Good News
from Bob Pickering
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A resource you may want to try is Search the Bible at Crosswalk.com.
Good News
from Bob Pickering
Subscribe to Good News
A resource you may want to try is Search the Bible at Crosswalk.com.
March 29, 2010—New Beginnings
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
—Psalm 118 vs. 1)
5 In my anguish I cried to the Lord,
and he answered by setting me free.
(Psalm 118 vs. 5)
Often I awaken before sunrise and feel the need to share some good news. Frankly, it has not happened enough this year but today I am blessed and this afternoon the good Lord will bless me with a nap!
Times are certainly challenging as last week’s Good News Inventory pointed out. There were several of our good news buddies with challenges and heavy hearts. If you are reading this you are one that knows there is hope and that you will be a winner in the end.
Psalm 118 is one of my favorites because in my mind it says it all. This year the news has not been very good and it is often scary or depressing to read the paper or watch the news. My recommendation is don’t start the day that way. Start the day with a meditation, coffee with a friend (spouse?) or with some exercise. There may be other options, but those are mine. It will change your outlook.
This is the Easter/ Passover season and we are reminded of new beginnings. People of faith experience a heightened spirituality. New beginnings are a great experience. At our early service Sunday my friend George asked (it has a discussion time) “What if we let Jesus come into our life every morning?” What would life be like? Certainly it would be a new beginning.
Blessings to all of you for without you, I probably would not be here writing.
24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
—Psalm 118 vs. 24
Thought for the day: “This is the day…” so let’s go out and share it with someone. If possible share it with someone fighting a negative battle or with a heavy heart.
March 21, 2010—The Good Times?
“Then Jesus told his disciples... that they should always pray and not give up.”
(Luke 18:1)
There are always good times and bad times and they are relative terms. At a recent bible study the question was asked if anyone in the room ever had really bad financial times. We all thought the answer was yes. Well, after a brief discussion we changed our minds.
In one case a fellow had been divorced and certainly had some cash flow issues, feelings of loneliness and despair. However he kept a job, a relationship with his children and remarried and stayed that way for over 40 years.
Several others were raised on farms and lived in small communities in the mid-west and certainly experienced the highs and lows of farm life. In two cases the towns they where they grew up are now ghost towns. After the corporate farms bought out the family tract there was no town left-communities gone forever. However, none had ever gone a day without food or a family presence.
I guess we were all very blessed.
In today’s world there is something like ten million people out of work. I have friends who have gone from being executives to jobs well below their past positions; from six figure careers to hourly rated jobs. They feel slighted by society but recognize that they are blessed to have something.
There are several good news recipients that are upside down with their debts, some losing their homes and their lifelong equity. Their story is all too common in our new world economy. A lot of people’s dreams have crashed down and we fear for future generations.
In this environment the Christian church seems to grow. In troubled times the Lord is more visible than in good times as people reach out for His and our support. We need to be there for everyone who comes.
“The Lord said, ‘Call to me and I will come to you.’”
(Jeremiah 33:3)
Thought for the Day: Today let’s focus on being there for others. Not just those who seek us, let’s be approachable by all.
March 14, 2010— Who's Macro?
"Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David.
But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8
Your servant is here among the people you have chosen,
a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9
So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.
For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"
—1 Kings 3vs 7-10
Please do not take this Good News as a political piece but I am feeling a lot like my life is out of control. Not the daily issues but in computer terms it seems my macro is not what I would like. I guess I am looking for the land of milk and honey, the golden years or to live happily ever after. We are trained to look for that in all those books our mom’s read to us when we were growing up.
My mom just experienced her 93rd birthday (Praise be to God.) and she comments that growing old is not for the weak or faint of heart- and she’s doing great! In fact, if you live to be 90 plus you want to be like her- physically and mentally.
Well, another old time expression is “life begins at 40”. It may not seem like that as you approach that milestone but at 70 or 90 looking back it will feel that way. It is all a matter of perspective. Believe it or not, age 40 through 60 are most often the best years of our lives.
My macro issues are with what I call the new world economy and what I see happening in the world. I feel quite helpless. It seems that whoever I talk to feels the same way. We all want to end war, be at peace, reduce taxes and live happily ever after. That is the challenge.
The solution to my issue is that I need to focus on the correct Macro; the spirit of our Christian Faith as opposed to the Government macro. The politicians around the world certainly have changed things with the new world economy and making war over WMDs. They have not impacted the words of the Lord— The real Macro was written by Paul.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law ….Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5 vs. 22 & 24)
Thought for the Week: We need to focus on our daily lives for survival, there is no truer fact. With that said, this week let’s do what we need to do to survive but keep Paul’s letters and the word of our Lord in our daily lives. It will fit in if we let it.
