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Consider This: Show Up and Shut Up

    Granted, that is not the nicest article title ever, but it is excellent advice for helping a friend who is going through a difficult time.     Often, our first instinct is to stay away.  We do not want to get involved.  We want to avoid the mess.  We convince ourselves that our friend has enough going on and we would only be in the way.       None of that is true!     Avoiding your friend only isolates them and makes them feel even more alone.  What they need is your presence.  Period!  You do not need to have answers or give advice.  That is where the shut-up part comes.     When things go wrong, we ask “Why did this happen?”  We want to solve the puzzle.  “Cause and effect” makes sense to us.  Sometimes there is a direct cause that needs to be addressed, but often the issues are much more complicated than that.  More to the point, placing blame does not help....
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Making Sense of Life When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

 There are no easy answers, but this may help. Forget these two common beliefs!  https://youtu.be/LPNu47ztYSI    
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That Does Not Seem Right! (Exodus 15)

 God’s ways are not our ways…. And that is a good thing!  https://youtu.be/0wEdhLw-B-E    
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Consider This: Focus on Faithfulness

  If you were choosing people to work with during New Testament times, and the two picks were Peter and Stephen, you would choose Stephen every time. We first meet Stephen in Acts 6 when the leaders needed some men to serve the people. He was an obvious choice as he was “A man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (verse 5). Stephen is strong, wise, spiritual and dependable. On the other hand, Peter’s life was marked by a series of ups and downs. He was chosen by Jesus (Luke 5) and was the first to understand that Jesus was God’s Son (Matthew 16:16). He walked on the water, but then got scared and sank like a rock (Matthew 14). Peter was ready to fight to the death when Jesus was arrested (John 18:19), but a few hours later, he denied knowing Jesus at all (all four gospels record this low point). Interestingly, these two men preached two of the first recorded sermons and received completely different reactions. When Peter finishe...
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A Different Picture

 When we understand how God sees his people, it gives us hope and invites others in.  https://youtu.be/78DOpV69Vgs  
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Consider This: Before They Are Gone

    Quick, name the most famous painting in the world.   If you said “The Mona Lisa,” you agree with everyone who was at church this past Sunday, the art insurers who declared it the most famous and valuable painting of all time, as well as the Guinness Book of World Records.   But it was not always that way.   Painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1506, the Mona Lisa has been on display at the Louvre in Paris since 1797. While the art world always appreciated the painting, one act gave it the iconic status and worldwide fame that it enjoys today. In 1911, it was stolen.   The theft generated unprecedented publicity as every newspaper in the world carried stories about the painting, possible suspects, offers of rewards, speculation regarding who took it and where it was hidden.  The painting was recovered in 1914 after it was discovered that a man named Vincenzo Peruggia had taken it believing that the Italian masterpiece belonged in Italy. ...
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Focus on Faithfulness (Acts 2 and Acts 7)

 We all want to see and celebrate results.... But in Spiritual things, results are really none of your business.  https://youtu.be/r8fThRVA9Ro  
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