He Has Come Back Home
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday we were out in Immokalee and Ave Maria engaged in helping a little with the football camps being held there. Through our sports mentoring work with One by One Leadership Foundation we arranged for 250 pizza to feed the estimated 500 kids involved. Everybody had T-shirts. The big event was Edgerrin James, former NFL running back who had returned to his roots to give back.
Edgerrin had a coach’s hat on and was running the kids through drills. The amazing thing was that the young players did not have to worry about what they were going to eat or wear or drink. They were focused on the one play in which they could show Edgerrin and everybody else what they could do. There was a special excitement at least for some connected to the realization that He Has Come Back Home.
Scripture:As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you–you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 6:25-34 (NRSV)
Message: Yesterday was The Feast Day of Martha and it reminds us of the priorities we are to have in life. It reminds us that someone has to do the work. But it also reminds me of the powerful reality of Jesus going back to one of His favorite places…perhaps the closest place he had to calling home…the home of sisters and brother… Mary, Martha and Lazarus. A lot happened in this place that is amazing. The raising of the dead for one, but the ambiance of the place was also amazing for it was one of home. For Jesus, I think there was a comfortable feeling of roots in this place called Bethany. Friends, there is importance in this reality of home. Whether it is Orlando, Naples, Ave Maria or this place called by the Seminoles, Immokalee, My Home….there is a spirit that calls us back to our roots….the spirit of Jesus. This place of the heart….a place where we need not worry… a place called home.
Pray that we not be so consumed with performing tasks that we miss out on relationships. Pray we too come home to a place where Jesus is telling us what is really important. Pray we always allow space for the best part. Pray we have a balance between duty and devotion. Pray we discover the one thing that makes all the difference in the world. Pray we choose Jesus. Pray we not worry. Pray we choose love.
Daily Devotionals 