Chaplain Rob

Stay the Course (and let go)

Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.——James 1:3-6

I have always had trust issues. When in the depths of despair with my anxiety overtaking me, more times than I wish to admit, I’ve relied on myself. Like James 1:6 states, I became a person “who doubts [and] is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” I saw myself being in control as more important than trusting God because I thought I knew what was best for me. For a while, it seemed okay. Nothing Earth-shattering happened. I continued to live my life, but loneliness and anxiety slowly crept in.

Anxiety for me doesn’t happen at once. It’s like a barely-dripping faucet. “Was that the right decision?” Drip. “Why did I do that?” Drip. “Where should I go from here?” Drip. “Am I doing the right thing?” Drip. And eventually, those tiny, questioning thoughts lead to one big panic attack. The foundation I built upon myself completely unravels, and I, too, feel like I am tossed by the wind.

Nothing is worse than feeling alone when you are full of insecurity and doubt. During one of my quiet times, I began reading James and discovered the verse mentioned above. What this verse shows me is that I have to stay faithful because when I take over and believe my way is correct, that is when the foundation breaks, and I am left more anxious and alone than if I stayed steadfast in him. The timing and the plan may be different than what I want but God is in control.


Once I relinquished control, I realized how free I could be. I didn’t have to let so many anxious “drops” constantly invade my mind (even though sometimes I still sneak a few in there every now and then). Above all else, it wasn’t as lonely. I can rely on someone I know will never fail me and always has my best interests at heart. He makes me stronger, and I can persevere through the hard times because those are the ones that grow my relationship in Him.

As many of us struggle with control, anxiety, and loneliness during this season, we need to stay faithful. I know it can be hard. I know sometimes all we want is normalcy. I know sometimes we think our plan is better, and we’re going to want to disregard precautions. I know some might not see an end in sight. But we need to remember our God is good and he has a plan. By continuing to build our foundation in Him, we can grow towards a place of less doubt and anxiety and remain faithful. For Ecclesiastes 3:11 states, “He makes everything beautiful in its time.”

PRAYER

God,
You know my struggles, and you know my fears. Sometimes, I let anxiety and doubt overrule my judgment but I am grateful you give generously to all without finding fault. During this season, Lord, please help me to continue building my foundation in you and understanding that you have a plan. Through you, I am never lonely, never shaken, and I am strong. Trust is hard to give, but I know that trusting in you is the greatest reward.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

Blessings,

Chaplain Rob

Pastor Barry

Devotional for this week

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things….”
2 Corinthians 5:7 “Walk by faith…..”

We as both citizens of the USA and “citizens” of the world have a “ways to go” before we are clear of this pandemic and on more solid economic ground. For many, they are literally passing through the valley of the shadow of death. We are moving toward an uncertain future at an uncertain speed. We are walking not running. And we walk by faith not by seeing.

I noted today is the anniversary of opening the great Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It was open only to pedestrians that May 27, 1937 with vehicular traffic commencing the next day.
To walk it required crossing a 4,200 foot main span. The world renowned bridge is one of the most visited sites in the world. An engineering feat for its time and a dazzling view of land, water, and sky ever since. But it does feel like a “long way across” when you start out whether by foot or by vehicle! Still….it will get you across the bay!

For us today, to get to some future better than where we are at present many types of “bridges” will be needed. For the Christ Follower we know Him as our ultimate Bridge not only to God’s future but also to experience the presence of the Kingdom of God in our midst! So, we walk and so we find strength to walk. And we are supported as we walk. Underneath the Bridge the Solid Rock holds.

I’ve mixed some Bible images, but I hope you get a sense of both the confidence of making our life journey forward and across with the exhilaration at times of the wonder of the things we see and do and feel as we find our way in a rough and troubled world!
Blessings each day of your walk! Trust our Bridge!

Pastor Barry

Pastor Barry

Back To The Future

Psalm 68:1-10, Acts 1:6-14 and I Peter 5:6-11

The movie Back To The Future opened in 1985 and has been watched by many ever since. A 17 year old gets time traveled back to the Fifties and he meets his parents before they were married! An adventure-comedy to say the least!

This Sunday’s worship themes include past, present, and future scenes of God’s work from beginning to end of all time. We will time travel! And we will celebrate the Ascension of Jesus who now dwells fully with the heavenly glory of God the Father. We will remember our wonderful heritage as congregations founded in the frontier 1800s. We will remember those who served our nation well on another Memorial Day weekend.

In the present, we do these celebrations and remembrances and we do it with full confidence that the future is in God’s hands regardless of our struggles and troubles.

