, reprised, as my Dad's car drove up. It was brilliant, moving, convincing, and critics present would have voted for her to get the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She would wobbly walk to Dad and in halting words, between tears, say, "He.....hit....me...WAAAAH!" That's all it took and Dad took action. Sigh.

God does not work that way. God did not punish Joseph's brothers, other than the pain most of them felt for their dad, who for many years lived with the reality that his favored son was gone, even dead. And while the rest of the world was dying of hunger, here they were, in the presence of the ruler of the wealthiest country, one blessed with much food, ready to do whatever they could to get food for themselves and their families. I encourage you to read the complete story that is found in the chapters and verses leading up to this occasion. Yet, this scene is priceless. Joseph is the acting ruler of the country, serving as he himself says, as "a father to Pharaoh," who had been entrusted with overseeing the house of Pharaoh and ruler of all the land of Egypt. This man had the power to grant to them their request which would have given them life through the food they did not have and had come begging for. And, he also had the power to sentence them to death. What this outstanding man of God desired was to grant them his love and the food they needed. What he needed was an audience only with his brothers. There, in the privacy of his brothers, he wept. He wept loudly, "and so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it." Wow! This reminded me of the scene in the movie, "The Princess Bride" where the man in black is tortured and he wails so loudly, his traveling companions hear it and Inigo Montoya says, "Do you hear that? That is the sound of ultimate suffering! My heart made that sound when my father was killed." The cry was heard throughout the kingdom in that movie. And such was the pain Jospeh had been holding back all these years; betrayal, fright, fear, then joy, and now having his brothers, whom he truly always loved, standing right in front of him..

It's a this moment that Joseph can say, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt." I think at that moment fear may have run through the hearts of all his brothers, but Joseph quickly says, "And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life." He reminds them of the famine the entire world is suffering, and adds, "God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God." And he shares how they are now welcome to move into Egypt (Yes, foreigners were allowed into that great nation!). And the reunion was complete. God's big picture had been revealed; God's plan was now understood.

The reality is that this happened over a period of many years. Many things had happened, and many other things could have happened, such as the father could have died, but he didn't; any one of his brothers could have died or run off, but they didn't. They were all present to see and experience the awesome power of forgiveness. This forgiveness brought to them life, and the fullness thereof. Just in the same way, that God desires that for you and yours. The heartache of the father would not be over until the caravan of the older brothers arrived back home to tell the old man; and then the trip back to Egypt would take another long journey; but what a difference that return trip to Egypt brought to Dad! He would travel with his heart filled with joy and anticipation of seeing his son again.

This week has been all about stressing to us, the desire that God our Father has for us to be in relationship with Him. The components have all been addressed; repentance, forgiveness, acceptance, and the journey back to the Father. Where are you on your journey dear friend? Are you moving faithfully onward and upward?

PRAYER: Loving Father, Thank You for this story and all the stories of this week. We confess we may not be where Joseph was; we may still be harboring anger towards our children or our parents; but we pray you would forgive us and give us an opportunity to make right that which is wrong in our lives. I pray for those whose homes still away the return of that wayward child, grant them patience and the desire of their heart, Lord, according to Your purpose. I pray for those who don't yet know Your love that they may soon learn how awesome Your love truly is; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Show someone the way home today with your words, and actions!

Receive my blessings of love and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Reminder: A Pop Up Bible Study later this morning at 10:30 a.m.

Click here to Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/9636064687?pwd=K2lMQytud2tMQW5xeUNNNGE2VGVxUT09

Meeting ID: 963 606 4687 Passcode: 6kMxWT

Faith Works; Keep Asking!

< p>Image from interruptingthesilence.com

Hear the devotional read here: https://bit.ly/3gITzgN

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." 24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." 26 He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matthew 15:21-28 NRSV)

Monday has come; how will you receive it? I pray, dear Friend, you receive it with gladness and optimism; blessings are yours, if you but ask.

