Our Journey blog - Life's Journey Ministry

Wednesday Meditation

5/31/2017

How many of us are willing to accept anything God gives to us? How many of us are willing to follow Christ to the cross? How many of profess our Christian faith, however, when things get difficult we back away?
Consider a crowd at a sporting event, cheering on their team when they are winning, yet, become disillusioned when that start to lose. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the crowds hailed him as King of Israel, they cheered and proclaimed hosanna, but by the end of that week they had turned their back on him because it became difficult. 1
How many times, do we welcome Christ and proclaim our faith and love in him, until we find ourselves in a difficult situation and turn our eyes away from him? It may be human nature that causes us to do this. Maybe we are more comfortable with going with the flow rather than finding ourselves willing to stand up for Christ when others are calling for him to be crucified.
Jesus died for us that we may find our salvation from sin, he died for all weather the where devoted followers or ones who follow him only when they are able to be anonymous, following the actions of others.
This week, give some thought to how much to you love Jesus and are you willing to follow him regardless of how difficult of a path you are given.
Are you willing to follow Christ to the cross? Are you willing to serve others as He has served us? if we are willing to do this, then we are accepting our responsibility of spreading His love and peace to all the people of the world.

Pastor Lisa

1. Our daily bread, May 31, 2013

Monday matters

5/30/2017

In Honor of Memorial Day, we wish to thank all who have paid the greatest price for our freedoms and our liberties for our country and for those around the world. We honor the families who have given the greatest sacrifice, of their sons' and daughters who have not come home, and pray that all who have served and lost their lives have been received in Heaven, and find peace.

To all who have given all for us, we thank you

Pastor Lisa Chachula

Wednesday Devotion

5/24/2017

As we move closer to Pentecost, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we should take some time to remind ourselves of the events that have recently occurred. Holy Week and Easter, the time in which our salvation was won for us by Christ, our redemption because of Christ and the path into the kingdom that Christ has made for us.
However, there is something else we should be considering now, Jesus is both the lamb who was sacrificed for our sin, and he is the shepherd that watches over us as his flock. He is our guide in life, he is our comfort in distress, and our joy in the knowledge that He is waiting the garden for us when we leave this life for the next. We must remember that, though, He is still one more thing that we should give our consideration to.
He is the one who will judge the living and the dead at the end of time, Paul states in his letter to the Roman’s that “Everyone of us will have to render and account of themselves before God.” (Romans 14:12-13). This is an important statement to remember, we will at some time need make an account for our lives to Christ, to God as we enter the kingdom. In Romans, Paul also reminds that “Let us no longer judge one another.” (Romans 14:12-13). How does what Paul tells us in Romans, have anything to do with the coming of Pentecost, of for this Easter season for that matter? We find the answer in Matthew, 7:1-3, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” We see this again in the words of St. Bonaventure who stated, that we should no pass judgement, as our Savior has reserved that right for Himself. So again, the question must be what does this have to do with Pentecost?
The gift of the Holy Spirit is the way that God works through us, he places us where he needs us to be that his desires for his people are met. He works within us that we may have grace, peace, and love towards one another. His Spirit is the guide we have in navigating our world in the way God needs us to. To answer the question I made previously, it has everything to do with Pentecost, as it is God’s will we are compelled to follow, not our own. Likewise, it is not our place to judge, as only He can judge. The Spirit is our guide, let us welcome the Spirit, let us listen to the Spirit and let us learn from the Spirit, that we may become the people whom God wishes us to become, free from judgement and overflowing with love towards each other.
Pastor Lisa

Monday Matters

5/22/2017

Take a moment today to consider something, with all our advancements, our perceived ideas of what power and privilege look like, what great wealth allow us to become. what our petty arguments and disagreements, which in most cases separate us from each other. What our constant struggles to be better than others as far as our status in life. Our propensity to do harm to each other, either for personal gain, lack of caring and compassion, or our personal bias towards each other. take the time to consider, in the larger reality, we are less than a single grain of sand on the beach that is the universe. In the greater sum of the universe, our time on this plant does not constitute less than a Nanosecond in the larger epoch of time that the universe exists in. And when we depart this planet, our existence will have not caused any significant ripples within the pool of time as compared to the universe. The point being, that while insignificant to the universe, we can become significant to each other’s journey in the universe if we only take time we can affect the universe of others whose reality does not extend beyond the situations they find themselves in. Those who do not have the luxury of dreaming, or the hope of a life better than endless struggling or oppression.
No, we cannot affect the universe in any significant manor in the larger sense, but we can affect the universe of others now, regardless of what side of the isle you maybe from, regardless of what you profess to believe in, regardless of what our personal views are. As a whole, we in our humanity can affect the universes of those whom we share this planet with.
Peace