Blessings,

Pastor Barry

Pastor Barry

Healers and Helpers

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, healers, helpers…..I Corinthians 12:28

I have my list of stresses and you have one also. Many of the stressors now come from the coronavirus pandemic. Other issues may appear that are unrelated to masks, social distancing, hygiene, and staying home! Issues that might come up in any time in life, e.g. financial stress, employment challenges, interpersonal relationship struggles, health changes. What’s a person of faith to do when the going gets tough?

Reach out. Look for “healers and helpers.” And in some instances, trained professionals in counseling and therapy should be contacted. To that end, let me offer some resources that help and do so in confidentiality and privacy.

If stress or other factors are leading to undue anxiety or deepening depression or that range of emotions from sad to mad, and any are affecting family, work, or faith, consider seeking help. And it might not be you under duress but it could be a family member, friend or coworker.

I can recommend Insight Counseling Center which is located in offices in First Baptist Murfreesboro, as I have benefitted from a pastoral counselor there. I personally know two therapists in Nashville who are available if one wanted to have even more privacy outside our community. And all three are currently providing on line or phone counseling.

Feel free to contact me for counsel, for information on any of the above or other possible resources. Look for the “healers and helpers.” They are there! And don’t forget: you can be a helper and healer to someone else as well! Lending an ear and then perhaps pointing in a direction for further help.

If you have any joys or concerns please email them to me at pastor-barry@kedronumc.org

Please remember your tithes and offerings. They can be sent to Naomi Lee.

We will live stream on Sunday at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Blessings in these unusual times!

Pastor Barry

Pastor Barry

How to Witness!

Acts 17:16-34, I Peter 3:13-22 and John 14:15-21

If you are like me and a host of others, your witness, your being a Christian before others is more deed than words. We try to live out the stories of God’s work in Christ in our daily walk with others.

For the most part, we interact with other believers although of different paths of expressing the common faith. Different styles of worship are found in our multiple denominations and differences in practice can also be found. Still we are likely to be in the midst of Christians of some conviction and practice.

Our Acts text is almost unimaginable for most of us in that Paul is in ancient Athens with a “sea” of different philosophies, religions, and unfamiliar spiritual practices. He sets out to witness in all that and he tells the story of Jesus resurrected. And what God is revealing now!

We today are in a different time and place with the need to demonstrate not just Christian compassion but also tell the stories of Jesus to those who are living out of a lot of very different ways of “seeing” the world. In other words, how do we witness in 2020, in the midst of a global crisis of health and economy?! What ultimately gives us hope and a motivation to help others?

We’re not unlike the early American explorers Lewis and Clark, who we are reminded, set out on May 14, 1804, to explore the unknown Northwest part of the USA. More to the point, how exciting it must have been to hear of their discoveries when they returned to share with those already settled in the Eastern USA! They described much that was new whether landscape, animals, natural resources or possibilities for an expanding nation.

We are about something similar in that we have many before us in our communities who need to hear and see what new thing God has done and IS doing in Christ Jesus. And how life AS the church is evidence of our discovery of something new and life sustaining in the midst of uncertainty and anxiety. Paul had an audience…..and so do we! Let us find ways to both TELL and DO the stories that make all the difference in the way our lives are made meaningful and made Eternal!

“See” you Sunday in worship. “Tune in” at 11am! Let this be a way to prepare for the week ahead in these uncertain times waiting for ways to be discovered to find hope and an abundant life!

In preparation for live stream viewing at home, please look at the Apostles Creed as we will recite that as one of our Acts of Praise this Sunday. It is # 881 in The United Methodist hymnal or below. It is used as an historic confession of our faith and recited by millions over the centuries as a witness to the summary of our faith.

Apostles Creed (Traditional Version)

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; The Holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

If you have any joys or concerns please email them to me at pastor-barry@kedronumc.org

Please remember your tithes and offerings. They can be sent to Naomi Lee.

We will live stream on Sunday at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Blessings,

Pastor Barry

Pastor Barry

Psalm 23 Paraphrased

The Lord is my coach.
I have all guidance and support.
He makes me rest when I should.
He leads me to refreshment.
He restores my will to do.
He leads me to excel for the sake of God.
Yes, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of defeat;
I will fear nothing bad; his voice and strength comfort me.
He prepares good nutrition for me in the presence of those against me.
He always welcomes me with a pat on the shoulders.
Surely goodness and kindness will come from him all my playing days and then I will be welcome at his house always.

Blessings,

Pastor Barry

Chaplain Rob

Serve Well

If your gift is serving others, serve them well.” – Romans 12:7

I hope you had a great weekend. Thank you all for the things you continue to do for our State and community. I am honored to serve with each one of you and I am thankful for the sacrifice and servant leadership you practice each and every day. Below is a short devotional I wrote about service. I hope and pray that God continues to bless each of you and uses your gifts to impact others.

Some time ago, I was actually at a fast-food restaurant getting some food with my daughters.

