I came across this verse while exploring a wonderful new ministry for our church. Our church is a part of a community with many special needs children. A lot of these children and families do not have a place to worship. Maybe the lights are too bright, the sounds too loud or the visual effects are overwhelming. I’m sure they could provide many more reasons. A trip to Walmart is not just a trip to Walmart. A lot of times, outings must be planned carefully to allow for different eventualities.

We don’t ask to be born with or without certain capabilities. While I was not born with a visible disability, I was born with a different way of thinking and learning. I tried to hide this difference. I wanted to be just like my friends. Straight hair instead of curly, thin wasted instead of chubby, no glasses…etc. By the time I went to college, I could not contain my problems. My grades fell dramatically, as did my mental wellness. I couldn’t understand what the professors were saying, and no matter how much I studied, I couldn’t retain the information. The voice that told me I was worthless was getting louder.

I was angry for so many years. Why would God create me like this? Why would God punish me? What did I do to deserve this? I stopped going to church regularly around the age of 17, against my parents’ wishes.

Fast forward 25 years. I work hard every day to accept the way God made me. Some days are easier than others. It took years of figuring out what works best for me and what makes things worse. It’s up to me to learn how to accept the way I’m made, and that is a conscious choice. I work with my son continuously on how to make this a conscious choice. I want to help those kids out there that need help making that conscious decision. I want to spread the message that God made us beautiful no matter what we think we’re missing. When we see the beauty inside of ourselves, it’s easier to find it in others.

Prayer: Dear God, Your works are wonderful. Please help me to quiet my mind and open my heart to this realization every day. Amen!

Contributed by Brandy Boudreaux

“¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin  for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

My 84^th birthday falls in the fourth week of Lent this year, so I chose the scripture reading from 2 Cori nthians.

I was born in Killeen where my father was a country doctor (Dr. Joe), and my mother (Thelma) was a teacher of science and math at Killeen High School. When I reflect on how God has guided my life, I am amazed. I have “tasted” God’s love, and even though I was the shortest boy in my class, God had a reason for that.

When I volunteered to be a missionary teacher for three years, I was ready to go wherever the Mission Board felt my short-term service was needed. If I had had my choice, I would have chosen to go to India, but the need at that time was for a teacher in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. A wonderful thing happened! I met and married a missionary nurse from the Philippines. So Nina and Andy have been blessed with a wonderful family.

My parents had trained to go to the Congo in the medical and educational field. They did their missionary work in Killeen. Recently I was going through books that my parents had treasured. One of the books was The Christ of the Indian Road. This book by a  pioneer missionary in India was translated into 30 languages. My parents received many letters from India as well as from Africa and China. The prayers and letters from India had an influence on my growing years.

Sarawak resulted in seven terms of service. God’s time is not the same as our time.

Reflection on God’s grace leads us to follow directions in amazing ways.

Prayer:

⁴ Jesus had to go through Samaria. ⁵ He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph.⁶ Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon.⁷ A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me   some water to drink.” ⁸ His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food.⁹ The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each     other.) ¹⁰ Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water.”

 John 4:3-10

The story of the woman at the well teaches us that God loves us in spite of our bankrupt lives. God values us enough to actively seek us, to welcome us to intimacy, and to     rejoice in our worship. As a result of Jesus’ conversation, only a person like the         Samaritan woman, an outcast from her own people, could understand what this means. To be wanted, to be cared for when no one, not even herself, could see anything of    value in her–this is GRACE.

Take some time today to think how you personally can share his grace with others as well as your testimony about Jesus and teach others to believe in Him .

^“2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet Him. ¹² The demons begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.’ ¹³ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. . .¹⁹ Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. . .’ ²⁰ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.”

Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man

What an amazing story! Every time I read and study this passage I am time and again brought back to a true understanding of just how powerful our Lord is and the authority he holds over all creation, to include Satan and his minions. This man, inhabited and controlled by demons too numerous to count, recognized immediately the power of Jesus and sought to sway Him from casting them out. Jesus would have none of it. At this point we see the group of demons having to ask Jesus for permission to depart the man. Jesus is in complete control from beginning to end! ! ! Finally, freed from the demons that had tormented him, the man asks if he can accompany Jesus, but Jesus says no, asking him instead to return to his family and friends to tell them what had happened and to preach the power and the gospel of the Lord our God!

Prayer:

Lord, when I feel as though I am being inhabited by demons and I fear the forces of evil, in others or in myself, I remember that You took on the demons and defeated them. In You I have a Savior against whom the devil is powerless. Help me to understand Your calling for me and what You would have me do to bring about Your Kingdom on Earth. Amen.

Contributed by Dave Hall

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

Psalm 32:5

During Lent, we often give up “things.” I usually give up carbohydrates because I need to! But like David as he struggled with his sin, I need to give up trying not to sin. I simply cannot do it. None of us can. I can think of lost opportunities and things I wish I hadn’t said. I feel so tremendously guilty and it hurts, just as David did in Psalm 32. With Easter, though, we have this amazing forgiveness that no human can ever extend to us.

Consider this Lenten season, giving up the fruitless measure of trying not to sin. It can’t be done on our own anyway. Look up to the Majesty of the Cross and the grace of Resurrection and keep your eyes focused there. The results will be better than you can ever imagine. His thoughts and plans for us are beyond anything imaginable! Many heartfelt blessings this beautiful Lenten season!

Prayer:

Father, Your beauty and forgiveness is beyond compare. I am constantly amazed at Your goodness and love for me. I don’t deserve it. Yet, you fulfill every need with Your steadfast love! Thank You for Jesus and His dying just for me. Thank You that You have chosen me to belong to You. Please forgive me of my sin. Please forgive anything in my life that keeps me from You. Thank You for my family, my friends, this awesome church, but mostly, thank You for You. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Contributed by Kerry Perez

”And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”

John 8:32

Truth

Winston Churchill: “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”

In 2016, the Oxford Dictionaries announced their 2016 Word of the Year:

Post-truth (adjective): Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.

The accompanying press release by the Oxford Dictionaries explained that, “rather than simply referring to the time after a specified situation or event—as in post-war or post-match—the prefix in post-truth has a meaning more like ‘belonging to a time in which the specified concept has become unimportant or irrelevant.’” A post-truth world, then, is not one in which the truth has ceased to exist; it is one in which it no longer matters.

I admit that I have some angst approaching this subject as it has political and secular overtones. But when I reflect on biblical direction regarding truth, I see a different interpretation of truth and what it means to us as Christians.

I believe that, as Christians, we are both obligated and directed to seek the truth in all things, both secular and spiritual. Most importantly, the truth that we seek and Christ refers to in John is not of this world and may not be revealed to us until we have reached a higher spiritual awareness.

In John 18:37, Jesus replied to Pilate, “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”

Prayer:

Holy God, may my thoughts and actions be directed toward Your Truth and not those of this world. In Your Son’s name, Amen.

Contributed by Mike Tuggle