Pastor Lisa

Monday Matters

5/15/2017

Monday, probably the most disliked day of the week, it brings in the beginning of a new week. Many of us return to work after a relaxing weekend. Some of us hardly notice Monday as we work on weekends, for those who do, Monday is just another day. Let’s take a closer look at Monday though. It was not always the start of a week, in fact during the time of Christ, Sunday was the start of the week. In the Easter story, we are told that the women go to the tomb on the first day of the week, for them this was Sunday. On the day Jesus died, Friday, they would have been preparing for Passover, and the following day would be the Sabbath that we are told to keep holy. In fact, within the Mosaic law, to perform any type of work on the Sabbath, would violate the law with dire consequences.
In our time, maybe we could see Monday in a different light. It is the start of the week, giving us another opportunity to do good, help others and live our lives in obedience to Christ and his commandment to us. Maybe we could take Sunday, not only as a day to worship. But also, a day we can reflect on what we have accomplished in the past week. Perhaps we can look at ourselves though a more critical lens and see what we have done or what we have failed to do.
Monday maybe a day that is not looked at in a favorable way, but maybe it is time that we change our outlook of Mondays.

Happy Monday

Pastor Lisa

Mother's Day

5/14/2017

Mother’s Day
We do not often notice, sometimes even though it is right in front of us. That selfless individual who is always there, the one who makes sure we are dressed right, or are bundled up in the cold, they make sure we have sun screen in the summer, and with a small kiss make all the hurt go away. They are dogged in their resolve that they will take care of us regardless of their age, or ours for that matter.

They take joy in our happiness, they comfort us in our sorrow. Our being will affect their lives forever, with late night feeding and diaper changing, with the endless sea of dirty clothes and the continuous search for that one sock, that never seems to make it back from the washer.

They spend their lives making sure we have all we need, no matter how humble their efforts are, they stay strong in times of sorrow, and only when no one can see, they take time to deal with their own feelings.
They are our Mothers, the reason that we are here. Whether we think they are right or wrong, they are still our Mom’s, they are still the ones who we have memories of from the earliest memories we can recall, they are the face we looked on and the warm caring eyes that met ours in our first days of our lives.

On this day that we give recognition to them, let us never forget all the tireless moments of their lives they have devoted to us, let us take the time as they grow older to show our appreciation and support to them as they have so many times given it to us.

Happy Mother’s Day
Pastor Lisa

Wednesday Devotion

5/10/2017

Each of us, have times in our lives where the path we are following is not always clear. It is not always well lite, that we may see where we are going. Many of us stumble, some of us even fall, and yet others stop following the path because it has become too difficult to travel in the darkness. It is when we stop following, regardless of the difficulty, that we become lost. We become frightened.
In these times, we should turn to the word of God in Joshua 1:1-9, where he tells us, “The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” It is God who is the light, the beacon who leads us down the path, in the difficult times, in the hard times, during the times we give up. It is God who provides us with that light through his son Jesus, who has become the beacon we follow into the garden, into the kingdom.
Perhaps the person reading this is not a Christian, to you I would suggest that we all have a moral duty towards each other, we have a Civil virtue that we should exhibit towards each other. We are bound in our humanity, as such, we must show each other that compassion can over take any evil, understanding and love can break down any walls, and unity can overcome all obstacles.

Peace be with you
Pastor Lisa

Monday Matters May 8. 2017

5/8/2017

As we start this week, let us continue to think of the events that started on Easter morning. We still are in awe of the site of the empty tomb, we are still amazed of what God has done for us through His Son Jesus. In Christ, we have become renewed, we have become reconciled with the Father, and have been shown the way into the garden where Jesus waits for us to enter eternal life with Him. In His ministry, Jesus gave us the knowledge of the kingdom, He showed us how must live, how we must treat each other, how we must make our lives in servanthood to humanity. Jesus’s life was about servanthood, about leading us towards the Father and teaching us how to be better people.
As we begin this week, let us commit ourselves to living as Christians, through love, understanding and compassion towards each other, as Christ has for us.
Pastor Lisa

A New View

5/3/2017

Jesus provided to humanity, a new way to look at God. He gave to us, a new and hopeful vision that had never really been seen before. If you look at the Old Testament, God was vengeful, He was a God who would punish his people when they did not follow his desires. While He gave us his desires through the prophets, humanity did not seem to understand Him, they did not seem to be willing to follow what he wished from us. In fact, we asked him to send us a human king. When the kings did not work out we asked Him for judges. When they did not work out, God became quiet.
That is until He sent his Son. Jesus taught us how to follow His Father’s wishes, He showed us how we should live, how we should treat each other. He told us, that he was the way to the Father, if we would listen to Him and follow Him into to garden. Jesus revolutionized how we saw God. How we talked to God, through Christ our relationship with the Father was restored. Through His death and resurrection, He atoned for our sin, and defeated death that we may find everlasting life.
As Jesus revolutionized how we should look at God, it was Paul who told us how to establish the church that we may use what Jesus gave to us, that we may continue to follow Jesus’s words. Today the church is tasked with continuing what Paul stated, so we may continue to live as Jesus has told us to live. It is for this reason, that we are followers of Christ, must understand what we have been given through Christ. With Easter, still fresh in our memories, with witnessing the empty tomb, with our understanding of what Christ has told us he would do. That we should take the time to reflect on how we have been following His word, that we may become the people that God wishes us to become.
Pease be with you
Pastor Lisa