JanBeek

Thank you for all the sweet responses and inspiring messages that helped make my 81st birthday so memorable. I love my WordPress community!

It’s Sunday, so of course, Bob & I went to church this morning. Our worship service was outside. It’s a beautiful day here in Ennis, Montana. Thank you, God, for the sunshine and mild temperatures in the 70s. Everyone wore masks and socially distanced. The sermon topic was based on two New Testament scriptures: Romans 8:26-30 (A Wonderful Future for God’s People) and Matthew 13: 31-33 (The mustard seed and the yeast).

Hope in Difficult Times
(as usual I took my notes in poetry as I listened.
Here they are:)

Bombarded daily with bad news,
It’s hard to keep our spirits up.
But reading the Bible is a fresh breath
Of positivity and love that fills our cup.

The parables of the mustard seed and
The yeast that magically rises the dough
Are examples of Jesus’ storytelling.
They are hard to easily explain, though.

Trying to explain the parables is like
Describing photosynthesis to a four-year-old.
You can say all you want to explain them,
But we need simplicity in what we’re told!

See the mystery of God’s world.
Don’t try to explain it away.
Look at the wonders of creation
And let the mystery come into play!

It’s okay to read and not understand
How God makes the world work.
It’s okay to wonder and say “I don’t know,”
We can’t see it all – Some’s in the dirt!

Some of the greatest miracles
Of Jesus are buried from our minds.
We can’t see the way His mysteries
Play out – but we see the love that binds!

Look at how the mountains skip,
And the trees clap their hands,
And know that these exaggerations
Are part of the Power where God stands.

Read the Bible not with a microscope,
But with a telescope so that you
Can see the bigness of His Word.
He’s bigger than our understanding – That’s so true!

The music that accompanied our worship service today was so appropriate to this world we currently are trying to navigate. Sing along … the words are here for you on this You.Tube:

Lord, show me the Way, one day at a time!
Help me believe in what I could be – and all that I am.
Just give me the strength to do every day what You want me to do.
So for my sake, teach me to take – One Day at a Time.
Show me the Way!

The other song that we had printed on song sheets so we could sing along was “Mansion Over the Hilltop.” I had not heard it before. Have you?

In our call to confession, we read in unison these words from our bulletins:

“Let us trust in the words of the Psalmist who said,
‘The Lord is near to the brokenhearted,
and saves those who are crushed in spirit,’
as we lay our burdens before our God.”

The biggest burden on my heart today is this big guy pictured on the left in the photo below. My cousin, Cliff, is shown here with three of his rowing buddies from the University of Washington. Cliff is losing his battle with cancer.

I lay my burdened heart before God as I asked for prayers for my cousin, Cliff Hurn. He is in his last days of trying to fight off cancer. He has fought the good fight and he is tired. Hospice has been called in and his family has gathered around. Please pray for his wife, Janine, his family, and all of us who love him so much.

I posted about Cliff early on in his battle. The link to one of those blogs is: https://janbeek.blog/2019/11/09/prayers-for-cliff/ You can see him there surrounded by his wonderful wife and two daughters. Please pray for Cliff today.

Do you have something
that’s heavy on your heart today?
Tell me about it –
and I will add you and your request
to my prayer time.

God bless you, my dear WP Friends.
Have a blessed rest of your Sunday.
See ya tomorrow.
Love and virtual hugs,
JanBeek