February 27, 2010— Inventory
“…Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified;
do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
—Joshua 1v9
During this season through Easter we are reminded of new beginnings, new opportunities and that the Lord is with us. A message that is especially needed in challenging times. This morning I decided to write a kind of Good News Inventory. On our Good News list we have people who are both very successful and others who are fighting battles. In all cases they are accompanied my God.
Recently several of us at church were talking about a friend with a recent stage four cancer diagnosis. One member of the group said, “Now he will feel closer us (meaning his faith).” Often when we are having the tough times we are brought closer to our faith and when we are really concerned it is easy to reach out.
On the flip side there are many people on the list who have reasons to give thanks. June and I are in the Northeast experiencing a five day storm-but having a great family visit. One of our Good News mom’s watched her daughter win an Olympic gold and bronze medal. A lady recently found work after 15 months being idle. Praise be to God.
Here is my partial inventory:
We are moving toward Easter and of the promises of our Christian faith. Travelling through life’s many stages we are never alone. We are not guaranteed that life will be a smooth journey. It is normally bumpy ride. We are guaranteed a happy ending.
Thought for The Week: This week let us be aware of where we are on the high/low scale. When we feel low, let’s talk to someone about it and accept their support. When we are in an emotional high let’s remember to thank the Lord.
February 14, 2010— Sunday’s charge
“I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord”— Philippians 4:20
This week is the start of our Christian season when we prepare to reinforce our faith through the resurrection story of Easter. The next forty days and forty nights give us a chance to reflect on our spirituality and strengthen our beliefs. It is a time to reinforce our belief and share and strengthen our family values.
Let me confess that we in our family did not always go to church. (Sunday was a long training run and then clean the pool.) Also, there were many times when the kids were small, that church on Sunday was our only “quiet time”. That is not a very good reason for being there. Somehow, however, within our family unit there was always a trust and a spiritual presence that held us together.
Consider this analogy. If your car battery was dead this morning, you could put it on a charger and be able to get going. However, if your alternator was weak, your car would quit running in a few hours. Many of us use Sunday’s service as our time to charge our spiritual batteries. This is a good thing to do.
Families and individuals with strong spirituality tend to survive. It is possible to grow spiritually while meeting life’s challenges, develop deeper friendships and learn the value of love. Somehow we all need to carry Sunday’s charge throughout the week. I pray that “Good News” helps.
“And I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you have your roots and foundation in love.” (Ephesians 3:17).
Thought for the Week: Somehow we need to be sure that the weekly calendar does not overwhelm our spirituality. We cannot be too busy to love each other. We all know that is a formula for tragedy. This week, let us focus on positive interaction with our friends and families.
Prayer for the Week: Dear Lord and Father, our lives are full of distractions. Children’s activities, work projects, and many other issues get in the way of peace and love. Somehow, we just don’t have time. This week we pray for the presence of mind to focus on your endless love and include it in our daily lives.
Amen
February 6, 2010— Let the Glory Be God’s
Please excuse the repeat from last year. It has been a challenging week with food poisoning early in the week followed by June’s computer getting shut down by “scare ware”. With that said, it is one of my favorite subjects.
“Praise be to the Lord,
for He has heard my cry for Mercy.
The Lord is my strength and shield;
My heart trusts in Him and I am helped.”
—Psalm 28 vs. 6 & 7
The Super Bowl takes place this week and there are big numbers associated with it. Numbers like 150 million people watching on TV, 3 million dollars for a 30 second ad, 250 million added to the area economy— Oh yes, a number I do not have but tried to find; there are a number of competitors and coaches from both teams who will attend a prayer meeting and bible study Sunday before the game. They are members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
My sports history goes back to age six as a YMCA swimmer and my 60 plus years of associating with world class athletes has convinced me that they are, overall, not a group to be proud to know. For the most part, their years of competition and “winning is everything” attitude has influenced them in a negative manner. Frankly I don’t like them and avoid them.
The athletes that surprise me the most are the Olympians that I have been blessed to know. My brother Wayne and I competed against several that swam in the Rome Olympics 1960. My conclusion in regard to them is that they focused so much on their game that they did not develop very good social skills. For the record, that’s being very kind.
