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At Home With Jesus

April 17, 2017

I go and prepare a place for you. John 14:3

“There’s no place like home.” The phrase reflects a deeply rooted yearning within us to have a place to rest, be, and belong. Jesus addressed this desire for rootedness when, after He and His friends had their last supper together, He spoke about His impending death and resurrection. He promised that although He would go away, He would come back for them. And He would prepare a room for them. A dwelling-place. A home.

He made this place for them—and us—through fulfilling the requirements of God’s law when He died on the cross as the sinless man. He assured His disciples that if He went to the trouble of creating this home, that of course He would come back for them and not leave them alone. They didn’t need to fear or be worried about their lives, whether on earth or in heaven.

We can take comfort and assurance from Jesus’s words, for we believe and trust that He makes a home for us; that He makes His home within us (see John 14:23); and that He has gone ahead of us to prepare our heavenly home. Whatever sort of physical place we live in, we belong with Jesus, upheld by His love and surrounded in His peace. With Him, there’s no place like home.

Lord Jesus Christ, if and when we feel homeless, remind us that You are our home. May we share this sense of belonging with those we meet.

Jesus prepares a place for us to live forever.

INSIGHT:

This imagery of a prepared place in the Father’s house also brought comfort to Israel’s shepherd-king, David, who sang, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps. 23:6). Like Jesus’s words in John 14, David’s words carry both a present reality and a future hope. The present reality of a life resting in the goodness and lovingkindness of the Father is directly linked to trusting Jesus in life’s storms (John 14:1). And the forever promise of a place in the house of the Lord is there to offer us hope when despair might become overwhelming. This is the rich sense of home that can be so wonderful. We will never fully and completely know the peace we long for until we find ourselves at peace in Him.

Are there situations in your life that make the reminder of God’s presence particularly comforting? Thank God for His goodness and loving-kindness.

Adapted from Discovery Series booklet Finding Peace in a Troubled World. Read it at discoveryseries.org/q1126.

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Enjoy the View

April 18, 2017

Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Psalm 148:3

Sunsets. People tend to stop what they are doing to watch them . . . snap pictures of them . . . enjoy the beautiful view.

My wife and I watched the sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico recently. A crowd of people surrounded us, mostly strangers who had gathered at the beach to watch this nightly phenomenon. At the moment the sun fully slipped below the horizon, the crowd broke out with applause.

Why do people respond like that? The book of Psalms offers a clue. The psalmist wrote of God ordering the sun to praise its Creator (Ps. 148:3). And wherever the rays of the sun shine across the earth, people are moved to praise along with them.

The beauty that comes to us through nature speaks to our souls like few things do. It not only has the capacity to stop us in our tracks and captivate our attention, it also has the power to turn our focus to the Maker of beauty itself.

The wonder of God’s vast creation can cause us to pause and remember what’s truly important. Ultimately, it reminds us that there is a Creator behind the stunning entrance and exit of the day, One who so loved the world He made that He entered it in order to redeem and restore it.

I enjoy the world You have created with its variety and color. You and what You have made are awesome, Lord!

Our Daily Bread welcomes writer Jeff Olson! Meet Jeff and all our authors at odb.org/all-authors.

Join God in taking delight in all that He has made.

INSIGHT:

The heavens and the skies testify to the existence, power, greatness, and wisdom of our Creator. Nature praises and proclaims the majesty of God. If creation is so delightful, our Creator must be even more captivating, truly deserving our adoration and worship. The apostle Paul too affirmed that God has revealed Himself through His creation: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Rom. 1:20). Even as we enjoy the beauty of creation, let’s worship its Creator.

This week, why not take time to visit a garden or a park—to see the beauty of creation, to smell the flowers, and to see the God who created all things beautiful.

The supply rocket speeding to the Space Station 4-18-17

I'm Grateful for this earthly home of ours!
Happy GratiTuesday

Amen

Happy GratiTuesday To Amy's Place

I'm So Grateful For My Many Blessings
Among Them Are Amy's Place And FRiends

Happy Gratituesday!

I am grateful for this.

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

Happy Tuesday, FRiends. Do you remember me? :

I have been busy on a genealogy project.
I had hoped to have it finished by Easter. Bah ..... I didn't make it.
Family members must wait for their copies.
If I continue working on the books, I should have them ready by May 1st.

The older I get, the more important some of these projects get.

Still working on the garage and the closets. Why have I ignored it for so long?

Thank you all for being here keeping the doors open and the coffee ready.
I appreciate you. I love your posts.

Have a beautiful day.

Hi there! Yes we remember you. LOL.

Very springy here, feels like it’s 70 degrees

out there today.

Pretty butterflies! Nice contrast with the red poppies. I think I saw a juvenile Bald Eagle again today. I didn’t know until recently that the young ones, under 3 years old, do not have a white head. They are mostly brown all over the body. This is the second time I have seen him flying on my property. He is huge. At first one could mistake him for a turkey vulture, but the head and neck are different. I looked it up the first time I spotted him, and to my surprise, he is an eagle. Lovely and magnificent to watch. He flew away too quickly today. He was enjoying the windy day and went with the wind current.

Cheers!

We’ve been having showers. The temps have been warm mostly.

I spent yesterday sleeping; had to give my body and brain a day to rest.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter. We spent the day at a niece’s house.

I’ve been tired lately too. A few naps even. I went to see a friend near Milwaukee for Easter Sunday. She is recently widowed and I knew I should spend the day with her.
It was a wonderful day with my best friend.

Cheers!

“I have been busy on a genealogy project.
I had hoped to have it finished by Easter. Bah ..... I didn’t make it. “

I have 2 close friends doing this right now. One thing I have learned....It’s NEVER finished! LOL

Good to see ya!