God has a plan in all the Turbulence of our Day. 

“¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.— Jeremiah 29:11  

What an incredible verse with promise for today’s Christian, in sickness, in despair, in financial and physical loss and in every trial, God has an abiding promise to prosper us and give us hope in our future.

As your pastor, I am at a loss at times, how we as Christians should address this current situation of protest prejudice, and a pandemic.  Should we ignore it and preach from a lectionary, at times, fails to connect with the needs of our neighbors and society.   Do we as Christians find ourselves so divided in political and social conversation?  Do we teach our children to answer every crisis by blaming and shaming others without finding a peaceful solution with a language of Love?   As a Pastor, I have often asked myself, should I abandon my call and find a place where I can minister outside the walls of the church?  Should I surrender to my social and political urges to help society?  Today we all wrestle with ways in which we can sacrifice  for the dire needs of society.   However, as I reflect on my life, I have come to realize the church is the only place that offers a place of refuge and hope.  God has the answer to a world divided in discriminate, despair and destruction.  

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”   II Tim 2:15-4:10

God’s word is relevant to whatever the need, whatever the crisis we should rest in God’s ever abiding message.  One passage that I have carried with me since my Pastor wrote in my Bible cover.    Job 23:10 HE KNOWS THE WAY THAT I TAKE AND WHEN HE HAS TRIED ME, I WILL COME FORTH AS GOLD.  Pastor Arno Q. Weniger is in heaven now and this passage carried him through his ministry when his wife contracted M. S.  Multiple sclerosis at age 24 as he nursed and cared for her in his ministry until she  died at such a young age. Despite this personal challenge he built, with God’s help a church of over 1500 members.   Pastor Weniger died alone never to share with his wife Marilyn the success of their ministry.   God had a plan for he and Marilyn but many of us could not see it, why? because we could not see it through the eyes of faith.  

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together. “Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The Lord loves him; he shall perform his purpose Isaiah 48:10- 51:7

If you need to talk or have questions about a personal relationship with God contact me Pastor Al supreme1955@yahoo.com