On Super Sunday there will be members of the “Fellowship” who have kept a balance in their life. In sports I find them a pleasing and great minority. They represent what I feel every Christian and person needs to be: The best they can be with an appreciation of the Lord and Jesus Christ. Below is the last paragraph of their competitor’s creed and a link to it on the internet.
“I give my all- all of the time.
I do not give up. I do not give in. I do not give out.
I am the Lord’s warrior- a competitor by conviction and a disciple of determination.
I am confident beyond reason because my confidence lies in Christ.
The results of my efforts must result in His glory.
Let the competition begin.
Let the glory be God’s.”
Thought for the Week: Let us enjoy the week by being the best we can be while keeping the Lord in the forefront.
Download the creed of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes PDF.
January 25, 2010— BUSYness
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”
—2 Timothy 4: 6 & 7
Those of you that have been Good News buddies for a while know that I relate closely with the many race analogies used by Paul in his letters. They are meaningful today because I have a sense that the events around the world have thrown us in to a high state of BUSYness. (Spell-check hates that word but I like it!). In Paul’s message above he is not talking about a marathon, a work week, getting to the children’s activities; it has nothing to do with our BUSYness. It has to do with keeping our faith peaked during the process of life.
This was triggered today because retired old Bob is too busy with fun stuff, business, helping others in need, increasing my exercise program and generally being Bob. For the second day in a row I woke up before the sun with activities and obligations pushing my spirituality from the forefront. I can tell when that happens because I am not at peace during the day and I generally start reading the newspaper with my coffee; back to my old ways.
In church Sunday too many of the people I greeted commented that they were extremely busy and that the holiday pressure never let down this year. Even my 93 year old mom commented on her BUSYness when I called her Saturday. She was baking and going to lunch with her sister and at 93 that’s busy. It seems everyone is competing and running a race for survival in the new economy; life is not the same as 2008. Being busy is not a bad thing but allowing the activities to push God into the background in our lives takes a long term toll.
Here is a story that impressed me yesterday. My business associate and Good News buddy has five children and one was in a basketball tournament this weekend. The dreaded event occurred; he made it to the championship game on Sunday morning- OOPs there goes the Lord into the back seat. NO, that is not the story. The game was 40 miles away, it was a Minnesota winter day with freezing rain (June and I had trouble going three miles to church.). This family left several hours early and attended mass in the tournament city before the game. They took the time to recharge their spiritual batteries when they could. That’s a story worth telling and a family with great priorities.
Thought for the Day: In a counter to Paul’s message about the race, I also read the following from the 23rd Psalm: “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Take a prayer break today and every day.
January 18, 2010— Never Give Up and Abe
“Then Jesus told his disciples... that they should always pray and not give up.”
—(Luke 18:1)
The world is experiencing a global crises in many ways. Our loss of confidence in our basic systems of life, finance, business, education and others are a distraction to our faith. It is hard to focus and meditate when we are busy fighting for our success. Feeding the family, pleasing the boss (if you still have one) and maintaining life’s necessities take up our days. We are under stress and confused. We need to continue to keep practicing our faith.
The above paragraph was written over a year ago and my thoughts were on America and the world at that time. This week we are distracted by two major events- football playoffs and a great disaster in Haiti. Since I am a transported New Englander I want to forget the playoffs apply Luke 18 to Haiti with the following story.
Sunday morning I awoke earlier than usual and decided to watch CNN while having my morning coffee. Of course they were broadcasting live from Port au Prince; but not viewing a disaster. They were showing a group of men building an alter out of rubble. They had piled some stones, pieces of a wall, and a bunch of old boards to make a platform about three feet high- High enough for the crowd to see the priest. This rubble alter was in the street in front of the ruined and burned cathedral- this was a place of worship and prayer.
Yes, with the scent of death, with lost loved ones and family, in all that tragedy, it was a time for the Lord. The cameras panned out and there were thousands waiting for something great to happen; and it did. There was a mass, there were prayers for the living, the dead, the injured and the rescue workers- it was a truly spiritual event. There were a lot of tears shared around the world as well as a lot of hope.
“Then Jesus told his disciples... that they should always pray and not give up.”
This was a three day weekend celebrating Martin Luther King day. The message in Luke applies to minorities around the world and all who are persecuted. On Saturday, I read about Abe Lincoln’s first trip south, to New Orleans in May of 1831 at 22 years of age. On that trip he observed a slave auction for the first time; from young girls to heads of families all being sold in chains. Lincoln is quoted as saying, “Boys, let’s get away from this. If I ever get a chance to hit that thing (meaning slavery) I will hit it hard.” Well he was a man of his word and one to be respected.
