Friday Coffee with PJ

Well ... time to pour a cup or two of your favorite coffee and join me for a few random thoughts.

1. I am discovering that as I get a bit older, my sleep patterns are changing. Some nights ... I sleep like a rock. Then there are other nights when I wake up way too early  ... and find it difficult to get back to dreamland! So ... if you have one of those sleep deprived nights, how can you best handle work the next day? Here's an interesting (and brief) video that will give you some great tips on how to cope at the office when your eyelids won't stay open!

2. This morning I saw a clip on the news of a huge tornado touching down near Chicago. Sure enough, a lot of damage was done. But thankfully, no loss of life reported! Then, once in the office, I checked my twitter feed and found the following quote of Paul Tripp: "God hasn't promised to shelter you FROM the storm, but he has guaranteed he'll be your shelter IN the storm until the storms are no more." This truth is one of the themes of the book of Psalms. In fact, the word "refuge" occurs over forty times throughout the book (Psalm 5:11; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 62:8; Psalm 118:9). So the next times a storm crashes into your life (and it will) .... flee to God. He will be your refuge!

3. Finally, my daughter told me that her son Jack played "preacher" the other day. He lined up some chairs ... then climbed up on the coffee table and "preached." He told this imaginary listeners that we are all sinners but that Jesus died for our sins. Yes! Even at the young age of five, my grandson is beginning to grasp the essence of the gospel message. And at the heart of the gospel is the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Praise God that HE so loved us rebels, that HE gave his one and only Son to die in our place on that cross some 2000 years ago! As a result we are enabled to place our eternal welfare upon a life we did not live (Jesus' perfect life) and a death we did not die (Jesus' death in which he paid the wage of sin ... not for himself as he had none ... but for us ... who have more than we will ever fully know). May you find joy in the gospel today ... and look for someone to share it with!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj