Posts from December 2023

Dear SCC & Friends, …An appointed time… ~Ecclesiastes 3:1 Reflection #199                  God never made a promise that was too good to be true. ~D.L. Moody~ His timing is one of the great mysteries of life. All too often, it is only in retrospect that we see the wisdom of God’s timing. The Lord is never too early or too late. What seems like a delay is only a delay to us but not to Him. There are no circumstances…

Dear SCC & Friends, Now it came about… ~Luke 2:1 Reflection #198 Two thousand years ago the Roman Empire was rife with political intrigue, ethnic tension, and immorality. Palestine was occupied under the crush of Rome. All eyes were on Augustus, the Caesar who demanded a census so as to determine a measurement to enlarge taxes. At that time, who noticed a couple making an eighty-mile trip south from Nazareth? What could possibly be more important than Caesar’s decisions in…

Dear SCC & Friends, Immanuel ~Isaiah 7:14 Reflection #197                  The name Immanuel is of Hebrew origin and means God with us. His name emphasizes that which is the center of the center which is our relationship to God… …I am with you always, even to the end of the age. ~Matt. 28:20 He came to seek and save the lost… He bore our sins and was wounded for our transgressions. He put His righteousness on us and took our…

Dear SCC & Friends, … Knocking… ~Matthew 7:7 Reflection #196                  Recent reflections have been about asking and seeking, and we’d be remiss to overlook the third part of the trifecta… knock and it shall be opened. All three, ask, seek and knock have a present tense dimension… Ask is continually asking, seek is continually seeking, and knock is continually knocking. Knocking is a physical action and spiritual metaphor that takes intentionality and persistence. Even when we ask and receive,…

Dear SCC & Friends, … Seek… ~Matthew 7:7 Reflection #195                  Ready or not here I come! Every child knows the excitement of playing hide and seek… the glee of finding the person who thought they had the perfect hiding place. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. ~Prov. 25:2 Seek and you shall find is more accurately translated continually seek, which calls for an ongoing…