Pastor Bob

The life of Joshua shows us what a person can do if he or she will commit his or her life to God with no restrictions. Joshua was tasked with choosing and leading an army against the seasoned Amalekites. The problem was that he only had one night to pull an army together. No time for training or to make more weapons. They had to go with what they had. 

The day of the battle occurred and Joshua went against the superior Amalekites. Moses was up on the hill with Aaron and Hur. He held  his arms out toward the battle until he couldn’t hold up his arms anymore. Then Aaron and Hur helped Moses hold his arms up. Joshua won the battle that day because he was an obedient servant and did what he could even though he wasn’t trained to do it. That took courage and trust in God. Read the story in Exodus 17:8-16. Pastor Bob

(Note: Read part one first) I was fortunate to have someone to show me the ropes when I performed my first car wash. Imagine the challenge that Joshua must have faced in Exodus 17:8 when Moses assigned him the task of picking an army overnight. Israel didn’t have an army to fight the Amalekites and Joshua wasn’t a soldier. The children of Israel didn’t even have many weapons because the Egyptians would have frowned on them having weapons.

So Joshua was obedient and courageous when he chose the army out of his limited resources. I was being silly when I spoke about the difficulty of doing something new like washing your car but for Joshua this was serious stuff. He obeyed, stepped out in faith, and God blessed.

Let God help you this day to step out and do the hard stuff that intimidates you. God will help you. Pastor Bob  

In the last few weeks, I have experienced something I haven’t done in decades…going to a self-car wash. You should be proud, I have now washed my wife’s car twice and my truck once. It has been quite an experience. (For you experienced car washers, try not to laugh too loud.) The first time I entered the car wash, I was fortunate to have my son-in-law with me. He taught me car wash etiquette. Number one on the list is to make sure you do not cut in line and face your car the correct way. Easy you say. But there were multiple lines and different feats that could be performed on your car. Of course car washing was the number one draw but then there was vacuuming. Vacuuming opens a whole can of worms. Should you vacuum before or after you wash your car? There are different lines for each. What about wiping down your car after you wash it? What do you use? There are so many choices.

Once you are in the car wash, there are so many new problems with which to deal. How do you pay for it? After help from my son-in-law, I deposited a five dollar bill in the machine. Now what? Do you pre-soak, wash, or use the brush thing? To shorten the story I washed, rinsed, and waxed in about 5 minutes leaving a small fortune for the next guy. And by the way, the drive home did just fine drying off the car.

The first car wash was in Tennessee. Yesterday was in New Jersey on a Saturday (The first nice day in about 4 months). The first time I went to this place I learned the ropes about getting change and how to work the machine. This did not prepare me for Saturday. The pros were out. This was like a car wash tournament. I knew I was in trouble when the guy in front of me drove a Ford Mustang. Mustang owners…well let’s just say they are proud of their cars. When he finally got up to bat or should I say wash, I watched as he took the brush and soaped the car. He must have had $100 because this wasn’t Tennessee. All around proud owners of their rides soaped, presoaked, washed, rinsed, waxed, dried, vacuumed, and things I don’t understand yet. I even saw this colorful soap. What is that?

Finally my turn came up. I only had $4.00. So when I turned the thing on, I washed, rinsed, and waxed with $4.00 and time to spare. I jumped in my car and drove off to the disapproving looks from the pros. My technique was wrong, but I didn’t care. (More to come next time) Pastor Bob

What a winter it has been!!! One of the worst on record. We have had over 17 storms come through New Jersey and over 5 feet of snow that never goes away because it is so coooold. (Read that last statement out loud with plenty of emotion) But the joy of the Lord is in my heart and that makes me sunny on the inside. I’m not looking at the mountains of challenges ahead but at the molehills of daily living that God helps me through. These challenges look small through God’s eyes.

So keep a God-perspective and let God help you each day. Got to go. See you. Pastor Bob

Everyday is another chance to grow as an individual but…. we have to be willing to change. Change can be painful because we have to look at ourselves and quite frankly sometimes we what we see isn’t pretty. 

Today I was gazing at my life. I try to read the Bible daily of course but I read many other books because they can help me as well. J. Oswald Sanders has a wonderful book called Spiritual Leadership. Today in chapter 8 he peeled back the veneer of my life and exposed my weaknesses. One statement says, ” Many who drop out of ministry are sufficiently gifted, but have large areas of life floating free from the Holy Spirit’s control. Lazy and disorganized people never rise to true leadership.” (52) Ouch!! This makes me ask, “Lord am I undisciplined.” How can I improve.

 The thing that I discovered is that you may be disciplined next to everyone around you but are you doing all that God wanted you to do? That is a question that all of us need to allow God to answer for us. 

Have a great day. Pastor Bob

Recently, I have thought a great deal about why I am a Christian. Is it because I was raised in a Christian home? Definitely not!!! Was it because I had some great role model that convinced me that Jesus was the way? Not really. I wish I had had the advantage of living in a vibrant, loving, Christian home that provided guidance for me. But that didn’t happen. But somehow in the midst of my lostness, God found me. It didn’t happen overnight. I remember at age 13 somehow realizing that God was real. But it wasn’t until college that I found Jesus. Actually, He found me. I was the one that was lost.

In high school I attended church at the protestant services on the Air Force Base. I knew about Jesus but no one, I mean, no one told me that you must be born again. No one talked about a personal relationship with Jesus. I take that back, I did attend a Billy Graham gathering once to watch a movie, but it wasn’t until my junior year in college that I  accepted Jesus.

In Exodus 3, we read the story of the call of Moses. Moses was a reluctant leader. His first question to God was “Who am I?” Moses was asking the wrong question. “Who am I?” is about one’s talents and abilities. It focuses on skill and accomplishments that you have added to your list of things that make up you. The problem is that the question focuses only on what you can do and basically your limitations.

When you are trying to accomplish something “God-sized” you are never enough. The question for Moses should have been, “Whose am I?” This is a question of ownership. Who is your master? If the answer is you then you have big problems when you are trying to tackle a “God-sized” project. But if you belong to Jesus, then you are not limited by your abilities but enabled by God’s infinite resources and abilities. 

I understand the emphasize about finding out your talent and abilities so you can find out what field is best suited to your giftings. However, the more important question to answer is “Whose are you?” God bless you in your endeavors. 

It is so easy to become wrapped up in gift giving that we forget the greatest gift of all, God the Father sending His son to us. Take time this year to be thankful for God’s gift. Take time to be thankful for the opportunity we have in this country to share the gospel with others because many do not have the same freedom. I look forward to time spend this Christmas with friends and family. So much for which to be thankful. God bless you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Pastor Bob