Pastor’s Message for February 2023

     Before the time when everyone had a cell phone or automatic maps loaded into their cars, I delivered pizzas. The more I delivered those pizzas, the more I began to know the delivery area so that I could find any house in town easily. Sometimes a house wasn’t easy to find. You’d be surprised how many people don’t have numbers that are visible on their house at night. Sometimes I had to guess which house was the right one.

     Most of the time I was right, because I knew the territory. It served me well when I became the store’s manager, because I could tell the new drivers how to find where they were going before they left the store. (If I could offer a word of advice in this letter: if you’re ever lost in a town you’re not familiar with, don’t go to the gas station or the post office for directions. Find a pizza shop that delivers. They’ll be able to tell you how to get where you’re going, what the house looks like, if there’s a dog in the yard, and whether that person tips or not.) The more I knew the delivery area, the more my drivers could trust me to lead them in the right direction.

     That’s why it’s so important that Jesus has walked this life before us. In Jesus, we have one who can lead us in the right direction. Jesus shows us how to get to where we need to be in life. By following him, we become closer to God the Father. Every time we follow Jesus we find that Jesus always gives us the right direction and never steers us wrong. We can trust Jesus with every issue in our lives, knowing that he will not leave us on our own. We can even share with Jesus our fears, our temptations, our doubts and our sins. When we do, we will find that no matter how lost we are Jesus is always there to bring us back home.

     What is also very comforting is that Jesus has even experienced death. Why is that comforting? Well, for one, he rose from the dead. He proved that his power is superior to the power of death. So why should we fear death? But also, we can know that even when we die, Jesus has experienced that with us and will be there to lead us through. To paraphrase what the psalmist said, “Even though I walk through death’s shadow, I’m not afraid because I know that Jesus is with me!”

God loves you, and so do I,
Pastor Jim