Jesus had encounters with people that were not from His tribe. Jesus was a Jew and we know of His conversation with a Samaritan woman, and today's passage has us listening in on a conversation that Jesus had with a Canaanite woman. If you know your Bible, you know that where the two stood was once Canaanite land; the Jews had taken it from them, now the Romans had it in their control, but still there was seem tension between Jews and Canaanites. For Jesus, this was a chance for Him to witness to the truth; that all people matter to God, though we'll see that He does mention an aside remark as the woman asks for healing and deliverance for her daughter.

The woman just came out and shared what she knew to be the cause of her daughter's illness; she was demon-possessed. The woman comes straight to Jesus and shouts at Him. Notice that Jesus did not answer her, which prompts the disciples to urge Jesus to send her away. Sadly, we've seen this as a sort of auto-response from the 12 to some situations; send them home; send them to get their own food; we don't even want to bother with demons, send her away! For most of us sophisticated 21st Century believers, the thought of someone being demon-possessed is beyond our comprehension, and for some, beyond belief. Some have an auto-resonse that says, "Her daughter has to be mentally ill, or epileptic, or something along those lines!" What we do know is that the mother believed it was a demon, as it was common in those days and in those places for people to have demon-possession. It was a disruptor of daily life. We can only imagine the outbursts of anger or fits that this daughter had; enough so this Canaanite woman would approach a Jew and ask Him to heal her daughter. The response from Jesus to the disciples when they said send her away is to say, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." He was stating the primary focus of His mission was to retrieve the lost sheep of His own people back into the fold of a loving God; and while Jesus does not say that He will not heal her, the inclination seems to be that He would not. This did not stop the woman. She comes and kneels before Jesus and says, "Lord, help me." Any parent who has had a child sick in any way, will stop at nothing before that child is well. In my years as a pastor I had a baby girl born with a condition that was so severe, she had to be airlifted in a helicopter to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi. The parents almost beat the helicopter to CC such was their concern for their daughter. I was right behind them. I will never forget asking permission to pray with the baby before her surgery. The nurse said, "Please do, Reverend, by all means. We have all noticed that babies that get prayed for get well before those who do not receive prayer." I prayed, and not too long ago, that young lady was wed. Please tell me you would not have knelt before Jesus to beg for your child's life? I know you would, and some of you have, and some of you still pray for your little ones even though they're way up there in years!

Jesus' answer is rather harsh,"It is not fair to the the children's food and throw it to the dogs." Ouch. As often as I have heard scholars and preachers try to explain that away, it still hurts. I want to believe that Jesus is saying in His way, this that you are asking is very precious. And again, Jesus never says, I will not heal her or help you. Notice the woman's faith, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Great was her faith, and she kept asking. And this is something repeated in other gospel stories regarding other needs; the woman that Jesus said kept going before the judge until the judge says that he will hear her out and answer her plea. Again, a parent will not easily take no for the life and health of a child. Even Jesus was moved when He said, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.

That evening that household could only talk about one thing; the miraculous healing of the girl who had been tormented for so long, and now there was peace, real peace in the house, for the evil of the demon was driven out by the Son of God. There was no longer any way for that demon to return, because the soul of that girl had been swept clean by the Lord Jesus, and He had left a sign that read, DEMONS NOT WELCOME HERE! Our understanding of what demon-possession really is may be different from each other, but one thing we can agree on, it was a presence of evil in the life of that girl that somehow had found its way into her life. I cannot begin to tell you how, but I can tell you we cannot, and should not, give liberty for evil to find its way into your life or the life of your children. We stand for righteousness, the good in God and those who love God, and anything else is not acceptable; we only serve God and only give God permission to be present and to rule in our lives. As we pray, think long and hard about what in your life may have found its way into your life and/or the life of your children that should not be there; and as we pray ask God to make things right, strong, and pure in your life, and in the lives of those who matter to you.

PRAYER: Awesome God, we thank You for Jesus and His victory always over evil. As we pray, we pray for a complete cleansing in our lives of anything and everything that should not be in us; sweep our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies clean of evil, hatred, and anything else that bears more of a resemblance to Satan that it does You. Make us whole and make us holy; for it is in the name of the Holy One that we pray, amen!

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Renounce evil in your life and share the good that has come to you today!

Receive my blessing of peace and love,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

From Bad Things Good Things One Day Come...

