April 6, 2021

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying another beautiful spring day! I made salmon today (and set off the fire alarm for a minute!), and made choc bars and egg dishes. Al and I went downstairs for coffee and choc covered raspberries and celebration for the winner of the brackets and the one who got the booby prize. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Sometimes we just know it is the Lord! No doubts! Something happens and we see God’s hand and we know it is Him! One of our friends recently e-mailed me that she had a God incidence and was excited. They wanted to sell one of their cars and her husband listed it. Only 10 minutes later they got a call and it is sold and to guess who? It was their former realtor, a young couple from church. The wife had totaled her car in December and wanted to replace it with a car like her parents had, which just happened to be the same as our friends. Only 10 minutes and their car was sold! Our friend wrote that she learned a new word that day and it was a God incidence! Perhaps we can all think of times like that when we don’t feel like it is a co-incidence but definitely the Lord. I was reading for my devotions today about John who had such an experience. We remember that after Jesus rose from the dead, He revealed Himself to His disciples and others. Peter announced he was going to go fishing and a half dozen other disciples present said they were also going to go with him, including John. They caught nothing all night so must have been discouraged. All of a sudden, they hear a voice from shore telling them to fish on the other side of the boat and to see what would happen. They didn’t recognize who it was but followed His advice; and all of a sudden so many fish filled their nets that they couldn’t pull it all in. John knew right away that it was a God incident and in John 21:7 (NRSV) it says, “That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’” He knew it was not just a coincidence! When Peter heard the news, he couldn’t wait and quickly put on his outer tunic and sprang into the sea to see Jesus. Jesus had breakfast waiting for all of them and after they had eaten Jesus asked Peter 3 times if he loved Him; that was the same number of times Peter denied Jesus. The God incident changed the disciples lives as they now had a new commission and instead of fishermen wanting to catch fish, they were now to be evangelists who wanted to catch souls. John recognized Jesus first but in sharing it, the rest of them also knew. Let us be like John who points others to the Lord and when God incidents occur, let us respond as John and Peter and the other disciples did.

Challenge for today: Recall a God incidence in your life and share with someone.