Wednesday, October 19, 2022

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  This past week has been filled with many reunion moments.  First, a Priest friend from India, that I hadn’t seen in four years, reached out to me and we were able to share dinner.  Second, while traveling, Brian and I were able to visit and have dinner with an Emmaus friend, that we haven’t seen in eight years.  Third, we had dinner with one of Brian’s Navy buddies, that he hadn’t seen in 24 years.  And finally, I was able to reconnect with a group of Air Force buddies that I hadn’t seen in 33 years.  I would guess a person doesn’t normally reconnect with this many people in a year, let along a week.  I remember thinking to my self at one point last Saturday…”Am I going to die?  Is that why I’m seeing so many old friends?”  I pretty quickly answered myself…”Nope, He still has more work for me to do.”  What specifically that is, I don’t really know.  But I do know that He has commissioned  you and I to share Him with others at all times.

A common theme that multiple people stated to me during these reunion moments were…”I needed this.”  I needed to talk with someone.”  “Thank you for talking with me.”  The way I interpreted the commonalities was that each of these friends felt safe and comfortable sharing their feelings, pain, struggles, etc. with me because they could sense God’s peace and presence.

After hearing the first and second readings at Mass Sunday, I thought…”Both of these readings kind of help explain these God moment connections that I’ve been experiencing this week.”  The first reading was Exodus 17:8-13 and the second was 2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:2. 

Exodus 17:8-13

“In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.  Moses therefor said to Joshua, “Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur.  As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.  Moses’ hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.  And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.”

2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:2

“Beloved: Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.”

Daily, we need to be engaged in God’s word and teachings, so that we not only have the knowledge, but also the wisdom we need at the exact moment to help and support friends in their trials.  Think about it for a moment.  Do you think Joshua would have willingly just jumped into a fight like that without knowing that he had backing from his friend and the Lord.  His friend was persistently praying over him as Joshua engaged the enemy.  And then when Moses grew tired, additional faithful members of their community stepped up to literally give Moses a hand of support.  Many times we think we are able to make it through these battles alone, but we can’t.  Look around you.  God has placed a community of faithful believers around you, for you to lean on.  Now is the perfect time to reach out to them.  Don’t worry, I’m sure God has been talking with and preparing them, as He had spoken with and prepared Moses for Joshua’s time of need. 

Trust in His promise that He will do what is best for you and quit fighting Him so that He can actually give you what He is promising. He can only be as close as you allow Him to be.

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

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