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Hear Here the Rest of the Story, plus extras and for the first time, a blooper! https://bit.ly/2DIeuC0

1 O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. 2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. 5 Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered, 6 O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones. 16 When he summoned famine against the land, and broke every staff of bread, 17 he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18 His feet were hurt with fetters, his neck was put in a collar of iron; 19 until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord kept testing him. 20 The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free. 21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his possessions, 22 to instruct his officials at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom. 45 that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b NRSV)

God is faithful always. We're not so good always, but most of us at least try. I write this because hundreds of years after Joseph's encounter with the slave-traders, David sits down and writes this psalm about God's faithfulness even in the event that marks this event as one of the most terrible in the history of families. Just this morning (And I'm writing this on Wednesday), Nellie and I were talking about divorce. Okay, that was written badly; she and I are still madly in love, her question was "When did I become aware of divorce as a child?" We were talking about our families as children and this came up. I replied that my grandmother was the first and only person that I knew who was divorced. She had moved into a home that my father brought in behind our house. We didn't see my grandfather much after that for a time, then we started again. I remember as the divorce happened seeing my father cry for the first time which left a deep imprint in my mind and soul. And as I thought about it, most of the families we meet in the Old Testament are not perfect! Adam and Eve, well, they raised two boys, and one of them kills the other. Jesus' own family sought Him out one day suspecting He was not well. And Jesus Himself said the true members of His family were those who did God's will.

There are no perfect families, just as there are no perfect individuals; but we strive to be better as guided by God each day and in every way. John Wesley said we should strive to be made perfect in love in this lifetime; it was something that I said yes to when I was ordained in the United Methodist Church. And I hold to the title of today's devotional, even from bad things, good things one day will come, and more so if we have entrusted that situation to God.

We look to the passage for today, and David goes into detail of Joseph's suffering; betrayal by his own family, sold as a slave by that same family, fettered and shackled as a common slave; but at each level of his suffering, God was with him and lifted him from each level until he was second in command in all of Egypt! Not bad for a betrayed brother and former slave. And at each level, Joseph remembered to share his faith with all with whom he came into contact. Could we do the same?

PRAYER: Loving God, lift us from our current situation which You know better than us; As we endure suffering and pain, or betrayal and rejection, help us never lose sight that we are Yours, and that You are with us, and that we will make it! Grant us peace, patience, and strength; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Set someone free today from whatever has them in bondage or suffering; why not start with you!

Receive my blessings of love, joy, and peace,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

PRAYER REQUEST: A dear longtime friend and reader of ConCafe, Ricardo Gonzalez lost his mother, Elida Gonzalez, last night to Covid-19. Please keep the Gonzalez family in your prayers.

You Would Cry Too, If It Happened to You! (The Story of Joseph)

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Hear the Story narrated here: https://bit.ly/3frVLIo

1 Meanwhile Jacob had settled down where his father had lived, the land of Canaan. Joseph and His Brothers 2 This is the story of Jacob. The story continues with Joseph, seventeen years old at the time, helping out his brothers in herding the flocks. These were his half brothers actually, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought his father bad reports on them. 3 Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. 4 When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him - they wouldn't even speak to him. 12 His brothers had gone off to Shechem where they were pasturing their father's flocks. 13 Israel said to Joseph, "Your brothers are with flocks in Shechem. Come, I want to send you to them." Joseph said, "I'm ready." 14 He said, "Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing and bring me back a report." He sent him off from the valley of Hebron to Shechem. 15 A man met him as he was wandering through the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?" 16 "I'm trying to find my brothers. Do you have any idea where they are grazing their flocks?" 17 The man said, "They've left here, but I overheard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.'" So Joseph took off, tracked his brothers down, and found them in Dothan. 18 They spotted him off in the distance. By the time he got to them they had cooked up a plot to kill him. 19 The brothers were saying, "Here comes that dreamer. 20 Let's kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We'll see what his dreams amount to." 21 Reuben heard the brothers talking and intervened to save him, "We're not going to kill him. 22 No murder. Go ahead and throw him in this cistern out here in the wild, but don't hurt him." Reuben planned to go back later and get him out and take him back to his father. 23 When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing, 24 grabbed him, and threw him into a cistern. The cistern was dry; there wasn't any water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat their supper. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites on their way from Gilead, their camels loaded with spices, ointments, and perfumes to sell in Egypt. 26 Judah said, "Brothers, what are we going to get out of killing our brother and concealing the evidence? 27 Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let's not kill him - he is, after all, our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. 28 By that time the Midianite traders were passing by. His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt. (Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 The Message Bible)