Here is one of my favorite Lincoln quotes. “Who shall say I am the superior and you are the inferior”?
—(From Thomas Freiling’s “Spiritual Strength from America’s Favorite President; Walking with Lincoln).
Yes, even in our world of relative successes we need to keep our faith so we can maintain hope.
Thought for The Day: Practice leaning on God with more confidence. Life will be good.
Prayer For The Week: Dear Lord, we are all having busy times. Help us take the time to pray for confidence in understanding your will; help in letting go of things out of our control, to reduce our stress; help in finding the time to be with and help the sick; and of course help in sharing our love of you with our families. Let us find the confidence to work with you in all areas of our lives. Amen
January 11, 2010— Confidence
For you are my hope;
O Lord God, you are my trust…
And the source of my confidence.”
—Psalm 71:5
Folks, we are starting a new year and for once I did not make any New Year’s resolutions. That means I have decided to accept my faults! In the past mine involved weight and fitness and statistically that made me average. But after the two triathlons this summer neither weight nor fitness seemed important for 2010. There will be more events in 2010 but there is no resolve required, just insanity.
An issue deal with this year is trust; the economy is changing, there is war in the mid-east, terror seems rampant and there seem to be global changes that we have not experienced in the past. All of that has affected the trust and confidence that we have in the world around us.
The Psalmist above gives us a strong message for the new year and clearly demonstrates that through our faith we can find confidence and trust. The newspapers, the TV journalists and media all want to sell us on negativity. They are after ratings and for whatever reason they think focusing on the negative is the way to sell their time. That is not a good service to the world. Ok, we do read the news but we also need to read the good news of Jesus to balance the books. His good news can overcome all the news media’s negativity.
Also in Psalm 71 the following statements on good news are written:
But as for me I will always have hope
—Psalm 72-14
and
You will increase my honor
And comfort me once again
—Psalm 71-21
You can see that the good news needs to be our resolution for the next year. Through the good news of Jesus Christ we will all have a better life and live in a better world.
Thought for the Week: Happy New Year to all. It will be as we grow in confidence and trust in those around us. It will be when we share the good news to those around us. It will be as we grow together in our faith.
Prayer for the Week: Dear Lord and Father, we are coming to the end of a year and are faced with the opportunities that present themselves each January 1st. As always we want to do better in every way. This year we pray that we can discover the spiritual maturity and growth to be better at being a disciple and worker for You. We pray that we may find a clear vision of what we can do for you.
Amen
January 2, 2010— Happy New Year!
I am a day late because I wanted to change my annual Good News Message after nine years— but I just can’t let the traditional one go. June has always told me that I am way too set in my ways. That is a blessing that comes with age.
Below is a three part good news that I wanted to send that will be followed by my traditional message— two in one day!
Happy New Year to you all and thank you for being my friends.
Bob Pickering
The following is an Abraham Lincoln quote that shows that the more we change the more we stay the same.
“We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety beclouds our future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read.”— That could have been written this week!
The next quote is credited to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. It would be a great News Years resolution or at least our
Thought for the Week:
Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.
—John Wesley
And finally the prayer that I use for survival, authored by Reinhold Niebuhr and used by AA and most other twelve step programs.
Prayer for the Week and all of 2010:
Heavenly Father as this New Year begins please hear our prayer for serenity:
“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Hear this for all the worlds people so that your love and peace may dominate this New Year.
Amen
This is my traditional New Year’s message.
“Not that I have already obtained all this,
or have already been made perfect,
but I press on to take hold of that
for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
—(Phillipiens3:12-14; NIV)
Happy New Year. For the next few weeks the athletic clubs will be filled with “New Years resolutionists.” Diet programs will come and go, self improvement books will be purchased or at least the dust will be blown from last year’s cover! Does that sound familiar? Yes, we all have had a few resolutions fall by the wayside.
I do not know if Paul wrote the above on New Year’s Eve but it is appropriate. Many of us have new goals today: weight, fitness, financial goals etc. Paul is asking us to look at our spiritual goals. “...Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize...” Hold that thought as you proceed through the New Year.
Thought for Today: Let us look ahead rather than behind. Let us look ahead at the opportunities in our lives. This year let us practice Christian ethics and life style in all phases of our lives and by all means share our faith with others.
Prayer for the Week: Heavenly Father as this New Year begins please hear our prayer for serenity:
“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Hear this for all the worlds people so that your love and peace may dominate this New Year.
Amen
.
