Bird Struck! Masked Booby

Family Devotional

Day Thirty

“Instead, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32

These dazzling birds live and breed in tropical climates. Except for breeding time they spend all their time at sea. To feed they make high-velocity dives from as high as 100 feet.

Sailors gave these birds their insulting name because they considered the birds to be stupid due to their lack of fear around humans.

But these birds had no reason to experience fear from humans until they met the sailors.

When the early church began their witness of love and caring to each other and to their community, many onlookers spoke of them with derogatory names. Some thought of them as harmless fools, and some thought of them as radicals that required imprisonment or death.

Even in our world today, many people still view acts of kindness and compassion with distrust. And although it is necessary to use common sense when encountering strangers, it doesn’t mean people cannot trust others, especially if they meet in safe environments.

It really wasn’t the masked booby that had the problem to trust, but the sailors who allowed their own fears to mistrust innocence.

When we follow Jesus’ ways, often others don’t understand and they say bad things or call out embarrassing names.

Action

1. Say something kind to as many people as you can today. Was it hard to do? Why?

2. Do one act of kindness for one person every day this week.

Read More

Matthew 25:40

Galatians 6:10

Philippians 2:3-5

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Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Do you think of yourself as being able to walk with God as Enoch did? Why or why not?

2.     Whom do you trust humanly more than any other person? Why?

3.     Is there someone that you give those same gifts of relationship to when you walk with them?

4.     Are these gifts that can only be shared spontaneously or gifts that can be nurtured?

Share: What is most special to you when you can walk with a close friend or loved one?

Kingdom Manna

Cost

Luke 11:9, “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”

When we ask a friend or family member for a favor and they answer ‘yes’ before even knowing the commitment, it makes us feel valued. They are willing to do whatever we need help with. It is warmth that cannot be manufactured with sweaters and blankets but an internal glow that overflows.

A search for a special gift is double pleasure to both the recipient and giver when the present brings joy. A knock on a door that opens to sweep us into a room filled with welcome brings delight. These simple gifts we share with each other create solid bonds, growing relationships, and secure comfort.

“Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”

According to Jesus, there are no limits set except to ask in faith. So simple a child can grasp. So magnificent we stagger. In doubts, in unbelief. Can it be true?

With the evidence of His love before me I still stumble at the possibilities. Yet the spiritual promises are more concrete than the physical. Christ’s realities more tangible than human frailties. I accept the offer from my friends with gratitude. Can I do any less for You, Lord? Help me to ask and seek and knock in faith.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 2:8

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and the ends of the earth your possession.

Leaving Egypt Behind

Scripture: Exodus: 33:11a, Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.

There is a part of me, Lord, that yearns with envy at this meeting. To speak to You fully as a friend; to share, to laugh, to cry, to listen. To know Your word, Your counsel, Your wisdom with such detail, that in any given situation, I would know instinctively what You would say. To be a part of Your plans, to be trusted to know Your intentions, Your inner most thoughts.

Then a part of me shrinks in awe that Moses could stand before You with such confidence, listening to Your voice, committed to Your requests, in the presence of Your glory. Once You walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, before their disobedience, and spoke with them. They listened for Your voice and experienced the warmth of conversation with You. When they still knew no sin. And when sin entered, they hid from Your voice. There is sin hidden so deep in me I cannot recognize it, so how could I hear You speak to me as a friend? Like a startled rabbit, I would run askew, searching for my own hiding place.

“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Jesus speaks to each of us as a friend, face to face. Inviting us into His plans, inviting us into dialogue.

O Lord, please give me the courage to come to You and listen to Your voice.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 9:10

And those who know Thy name will put their trust in Thee;

For Thou, O Lord, hast not forsaken those who seek Thee.