Friday Coffee with PJ

Friday. Coffee. Blog post. Thanks for stopping by! As you enjoy a cup of your favorite morning brew, here are a couple of random thoughts that I hope you will find helpful as you seek to walk with God. 

1.  My apologies for not being present last Friday with a post. I was out of the office enjoying a week of vacation time. Even though my wife and I did not venture far from home, we did enjoy some time away. Last Friday morning we left home for Arneytown, NJ (15 miles southeast of Trenton, NJ). What is in Arneytown, you might be wondering? Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery.  This is the veterans cemetery where my wife's father was buried when he died in August of 1994. Sharon's mom was buried there in October of 2016. My wife wanted to see the grave site with its new grave marker which included her mom's name. As we stood over their graves, we watered their grave as we recalled their lives. At some point during those moments, I happened to look at the adjacent grave. "Ah, Pete was buried next to another Polish-American! And he died the same day that Pete died - August 15 1994." I then turned back and looked at Pete's and Bessie's plaque. In seconds I noticed a glaring mistake. Instead of listing Pete's date of death as Aug 15 1994, the plaque read, "Jan 15 1994!" I quickly pointed out the mistake to Sharon. So on our way out of the cemetery, we 

stopped by the administrative office. After explaining the situation, one of the office workers pulled the paper work. The correct date was there. But at some time during the ordering process, the date was changed to January 15th! The woman apologized and assured us that a new plaque would be in place within a month or so. Content that the error would be fixed, we departed for our next stop. 

Now as you can imagine, we were very surprised that this mistake had been made. We could have gone in to the cemetery office all bent out of shape, griping and complaining about the mistake. But we did not. You see, we know ourselves too well. We understand what Alexander Pope, an 18th century British poet wrote in his day is still true to this day ... "to err is human." We as humans make our share of mistakes! But the second half of Pope's oft quoted statement reads, "But to forgive, divine." You see, what he was getting at here is that when we forgive others we are acting like God. Indeed, God in Christ has forgiven those of us who have come to him on his terms ... repenting of our sins and believing the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:15). And so when we are gracious to others, forgiving those who don't deserve our forgiveness, we are acting like God! So let me ask you . . . is there someone(s) in your life against whom you carry a grudge? Whom you refuse to forgive? I encourage you to pull open a Bible (print or digital) and turn to the story Jesus tells in Matthew 18:21-35. Then ask God to work in your heart to enable you to do the hard thing ... answer Jesus' call to forgive! 

2. Philadelphia is looking like a championship city this year. First it was the Eagles winning the Super Bowl. Then Villanova winning the NCAA basketball national championship. At present the Flyers are in the National Hockey League playoffs (although not playing so well against the mighty Penguins of Pittsburgh) AND the 76ers look to have a legitimate shot at the National Basketball Association title. Could the Phillies make a run at the World Series? Hmm. That might be too much of a reach! 

People in Philly are feeling good about their hometown. And those from the outside looking in understand why. They would also be feeling good if their hometown teams were winning! 

We as Christians have a home. But our hometown is not Philadelphia (or in my case, Lancaster ... or in your case whatever your zip code happens to be). As followers of Jesus we will one day follow him to our true home - the eternal heaven. And we can find great encouragement in the midst of all the turbulence and trouble of this life knowing that our "hometown team" is winning! God is on his throne. And one day Jesus Christ will return to this earth and make every wrong right (see the final four chapters of the Bible's last book, Revelation). 

So the next time you get discouraged about what is unfolding all around you, stop and remind yourself of the words of the hymn penned by Isaac Watts, 

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun

does its successive journeys run,

his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,

till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Thanks for stopping by . . . 
pj