Pastor's Corner

Several weeks ago I shared some blog posts from a friend of mine whose father had a bleeding ulcer in his stomach.  The situation was tragic and most believed fatal.  It took 41 units of blood to keep him alive.  By the grace of God, he is recovering beyond his doctors' understanding.  You can read his story here. Out of thanks to God and as a response to the blessing of those that donated blood to support his life, his church recently held a blood drive.

On June 7, 2009, Riverside will be hosting our own blood drive.  I hope you will consider giving the gift of life.  Please sign up here or on the signup sheet available on Sundays. I am on the list.

Marriage is hard. It is hard to find someone to marry and it is even harder to stay married. But marriage is good too. After all, we did not invent it. Marriage was given to us as a gift from God. (Genesis 1-2)  

Just to make it clear, I do not believe that the below picture is a snapshot of the actual hand of God. Nice thought, but really quite silly (John 4:24). The image can be, though, a symbolic glimpse (however imperfect) of an intangible truth. The truth is that God figuratively has us in the palm of his hand and a remarkable picture such as this can remind us of that. It helps us to see our finiteness in relation to the awesome nature of God's creation, its complexities, and its overwhelming beauty. It helps us to see all of creation's minuteness in relation to the "I am." (Exodus 3:14) And it helps us to see that though we alone can't move mountains, a much larger and more powerful being can do mighty things in our lives and in our world.

This week I was reading Jesus' words in Luke 13:18-19. I was thinking about how insignificant a mustard seed seems, yet it turns into something so substantial. Looks are deceiving. God takes the insignificant and makes them significant. And we hope that this is true in our own lives, because we often feel so small and simple. That is why when we hear stories like the below that we can't help but stand up and cheer . . . or cry with a smile on our faces.