We are a bus stop!!!...Matthew 26:36-46...The Prayers of Jesus

 


We are one of the stops of the Gold Line known as the Rocky Express between Granby and Grand Lake.  It is a free service.  I have figured out that I can hop on the bus, do my business in town and then catch a ride back.  It also services the Amtrak train stop in Granby to shuttle people up to Grand Lake.  Our front pull through parking lot works well for this and it runs 3 times a day.  

In the background you can see that the church is now ready for shingles this week.  The drip edge is being completed today.  This is a huge project for such a little congregation and it shows how big our God is!  We rejoiced in our annual meeting of $60,880.00 raised of the $110,000.00.

A month ago I switched out the starter on our 2012 Honda Odyssey van with 263,000 miles.  It worked a month and then it acted up like before.  I bought a new battery which was 6 years old but to no avail.  I pulled the new starter out and had it bench tested and all was good.  I installed it again and cleaned all the connection points and the van came back to life for one trip to the post office.  Coming back to the van and turning the key I heard a whole lot of nothing.  This was different than before and beyond my scope.  Now it was towed from Grand Lake to Granby to a local garage.  Your mind runs to the extreme when something like this happens to your only vehicle.  A wonderful couple in the church allowed me to borrow their spare truck to get around to run my errands.  There was a good end to the story but also some bonuses that you need look for when going through an earthly trial.  I met the local tow truck guy and had quite the conversation from Grand Lake to Granby and back again.  I also met this local mechanic and his work was thorough and fair.  The problem was not the starter or the battery but the wire from the battery to the computer that was totally corroded under the sheath connecting the two.  Plenty of power but something in the way and I'm already thinking of a sermon illustration here.  I'm sure the relationships forged had more eternal value than the aging van that will be replaced someday.  I guess this was a "consider it all joy" moment from James 1.

Jesus is now in the garden in the Kidron Valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.  They have completed the Passover Meal and Jesus has told His disciples that not only would one of them betray Him but all the rest would be made to stumble and scatter from the Shepherd Jesus.  Peter would have none of what Jesus was saying and pulled the others to his opinion on the matter.  In this passage, the prideful Peter will find a pillow while the all knowing Jesus prays.

Jesus gives us another tool for our toolbox when we are faced with temptation.  The first temptations of Jesus in the desert after His baptism and fasting 40 days shows us to pull out the tool called "God's words" when Satan comes calling.  This temptation in the garden, Jesus pulls out the tool called "prayers to the Father" to keep God's will paramount over our own will.  Jesus passes both tests and gives His disciples and us His future followers a fantastic example to follow.  Temptation is nothing to be passive about or to try to sleep away but rather to watch (be attentive to) and pray (offer up).  I guess at times we are tempted to treat our temptations in the wrong way.  We heap temptation upon temptation.

The betrayer, Judas Iscariot, is coming with a detachment of soldiers and officers and Jesus is ready for them.  His prayers to the Father show us how to be prepared for whatever will happen next.  May our confidence not be in ourselves but rather in the One who gave us His words and this avenue to call up Him for heavenly wisdom when an earthly temptation tries to pull us away from His will.

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 39th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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