It's Wednesday, and no better day in which to hear about the drama in someone else's family, right? Welcome, Friend, May all that is shared here today bring blessings into your life. This story is not about anyone walking on water, or flying; quite the opposite, it's about tattle-tales and spoiled younger siblings, they come in two varieties, boys and girls!

Nobody likes a tattle-tale, which reveals a little about us, doesn't it? We like to get away with things, or so we hope, and someone telling on us robs of that chance! And I'm talking past tense, like when we were younger and not so innocent as we are today... Is there someone blushing? Remember or try to remember the rich history of this family. The father is Israel (For 50 points who can tell me his name before it was changed?), and we know of his love life even with two wives, and how the unfavored wife blessed him with plenty of sons and daughters, and how his favorite wife finally blessed him with two, the first of those being Joseph, and at an old age. And on this son, Dad could not shower enough love and affection. And Joseph didn't help matters any by being one who reported back to father the things that were happening among his brothers that should not have been happening! And after Jo-jo tells on his brothers, Dad rewards him with a fancy coat (See above picture of Broadway's interpretation of the coat). This version said it was "an elaborately embroidered coat," and we get the idea; the son was special and so he gets a special coat. And the older brothers are taking notes on all these things and keeping records, and their blood pressure steadily rises. Soon, all the older brothers come to hate Jo-jo.

One day the older boys took the flocks to pasture, and as happened before, Dad sends Jo-jo to see how they are, and to bring back a report. (He has proven himself at being quite good at that, right?). And it takes the boy a while to find them. He's far away enough to give his brothers time to plan something, and it is nothing good. Someone suggests killing him. Already, we see that perhaps those bad reports shared with Father were justified, these guys seem to have a tendency to hate, and perhaps even act on that hate. The plan they hatch is to kill him and throw his body into a cistern, and then tell the old man that a vicious wild animal ate him. And they laugh about the dreams Jo-jo had had, where he was lord over them, which, surprise, surprise, added to their hatred of the boy. Killing him would end his dreams. Thank God, the oldest brother, Rueben intervenes and says, "We're not going to kill him. No murder. Go ahead and throw him in this cistern out here in the wild, but don't hurt him." Reuben's secret plan was to come back later for the boy and return him to their father. Joseph arrives and is greeted by their savage attack. They ripped off his fancy coat, and threw him in the cistern. Thankfully, the cistern was dry and so the boy didn't drown in it. And they, then sat and ate their supper. I can't help but comment on how cold blooded they are; they assaulted their younger brother, destroyed his nice coat, and then threw him in this dry well, and then ate the supper that perhaps Joseph brought from home. Oh, and it gets better!

While they were enjoying the cold fried chicken and potato salad from home, a caravan of Ishmaelite traders come by, and one of the brothers says, "Let's sell our brother, instead of killing him and trying to conceal his death?" The brothers agreed, and for twenty pieces of silver, Joseph is now a slave bound for Eygpt. And the brothers return home with a lie and with money to show for it.

If Paul Harvey were telling this story, he would pause long enough to say, "and now the rest of the story;" but Paul (Kids ask Mom and Dad or Grandma or Grandpa who Paul Harvey was!) is long gone, but we know the story ends really well because God was in the story; not in the evil in the hearts of these brothers, but working a redemption to that evil that would prove to be one of the biggest blessings they could have ever hoped for. And it goes in line with us and how we sometimes do/say/think something and we feel horrible about it (especially if we're caught!) and wonder how we would ever get out of such a situation, and somehow we do. Our prayer should be to live a life that blesses and gives life to others, and if ever we find ourselves as the one being thrown into a well, God will bless us. God have mercy on us if we ever find within ourselves the anger and desire to throw someone into a well! Life is too short to spend time in misery and remorse planning revenge or hateful acts on others. The time we find ourselves living calls for more people of peace, patience, and compassion; lifting up others out of symbolic wells and back into places of respect and acceptance.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, forgive us those times we have tried to get away with something we know we should not have done, and worse, when we were angry at those who told on us; we know better and should live better. Thank You for Your mercy and understanding, and especially for second chances. You know our needs and we pray that You be glorified in them; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Forgive the tattle-tale in your life today! And don't throw anyone into a well today, or any day!

