Happy Monday! I hope this writing finds all of you well and healthy. Each time I passed the nurse’s office at school she had quite a group in her office including one of the children in my class who ended up going home. So far all are well at our house and pray the same is true for yours.

Carmella Russell update: she is recovering rapidly and doing very well. The only hitch is that the drains need to remain in a bit longer. Carme sends her most heartfelt thanks for your prayers throughout this event in her life. Carme is a tremendous woman of faith and knows the value of prayer. Thank you for your continued prayers as she continues to recover.

Mark 1: 38 says, “Jesus answered, “We should go to other towns around here so I can preach there too. That is the reason I came.”

Jesus said these words to His disciples when they came to find Him as He was having His prayer time after healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. As I was meditating on this verse after last night’s writing I began to think. What was Jesus praying about? And what was His Father’s answer? Jesus has just healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and a crowd of people who gathered at her house. Do you suppose Jesus was asking His Father what He should do now? Where should He go? Where is this ministry taking Him next? Perhaps Jesus was praying for His Father’s guidance in the next path of His ministry. I think God answered Him. God must have told Him to leave Capernaum and take the ministry of reconciliation and healing “on the road.” God gave Jesus His marching orders. Jesus surrendered Himself to the will of God and God blessed His ministry.

Jesus was obedient to His Father, and in that obedience Jesus knew beyond any doubt why He was called to this ministry. Jesus was called to preach to as many people as possible about the love of God and His grace.

How do we pray? Do we pray for what God can do for us? Or do we ask God what we can do to further His kingdom here on earth? And if we were to pray for God to lead us are we willing to go where He calls us? Are you willing to listen to the answer and the plan God has laid out for each of us?

Martin Luther said, “We are to be little Christs.” We are to model our lives after the godly life Jesus led. Jesus knew the reason he came through prayer to His heavenly Father. Are we willing to pray to our heavenly Father about our “place in this world,” as Michael W. Smith sings about? Are we ready to be called to obedience when God answers. What a journey we are on!!

Take joy in the journey. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.