LEARNING DAILY

 

John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also on Me.”   Jesus

 

John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give you.  Let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  Jesus

 

When I served as principal at two schools, I would try to write something on Friday to encourage the teachers.  Once in a while I would get a response from one of them.  I titled the writing It’s Friday.  Pretty catching, right?!  Well, it’s Friday and, perhaps I will try this in this blog. 

 

It has been quite a week, wouldn’t you agree?  School has begun again bringing all the excitement of being back in the classroom.  Yes, I miss the excitement this time of the year has; I enjoyed the fellowship with teachers and also seeing students return.  With the beginning of the new school year, involvement in watching our granddaughter in volleyball begins again.  It is hard to believe our youngest grandchild is an eleventh grader! 

 

The week’s news has been centered on the country’s leadership failure to withdraw U.S. citizens and our sympathizers from Afghanistan in a peaceful way.   The blame game has been at the forefront of the process with the entire truth not being told.  Leaving any part of the truth out of what is said is a lie.  We have seen our troops killed and wounded again and blame being passed to others.  We are not fulfilling our responsibilities if we are not praying for all aspects of this situation.

 

We have seen that illegal immigrants continue to cross our southern borders in record numbers.  They are bringing untold covid-19 cases into our country; would it not be interesting to find out what percentage of these people are responsible of the spike in covid-19 cases in the U.S. today?  I’m just wondering!

 

Speaking of covid-19, my wife and I have tested positive for the virus this week.  We have hunkered down in the house, taking everything, everyone has told us we need to be taking.  I believe we are feeling better today – just tired and a little weak.  I can certainly see how this thing can cause problems.

 

I’m sure we can see more and more things going on that can rob us of our joy and peace.  That brings us to the verses above.  The Lord Jesus, speaking to His disciples and us today, tells us to not be troubled by all the difficulties seen around us.  Our belief in Jesus Christ does not make us immune or insensitive to the events going around us or going on around the world.  Following Jesus does not mean the circumstances in life will all be turned to the better; what changes is our expectations and how we handle what we are faced with.  With Jesus Christ in our hearts and our daily walk on the narrow way, we acknowledge the reality of sin in the world and the reality of pain and suffering.  At the same time, we trust in God to make good on all the promises He has made to us in His Word.  Through the peace that the Lord Jesus Christ gives us we can endure the trials of Covid-19.  Through the peace Jesus Christ gives us, we can see that the terrible events going on in the world around us are leading to His return and the promise of eternity with Him in heaven.  Today, pause for a time and thank Him for your salvation and the promise of the peace He gives to you to endure your circumstances.  The peace He gives is not what the world is seeking; His peace is guaranteed and eternal!