Receive my blessings of joy and peace!

Pastor Eradio Valverde

Now, a mask that shows your praise of God can't be stopped by any mask! Wear it and give witness and praise to God! http://https://teespring.com/we-must-mask-but-still-praise?pid=972&cid=103943

Jesus Comes to Us!

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Hear the devotional read here: https://bit.ly/33ocb27 or here: https://soundcloud.com/evalverde/jesus-comes-to-us

5 Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it's not so easy - every detail of life regulated by fine print! 6 But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story - no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, 7 no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. 8 So what exactly was Moses saying? The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. 9 Say the welcoming word to God - "Jesus is my Master" - embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. 10 With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!" 11 Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this - heart and soul - will ever regret it." 12 It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. 13 "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help." 14 But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? 15 And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God! (Romans 10:5-15 The Message)

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, this servant of Thine, and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Amen.

My college years taught me a lot. And some of it even inside a classroom. My second year at Lon Morris College, I had an international student as my roommate, from Pakistan. He was a very nice young man, devout to his faith and for the first few weeks of the semester even unrolled his prayer carpet and prayed as required by his faith. One of our suite mates had been a classmate of mine at Lanier Junior High and was heavily into Transcendental Meditation, I believe influenced by The Beatles and their trip to India to find the meaning of life. Our suite mate had traveled to Europe to receive a mantra and used it during his times of meditation. He had been taught that five minutes of deep meditation was equivalent to eight hours of sleep, and so he partied like there was no tomorrow, when the others of us were, or trying to, sleep. My roommate once noticed that our suite mate had been missing class and the reason why was that he slept while the others of us went to class. He thought it was hilarious and kept repeating, "Five minutes of meditation equals 8 hours sleep!" He could not stop laughing. The three of us had different and separate beliefs of getting to the places where we believed we needed to be. Allah, Maharishi Yogi, and Jesus, all claimed a better way to live. Of the three, I chose Jesus. I cannot do justice to the other two. I respect the right of those who choose to live and follow those ways, but I would love the opportunity to share Jesus with them.

The thing that stands out from this passage from the Apostle Paul is his knowledge that Jesus comes to us. Moses knew God and served Him and wrote the Law as directed; and those who tried, followed a "life regulated by fine print!" It served some well, others were lost forever for not realizing Who the Law stood for and the Love behind the Law. It wasn't until Jesus came to speak about the Law and to "fulfill the law," and to have followers like Paul speak the truth about it, that we began to realize that we can try all we want to find the better way, when all the while the truth was that Jesus came to us. My friend traveled thousands of miles to find the mantra, the word that would work for him as he meditated. My roommate traveled thousands of miles to come here to receive his education so he could return and strengthen his nation with his education. I was there to learn what I could about scripture and the gospel; and the truth was there in those pages in these words; "The word that save is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. Say the welcoming word to God - 'Jesus is my Master' - embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what He did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it....That's salvation." Hallelujah.

As Christian believers Paul says our job is to tell as many as we can about this new life, this fullness of life, as shown to us by Jesus and proclaimed by the likes of converts like Saul of Tarsus, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told the somebody who told you! Can you fathom that? That from a remote corner of the world, in an occupied country by Rome, to Europe, through ships to the New World, to wherever it was that perhaps some Sunday morning, a preacher spoke a word that hit you as truth and from that point on, you knew your life was now different and better. Whom have you told? Whom have you shown that there is a better way to live through your loving actions?

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You. We cannot find the words to express the gratitude to express to You how You have given us life and purpose, like no one or anything else could do. Guide us and direct us so that we might be the people we need to be. Bless those who need this life and use us to bring them close to You; this we pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be a life blessing to someone today.

Receive my blessings of peace and love,

Pastor Eradio Valverde

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