Tuesday: Building Bridges 2

"Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."

Good Tuesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, yes Tuesday, and it is schools day on this line. The day we pray for our schools and all who pass through the doors and all who have anything to do with our schools. We need Jesus in our schools, so you parents with school age kids be sure you teach them it is ok to pray before their lunch, it is ok to pray before a ball game, it is ok to pray before a test. They just cannot stand and lead prayers. It is also ok to belong to Christian clubs that meet after school. Let's keep Jesus in our schools and the heck with the ACLU. The ACLU needs put out... any willing to say amen on this or do you think I am out of line? Let me be a cheerleader today, after all football practice started in our area yesterday... ready, I am the head cheerleader, Hip, Hip - Give me a J, Give me an E, Give me a S, Give me a U, Give me another S. What does it spell? JESUS, JESUS... Jesus who? Jesus Christ! Who's He? Our Lord and Savior, and the only one who can save our schools... Go, Jesus Go... (I am not going to put the jump on the end, you can).

Please pray today for the Saylor family and for Don. Don is very weak. Also pray today for Vicki and for her many health issues to be healed by Jesus.

Building Bridges 2: John 14 1 - "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you." (NIV)

One of my biggest fears in life is height, I mean I get scared when I wear my cowboy boots with the high heals. Ok, not that bad, but after three steps on the step ladder I am worthless, and that is a fact. So how then does a person who is so scared of height get on a motorcycle and head to the Jersey Shore and need to cross one of those very, very high suspended bridges? Let me tell you I have been up on them and I am scared even in a car. I put my eyes into tunnel vision and go in the middle lane, looking straight ahead. Dolores and I have been up on them when the wind was up and the rain was coming down, and yes, I was really scared. The whole way over the bridge I am talking to Jesus. Help me, Lord, help me, Lord, and of course He did. But Jesus also loaned a lot of talent out for those bridges. Think first of the ones who design them, the engineers and remember they must design them but also must design a way to build them. Where does one get started? And then you need men and women who will climb up on them and build them.

Yes, from those covered bridges of years gone by to the big mass of steel, concrete and cable bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge, they marvel me. If I had to make my living working up on one of those bridges, my kids would have been very, very skinny. I have a neighbor who is an engineer and I must sit down with him sometime and have him show me how you put them together and make them hold all that traffic. People must really have a love for a job to do that kind of work. Now how does all this relate to our lesson today?

First of all, when we come to a bridge, be it a covered bridge or one of those biggies, we need to put faith and trust in the ones who designed it and built it. We need to trust and have faith that each and every member of that team worked together and did not short change their job. The concrete must be just right to be put down, the steel must not have any bad pieces, even the paint must be done perfect to keep the rust down. A bolt must be tightened perfectly, no short cuts here, and when we pull up to the bridge we have faith in all that workmanship.

When we look at what Jesus is telling us and not just in these scriptures but throughout the Bible, we need to have faith. Jesus loves us so much and how do we know it? We must have faith that He does, we can read the Bible, like we might read a book on how that big bridge was built, but the bottom line is we must have faith in Jesus. Here we find Jesus telling us, and yes He is telling us for He is the same today as He was some 2000 years ago, and for you younger readers, He will be the same tomorrow and forever... So we have faith in the fact He is telling us that in His Fathers house there are many rooms. Now think about it, it must be really big, and we get a room in The Mansion and I have faith in our Lord Jesus that He will be living in The Mansion with us... no absentee landlord here. Also I want to use one more scripture today in closing and ask all of you to read it before tomorrow morning and really think about God's engineering on this... Genesis 1: 1 - In the beginning Cod created the heavens and the earth. (NIV) Think of it, all the stars, planets, the sun, moon, all moving around and not hitting each other. We will talk about it some more tomorrow, as we build another Bridge. What kind will we build? Before the end of the week we are going to look at building a bridge between earth and our Heavenly home.

Remember again, that Love is the best bridge builder of all... Let's pray.

Dear Father in Heaven, Thank You for the Love You give us each and every day of our lives even if we don't appreciate it. I love You, Jesus, and I appreciate Your love, and I appreciate also how You are teaching us to love You and also love others. I pray that we can bridge with Love all the evil that tries to get into our way. Lord. we want to bridge over the obstacles that are not from You. Lord, please be in our schools and be with our leaders and, Lord, as I am praying to You, I ask that You be in the school also where the principal and coach were arrested for praying before a meal. Lord, please, please be in our schools. It is time we take them back from evil and from the ACLU. Lord, it is time we stand up for You, as someday we are going to be before You and need You to stand up for us. Lord, thanks for forgiving us of our sins, and Lord give us the strength to stand before evil and ban it from our lives. Lord, please heal Don Saylor and be with his family. Lord, I pray also that You heal Vicki. May she wake up tomorrow healed as only You could heal her. Lord, please be in our school buses also and keep our kids safe. In the name of Jesus, AMEN.

Ok, folks, let's get praying for our schools, and for our teachers and kids and let's get Jesus back inside. It is time we Christians stopped taking the back seat. It is time to get brave, it is time to let our hearts NOT BE TROUBLED, and get busy for God. Start it today, please, and yes, you could start by sharing your blessings... love ya, dan.