Greetings in Christ,
Today, November 9, is Sofie Davis’ 101st birthday. Sofie is a member of First and we gave God thanks for her many years in worship yesterday and pray, if it pleases God, that she may have more years of blessings among us. As we celebrate Sofie’s birthday we are reminded of our own birthday. Each year as we observe the day on which we were born, let us be reminded of the gift of life that is given to us by our heavenly Father.
It is the purpose of God that we all know we are created in His image and are intended to be known and loved by Him. Our Father keeps His purpose for us in that His love never ends for us and He knows us perfectly in all aspects of our lives. For so great a love and mercy, we give God thanks, yet we know that not all lives are filled with the blessings God our Father desires for us. Nearly everyone faces some challenges to joy in their lives, some seem to have no end of pain, loss and sorrow.
It is easy to ask if we have a loving God as our Father, why do so many of His beloved children know pain and suffering? There are answers that attempt to explain why this is so, sadly most fall short of giving the peace and understanding we seek. As I live with the reality that our world still groans under the weight of sin and death, and that many, far too many, know the pain of sorrow and loss, I must remind myself that God our Father has promised that one day all this will not even be a memory, that the beauty and joy of His Kingdom will come in it’s fullness, and we shall all know the unending love of His presence.
Until that day, I hold close the words of the 23rd Psalm, fourth verse: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for Thou are with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
The presence of our loving Father be with you all today.