Dear Fellow Children of God,
On Sunday, January 12, after a morning at church at First
Lutheran in Gainesville, FL, Kathy and I traveled to Tampa to board a flight home
to Alaska. We spent Christmas in Florida because I am serving at First
Lutheran. We traveled home to see our family whom we missed this year. For our trips home we have recently been flying
out of Tampa, because the airport is not as busy as Orlando. The traffic is not as bad. We don’t have the long security lines. However, this past Sunday as we arrived at
the Alaska Airlines ticket counter in Tampa, the place was flooded with
people in a way we seldom see with Alaska Air.
We have both earned Alaska Airlines MVP status, and we usually get a
shorter line at the ticket counter. But
the priority line was also crowded, bending around the corner.
It turns out one of the cruise ships which uses Tampa as
their home port was changing crews. And,
many of the cruise-line workers were flying Alaska Air, quite a few on our
flight. Many of those in line did not
speak English. One of the Alaska Air
workers was trying to organize the crowd, and asked people if they had priority
status. Some of the large crowd moved to
other lines. But, others did not seem to
understand English enough to respond. So,
we stood in the long line and prepared for a long wait.
Do you like to wait?
Most people dislike waiting.
Perhaps you have heard the facetious prayer: “Lord, give me
patience. And, I want it NOW!”
Our Sunday airport experience came to mind as I was
reading Isaiah 30:18 in my daily devotions on Wednesday, January 15. “Therefore the LORD waits to be
gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the
LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”
Considering Isaiah 30, did you ever imagine that the Lord
waits for us? For you? As I have again been reading through Isaiah
in my daily devotions, the list of sins from God’s people is overwhelming. They are unfaithful to their Creator and
Savior. They worship false gods. They indulge in greed and drunkenness. They hurt one another. Yet foolishly, they trust their own wisdom
and their own efforts, rather than trusting and listening to and following the just
and righteous Lord of all. In response
to their sin, the Lord does discipline and punish His people so that they realize
how they are hurting themselves. But,
and this is a BIG BUT, the Lord waits.
According to Isaiah 30:18, He is waiting for the people to turn to Him
in trust and worship so that He may be gracious to them. For a wandering people, our Lord is a
faithful God. Amazing!
Then, when God’s people turn to Him, they “wait for Him.”
(Isaiah 30:18) We wait on the Lord. We
wait for answers to prayer. We wait to
understand God’s wisdom. We wait for His
promises. We wait for salvation.
However, DO you like to wait? There are times when life is difficult,
painful, wearying. When life hurts, we wonder
where God is. Where is the Lord’s grace
and mercy? Where is His answer to our
prayers? We do not like to wait!
There is wisdom at the end of Isaiah 30:18, “blessed
are all those who wait for him.”
When we need help, yet that help does not seem to come as we desire, we
learn about our Lord. We also learn about
ourselves when we observe how God answers our prayer, or even seemingly does
not answer them.
God’s ultimate answer, His grace and mercy, is found in
Jesus. Isaiah often prophesies about “that
day” when people live in the fullness of God’s love and grace. In Jesus, God walks beside us in the trials
of life. In Jesus, God loves and
forgives those who turned from Him, yet return in repentance and faith. In Jesus God blesses with eternal life. And, for the Lord’s people who wait on Him,
we believe that the one who saves us eternally, can and does work good
through the trials of this life.
I saw an answer to prayer today, January 15. Last year a former St. John, Palmer, member
took sick. Steve Koss was in the same confirmation
class as my oldest son, Josh. That makes
Steve 43 or 44. But respiratory illness
led to sepsis, and that infection spread and threatened Steve’s life. Steve lost his hands. He lost his lower legs
and feet. Steve lost his ability to speak, and his family feared he would
die. But today I saw a video from Steve’s
mom. Steve is talking. He is going through physical therapy and
walking on artificial legs, and newer, better legs are promised for the future. What a horrible tragedy! What brave recovery! But, the words which especially touched me
were from Steve’s mom, Cherie. After talking of the past year’s gauntlet of
troubles, Cherie wrote, “In so many ways we have felt the overwhelming
presence of God in our lives and our families this past year. He is so faithful
to watch over us and protect us and we give Him all the honor and praise.” Steve
and family waited on the Lord. In His
own wisdom, God acted in grace and mercy. Through their trials the Koss family
saw God’s grace and mercy and love!
Personally, I do not like to wait. I was not happy to see the long line at the
airport. However, I do desire to
continue to grow in trusting in my Lord, waiting on Him. Amazingly, my Lord does wait for me to trust
in Him, so that I might receive His grace and blessings.
Teach me, Lord, to wait on you so I may see how good and
gracious you are!
A Child of God, Waiting on my Lord, My Lord who Surprisingly
Waits on Me!
