April 14, 2023

Author Ben Patterson wrote in his book Waiting:  Finding Hope When God Seems Silent of a man named Bruce Larson.  Bruce had a unique way of illustrating for people what it looks like to face trials and turn their life over to Jesus.  When he was working in New York City, he would walk a man or woman downtown to the front of the RCA building on Fifth Avenue.  In front of that building stands a gigantic statue of a massively proportioned, muscle-bound representation of Atlas with the earth resting on his shoulders.  As powerfully built as the sculpture wanted us to believe Atlas was, it still showed him straining under the weight of the world, barely able to stand.  Mr. Larson would say while pointing to the statue, “That’s one way to live, trying to carry the world on your shoulders.”  He would then hurry whoever he was talking to across the street to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  There behind the altar is a much smaller depiction of Jesus as a little boy – probably eight or nine years old – small and frail but he appears to be holding the same earth in the palm of one hand.  Larson would state, “But we have a choice.  We can carry the world on our shoulders, or we can say, ‘I give up, Lord, here’s my life.  I give you my world.”

I have the privilege to kick off a new series this coming Sunday titled Our Good God.  Over the course of the next seven weeks, we will take a deep dive into the book of 1 Peter.  This week we will tackle 1 Peter 1:1-12.  We all, no doubt, have faced, and will face, trials that leave us feeling we are under what seems to be the weight of the world.  Even in those moments we have a choice to make:  Will I have a worldly mindset?  Or, Will I choose a Kingdom mindset?

I encourage you to make plans to join us this coming Sunday as we kick off this new series.  I believe God has much for us to hear and to apply to our lives in this next series.  I look forward to the opportunity to worship with you!

Grateful,

Pastor Brandon