I placed a rather complicated order and couldn’t help but notice how well the employee handled it all.

Then she said, thank you for your order and please pull around to the next window and I will be happy to serve you.

As we talked a little ( the line was short), I found out she was a Christian and a single mother of two.

Then I understood even more why she was so cheerful and polite. I asked her if she liked her job.

“I love my job,” she said.

I thought, “That’s how we all should be.”

Whatever you’re doing, whether you’re working at a fast-food restaurant, serving in response of COVID 19, working across the Air and Army National guard, whatever you are doing today I admonish you to serve well.

Here’s the mark of a person whom God has called to serve: they recognize a need and then jump in and do something about it.

On the other hand, I think some people have the gift of complaining. They just seem content with finding fault—all the things that are wrong in the world.

But people with the gift of serving see a need and then meet that need because they want to help out.

Has God given you this spiritual gift? What a wonderful gift it is. So, if you’re checking on your neighbors and praying for them, that is great, and if you’re picking up the groceries for them, that is great too. If you are offering people a smile, a kind word, and a promise of hope, that is outstanding.

Because whatever you’re doing to serve, it matters.

The Bible says, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received” (1 Timothy 4:14 NLT). Or, as The Message puts it, “Keep that dusted off and in use.”

Be faithful in the little things, and God will open up greater opportunities for you. Because, as Warren Wiersbe has said, “You can never be too small for God to use, only too big.”

My prayers go before you this week as you serve others. Remember, God has called you to such a time as this! Serve Well!!!
Blessings,

Chaplain Rob

Pastor Barry

A Foundation For Mothers and Other Creatures of God!

Hopefully some return to “routine” has begun in our homes and communities. I said “some!” There is still much disruption, re-direction, and general anxiety caused by the threats and changes due to the coronavirus.

We ask, “what can we depend upon? What is still solid rock on which I can stand?” Perhaps parents ask this question as much as anyone and perhaps mothers most of all! Mothers (and many dads too) have found themselves doubling as “home bound teachers” and “day care providers” while still holding jobs outside the home! It’s tasking. They ask, “does my foundation hold?” Will we get through this?

The Bible answers with a resounding comforting YES! Because the foundation stones are forever in place! We are reminded we stand upon a “living stone and become spiritual stones ourselves building a solid spiritual house” (I Peter 2:4,5).

This Sunday we celebrate families and honor mothers. As crazy and difficult as families can become, our life is based on what goes into and comes out of family! Pray for life together!

We will live stream on Sunday at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Blessings on the coming Lord’s Day!

Pastor Barry

Pastor Barry

The Good Shepherd

Psalm 23 and John 10:1-10

We find ourselves in the month of May now. And we are still “at a distance” but still in hope for a coming relief from this season of threat from coronavirus and the necessary public health precautions. We are Easter people of faith and we persevere with God’s help.

We may get a partial return to our sanctuaries the next two Sundays as we will attempt to “live stream” the worship from Kedron on May 3 and from Locks on May 10. Once again, we won’t gather together but we will be visually reminded of our “worship space” and our eventual return “home.”

This fourth Sunday in Easter has traditionally been known as Good Shepherd Sunday as the scriptures are all about the Good Shepherd. We are in need of shepherding in these “lost and difficult days” where we have felt the “valley of the shadow.”

Pray for one another and look to The Good Shepherd to guide us!

Blessings

Pastor Barry

Chaplain Rob

The Great Mandate

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. – Colossians 3:13

During this COVID-19 time I have had some focused time to re approach spiritual things that I often struggle with. For me forgiveness is sometimes hard. It is often difficult to move past the feelings of anger to the practice of forgiveness.

However, The Bible’s central theme is God seeking and saving those in dire need of forgiveness. Jesus willingly died on the cross for you and me, even though we often don’t feel a need to be forgiven. And even though you and I all too often continue to exhibit a rebellious nature. Through faith in Jesus, God forgives us in spite of ourselves.

But there’s more. God’s forgiveness is a creative force. It spills out to you when you receive it and affects every one of your human relationships. You see, forgiveness is both a gift and a command of God. It’s God’s gift to us that allows us to have everlasting life; at the same time, God tells us He won’t extend that forgiveness to us if we’re not willing to forgive others.

Remember . . . we don’t deserve God’s forgiveness, and neither should we expect others to deserve ours.

If I do not forgive everyone, I shall be untrue to myself. – Albert Schweitzer

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. – Mark Twain

To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. – C.S. Lewis

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Heavenly Father, my own sinful nature makes forgiveness so hard but your Holy Spirit who lives inside my heart empowers me to let go and forgive. I depend on you Lord to help me to forgive those who have hurt me. Amen.

Blessings,

Chaplain Rob

Open hearts. Open Minds. Open doors.