The Dawn of a New Day

"He who made the Pleiades and Orion And changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth, The LORD is His name" (Amos 5:8, CEB).
Photo Credits: D. Kelly, Petersburg WV

My Reflection:

Life in the Mountain State has a lot of simple pleasures. One of my favorites is how we can build and sit around a campfire in our own backyards under those same stars Amos speaks about. And then, many-many times over, Mountain hospitality kicks in and we'll add a little food, neighbors show up, and before long we have ourselves a full fledged unplanned get together. From my experience, these are often the best kind of neighborhood gatherings! Evenings like these can't easily be topped. Maybe this is why one of my all time favorite Bible stories comes from John 21. Woven into the fabric of this chapter, is a story about the resurrected Christ fixing breakfast for the boys after a long and non-productive night at work. I can only imagine how it would feel to have Jesus, in all His glory, fix me breakfast over an open fire and then sat down to talk and give some final instruction before He left for Home. And then...

Picture This:

Imagine how the boys must have felt when they talked about it later. When they realized the magnitude of what they had just experienced. Talk about a hand-me down story for the grandchildren:

"Yeah, your uncle Peter and a bunch of us guys were fishing one night, I'm not joking, we didn't catch anything! About daylight, out of no where, someone yelled out 'Hey y'all, throw that net over the other side!' So we did and ended up filling the boat up with fish! We started sinking, water started pouring in and we were rowing for our lives! Turned out it was Jesus! Man, ole Pete nearly drowned trying to get to shore! We finally got the haul in, and here Jesus had fixed breakfast! Now that was a good time! We laughed and talked for hours! I can still see ole Pete's face! But seriously, that Jesus...He was such a great Friend..."

I love these stories about Jesus' life on earth. They make Him so real and teach us how we are supposed to live out our Christian faith-walk. The Bible gives us recorded history of a Savior who knows exactly how we feel (Hebrews 4:15), One who has experienced being financially broke (Matthew 17:27), One who knows how it feels to be hungry (Matthew 4:2), lonely (Matthew 27:46), and tempted (Hebrews 2:18). It was because of His full understanding of how the boys felt that morning that had Him come to their rescue. He knew that after being out on the sea all night with nothing to cash in they'd be discouraged...so He not only helped His friends with their payday but He gave them a few bonuses. That morning, Jesus met their physical needs for warmth and food, their emotional needs of friendship and  emotional healing. Then, right before He ascended to build us a place to live (can I get an AMEN!), right before He went away so He could send us the Holy Spirit...He took time to create some simple Appalachia-like memories...memories for the boys to share. Memories that still bring a smile to our faces and a spring to our step when we consider how much He loved them and us!

Fast Forward to 2016:

Just like everyone else, I get frustrated from time to time and wonder why God isn't doing something to help us out of the mess we've made of Christianity and the world in general (and I believe that it is a legitimate frustration) but when I consider what Jesus went through for us, I reckon His love is still enough. Through the peace and guidance of the Holy Spirit, at the end of the day, He gave us the authority to call down His power. He left us with more than enough to start each new day with hope and possibility. So today I encourage you to look for Him...He is waiting for you on The Dawn of a New Day.

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Hey y'all, have a blessed weekend.

In Christ with Love and Compassion,

Coach Kelly

#YourLifeCoachingWV; #BeyondTheMirror; #WVStrong