One step forward, three steps back.

Somehow my Good Shepherd is going to make this how He cares for me.  Somehow.  As Pastor F is wont to remind me, Christ is with me in my baptism.  Always.

Sometimes I want to beg him, PLEASE tell me what you mean by this.  Sometimes, I think I know. But mostly I wonder, truly wonder, what it means to say that Christ is with me in my baptism.

~~~~
Pastor C fetched me from the airport because I could not manage to find another ride.  He not only fetched me, but he carried my too heavy bags to my room, while I sat most comfortingly in his lovely air-conditioned vehicle, still fighting nausea from my flight, and then he drove me over to my writing student's abode where my own vehicle has been residing.

Anyway, before he departed, I asked if he would pray.  Now, one of the things I have noticed about devout confessional Lutherans, of which he is most certainly one, is that they pray with their hands clasped together.  I have wanted to ask the why of this for I sort of like it, but I also miss the evangelical Protestant way, brothers and sisters holding hands.  Well, when I asked to pray, Pastor C promptly held out both his hands for me to take in prayer.  SIGH.  The mercy of Christ does overflow me.  Even now.  Somehow...even now.

~~~~
In case you are in search of a laugh:  I attended the first class in a new study of Biblical Greek.  I know, how can my MS ravaged, cheese-hole brain keep up?  I studied ahead, memorizing the Greek Alphabet, which did help for the first 45-minutes of the class.  Then there was 15 minutes of whirlwind grammar that left me slaw-jawed.  I fear I must study ahead more thoroughly to just sit through the class.  Pastor E, I proffer, is much like me as a professor:  he piled on the homework in the very first class!

I spotted this book at a store the other day:  101 Things Jesus Does for You.  For you.  I just had to purchase it, eh?

I thought for the next 101 posts, I would include the things Jesus does.  I certainly need the reminder.  Perhaps you do, too...

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ~Romans 8:1-2

1.  JESUS GIVES US A CLEAN SLATE.

We know the feeling well: guilt.  It has followed us during the day and kept us awake at night.  We can't forget the things we've done, no matter how much we may want to.

The good news is that in Christ, God accepts us as His children.  We can be free from guilt knowing that He has forgiven us—completely.  "Though your sins are like scarlet," He tells us, "they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18b).  And while we still face the consequences of our sin and sometimes the discipline of our Heavenly Father, we can finally sleep at night, resting in the assurance that God is for us.

Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!