Pastor Rockey
P.S. I continue to serve as vacancy pastor at
First Lutheran Church in Gainesville, Florida, until First Lutheran receives a
permanent full-time pastor.
NEWS
AND MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES AT First Lutheran Church – Gainesville!
·
Pastor Chris Kollman has accepted the call to
serve First Lutheran as full-time pastor.
o Pastor
Kollmann will be installed as Pastor of First Lutheran on Sunday afternoon,
February 16, at 4:00 p.m. with a meal to follow.
o Pastor
Kollmann’s first Sunday to lead worship is February 23.
·
Kathy and I are in Alaska January 13-30. While we are gone Pastor Stephen Lane
will be leading worship and teaching Bible Class.
·
The Robert C. Besalski Scholarship Fund
has been established at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, for Florida – Georgia
District Students who are studying for the pastoral ministry at the seminary
Pastor Bob attended. Because this
endowment has reached $25,000.00 the seminary will start awarding
scholarships.
·
SUNDAY SCHOOL IS IN FULL SWING until
May. Children begin in worship at 10:00 a.m.. Early in the service, after
the Children’s Message, children leave for a lesson, for a craft, and a
snack.
Parents,
Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts, Neighbors, PLEASE bring your children to
Sunday School. THANK YOU Sunday
School Teachers and staff!
·
In Sunday Bible Class we began a study of “The Pastoral Epistles,” 1 and 2
Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, on Sunday, January 5. Pastor Lane will teach while I am in Alaska. Come and Join Us in the Besalski Fellowship
Hall at 8:45 a.m.!!!!!
·
COLLEGE STUDENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS meet on
Tuesday nights in the student house at 7:00 p.m. Come and join us! They
are studying “The Case for Christianity.” There was a break as school was out for the
Christmas holiday. Tuesday night group
classes start again this Tuesday, January 14.
·
STEPHEN MINISTRY – First Lutheran is
re-activating the Stephen Ministry program at First Lutheran. Angie Burr, Jean Halabrin, and Dana Lucas
will start leadership training, hopefully on February 10. In addition, those who are committed to
training as supervised Christian Care Givers include: Julie Dicks, Tina Gorske,
Patti Holloway, Debbie Jones, Marge Polkowski, Kathy Rockey, Stephanie Smith, and
Jon Visscher. Stay tuned for more
information as the training process progresses.
·
WE CONTINUE TO READ THROUGH THE SCRIPTURE IN
2024 and 2025 using the “Today’s Light Devotional Bible.” On Wednesday,
January 8, we read Isaiah 30 and 31.
Feel free to
contact Pastor Rockey at 907-841-4066 if you have any questions about these
readings. Or send an e-mail question to jonrock53@mtaonline.net I have
recently received questions and comments. It is always good to consider
our Lord’s love and guidance. I will TRY to answer, but some things only God
knows!
P.P.S. Family Fun:
·
On
Friday, January 10, Kathy and I
attended the 98th birthday party of friend, Ginni Craig. Ginni is mom to some neighbor boys who were
best friends as I grew up. Ginni is now
living near her youngest son, David, in Ft. Pierce. Here are some pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/V1BwWAoKLUsLoDmr5
·
While in
Ft. Pierce, I went fishing at the hotel where we stayed. Here
are some pictures of me fishing off the hotel pier. I did not get any bites. But it did start raining. I moved under a shelter, but when the wind blew
the rain on me even under the shelter, I quit fishing. Here are some pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/EvPpnuM2C5DfaPPVA
·
Here are
some pictures of our home in Alaska on Monday morning, January 13, after a
night of light snow. https://photos.app.goo.gl/2TLop86kJ16gxfPD8
*******
ABOUT THIS DEVOTION - I
retired at the end of August 2019 from serving as full-time senior pastor of
St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer, AK. I was writing a weekly devotion
previously entitled, "Thoughts from the Pastor." When I retired
many asked me to continue writing these devotions. So I have continued
writing. However, with life's changes I now call this weekly devotion
"Journeys Through Life as a Child of God." Since I am no longer
senior pastor at St. John, I felt it right to only send this message to those
who asked to receive it. (However, I am currently as Vacancy Pastor for
First Lutheran Church in Gainesville, FL.)
So, if you stopped receiving
these devotions and wondered why, now you understand. And, if you are now
receiving these devotions and do not wish to receive them, please let me know,
and I’ll gladly remove your name from my distribution list. My e-mail
address is jonrock53@mtaonline.net.
My prayer is that these
devotions help each of you in your daily walk with our Lord, Jesus.
*******
Jonathan Rockey
Child of God
Husband, Father, Son, Grandfather
Vacancy Pastor, First Lutheran
Church, Gainesville, FL
Pastor Emeritus, St. John
Lutheran Church, Palmer, AK
How great is the love the Father has
lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we
are!” (1 John 3:1 a)
