Cowboy Church

     Good day to you all!  I don’t know about you but I have received a great message from our Lord through my Pastor David Schuh.  It is Sunday and because of the pandemic our Pastor has had to go viral.  He is doing well with this technology and delivered a message today that really uplifted my spirit!  He was talking about Jesus’s temptation in the desert.  Jesus went without food for 40 days.  It got me to thinking beyond my usual, how is that possible, thought process.  Instead of concentrating on how hungry He must have been, being in human form, I got a sudden tearful jolt of how lonely.  He has the Spirit but His only companion that is mentioned is Satan, who is taunting and tempting Him to disobey God.  I can only imagine His loneliness based on this self enforced isolation most of us are experiencing.  I’m not complaining but, I am experiencing freaky dreams, periods of loneliness and yes, depression.  I am a person who is rarely depressed.  Jesus loved His Apostles and the people who gathered around Him.  He came to serve us, through the ultimate propitiation of His very life.  To be 40 days without anyone whom He loved or called friend or prayed with or just needed a hug, is true isolation!  Jesus mastered temptation, but I think far more than being hungry, weak and tired.  He most certainly suffered.  He suffered the loss of human contact as well.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.  And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. – Luke 4:1-2  NASB

     So what does it mean to those of us trying to get through a very difficult time?  Not only can we not hug our friends or those not in quarantine with us, but some of us have had to say goodbye to loved ones without being there, without a last hug, hand squeeze, gentle kiss.  My heart goes out to you!  I can’t imagine that pain and that loss of closure.  That loss of physical contact.  In a bible story close to my heart, Jesus not only cures a leper but the real point is that He touches him.  In those days if you had leprosy you could not walk within 10 feet of another person and usually had to cross the road if someone approached you.

And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”  Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” – Mark 1:40-41 NASB  (You can also read this account in Matthew 8:2-3)

     Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him!  I dream of the day when we can stretch out our hand and touch again.  I want to tell people about Jesus but its hard across 6 feet of expanse.  I want to touch humanity with words and with a loving hand.  It’s hard for me and may be hard for you as well.  As time rolls by and trips gets cancelled that include seeing loved ones I can’t help but think people are more than eager to resume that “normal” again.  Just recall that temptation is mightiest when it denies what you have come to rely on as normal, regular, and a regular physical need.   I will endure, and I will continue to do my part in helping this pandemic end, hopefully, without the loss of more lives.  Meanwhile, I thank my beloved Pastor David and his wife Vivien.  May you both stay well and carry on, giving the word to us, who need to still be a part of any type of “gathering”. 

I learned about an app today that will help you spread the gospel message.  It is called Life in 6 Words.  The 6 words are:  God, Our, Sins, Paying, Everyone, Life.  It’s a free app. In His love and peace.