God, We have a Problem: April 17th Devotional

 

God, We Have a Problem

April 17th Devo

Psalm 55:22

      On this day in 1970, the hobbled Apollo 13 spacecraft splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean. Apollo 13’s fame wasn’t the splashdown, instead, its fame was over the troubled journey the crew endured. On April 11th all of America watched as the Saturn V rocket carried the Apollo 13 crew from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral to the heavens. This same rocket was used twice the year prior, taking the Apollo VI and Apollo VII crews safely to the moon. The crew consisted of Fred Haise, James Lovell, and John Swigert. This was the fifth lunar mission commissioned by NASA and was supposed to be the third time man stepped foot on the moon. This journey would forever be remembered for a near tragedy. On April 14th the crew was about 210,000 miles from Earth, almost to the moon. The crew had been in flight for nearly 56 hours and had just finished a national tv broadcast. They were inspecting the craft when an explosion rocked the ship. At 9:08 Eastern time astronauts Swigert and Lovell radioed in saying "Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Oxygen tank 2 had exploded causing a major mechanical issue. This issue disrupted the flow of oxygen, electricity, water, and light to the vessel. This was a worrisome event because the ship was losing oxygen and fuel at an alarming rate. NASA quickly aborted a moon landing and started scrambling to find a way to get the three astronauts back home. Both the astronauts and NASA worked tirelessly to get the crippled and cold ship to circle the moon and loop back to head back to Earth. The crew had to abandon the Command Module and instead move into the LM (Landing Module). The Landing Module was only designed to get the astronauts onto the moon and back to the command module. It was not designed for a crew of three, nor did it have the appropriate amount of oxygen needed for the journey. The other complication was that it struggled to move the Carbon Dioxide from the module. The crew bunkered down in the nearly freezing temperature. Only by a miracle was the crew able to safely land back on Earth on April 17th.

      The movie Apollo 13 took from creative license when they changed the SOS to say “Houston, we have a problem.” Apollo 13 did indeed have a very real problem, one of a life-or-death nature. We as Christians have problems and worries too, but we don't say "Houston we have a problem." Instead, we should say "God, I've got a problem." Psalm 55:22 says "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." God invites us to come and lay down our burdens at His feet. We can take any problem to God, we can cry out to Him no matter what may be the case. God works in the impossible. God never panics when we cry out to Him. Unlike NASA’s ground control, God is perfectly in control. He already has it figured out. The word sustain in the passage is translated elsewhere as nourishing or feeding. The text seems to provide the image of God feeding us, and taking care of us as we cast our burdens on Him. God does not want the burdens of this life to destroy you or stifle you. He wants to take care of you as you travel through this pilgrim pathway. Cry out to Him, “GOD, I’ve got a problem; I need your help.” He hears you, He cares, and He is actively already working for your good and His glory.

Churches in Missions March 2022 Prayer Letter

Churches-In Missions 

P.O. Box 1559 Sanford, NC 27331

“Mobilizing the Church Through Short-term Missions”

      Easter is quickly approaching and all our eyes begin to turn away from the woes of this world to the hope that sprung forth from an empty tomb.  Our Savior, Jesus, suffered and died the death that we rightly deserved and rose from the grave promising eternal life to all who believe.  The world needs to hear this message, not just from missionaries but from all of us.  Each of us have been tasked with telling the world the Good News of Jesus.  I pray that you will be investing your lives into the unsaved that surround you during this season.  I pray that you will build relationships that lead to redemption.  I also want to remind each of us that Jesus did not merely come to this world to make bad people good, but instead He came to take dead people and bring them life (dead in our trespasses and sin).

      I wanted to give you a family update. Maggie and Noah competed in a speech meet at school.  They both did FANTASTIC.  Noah was able to recite his poem before the entire school.  Noah has been showing A LOT of interest in drama.  He recently recited a poem at a talent show in Martinsburg and played the part of Jesus in the 4^th grade play.  He also participated in his first archery tournament.  Titus has been growing in leaps and bounds.  He is learning how to read and recently lost his first tooth!  Maggie continues to impress us with her artistic talent and caring attitude!

      Our family also enjoyed a week at Myrtle Beach for our CiM personnel meetings.  Our meetings were so encouraging.  The mission loves our family and encourages us to spend as much time together as we can.  We love a mission that helps us to focus on our family.  Our personnel meetings were created to talk about the future of CiM.  We unveiled our new logo, talked about our new website, talked about future ministries opportunities, creating new Bible studies to reach men, and countless other blessings.  My family shared one of our goals for future ministry.  We have been collecting a lot of items recently.  These items help open the door for the Gospel in the communities in which we work.  Needless to say the items have outgrown our ability to house them.  We are asking the Lord to provide us with a large place to store the items.  This will elevate the overflow that we currently have.  We are going to start looking at potential places to rent in the next few weeks.  Maybe you know someone who has a place for us to use or maybe your church has an extra big room that is going unused.  Let us know.  We would LOVE to talk about finding a way to expand and grow our ministry.

      We wanted to thank the MANY different churches who have donated items for our upcoming trips.  We are packing the items during the week of Easter.  We look forward to sharing the Gospel with hundreds of people on that trip.  Pray for good weather and good success from April 22-24^th.  We have also been meeting with multiple different churches prepping their teams for upcoming trips.  We rejoice in the many different times we have been blessed to share the ministry!

      We are so thankful for each of your prayers and financial gifts.  We love each and everyone of you.  We are truly humbled by your partnership!  Keep praying for us as we share what God has laid on our hearts.  Also continue to pray for us as we grow our support to expand the work that God has for us.  We are overflowing with excitement to see what God’s going to do!

Gifts sent to:  P.O. Box 51519 Durham, NC 27717

Or give online via www.churchesinmissions.org      

Designate for Matt & Tiffanie Robinson

Check out https://robinsonsroadsidechats.blogspot.com/ for weekly devotionals

Noah's School Play

Titus at Mrytle Beach

Maggie Waving HI!

Breaking Up is Hard to Do: April 10th Devotional

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

April 10^th Devo

Acts 15:36-41

 

      On this day in 1970, Paul McCartney officially announces the Beatle's break up. Paul and John Lennon started the band in 1957. They were in their mid-teens and the band was originally named the Quarrymen. Over time Lennon and McCartney would add the likes of George Harrison and Ringo Starr. These young men in their late teens and early twenties started to play in different venues. The sound of their music was unique and it didn’t take long for this band from Liverpool to skyrocket to the top of the charts. Their first major hit was “love me do” which was recorded by the EMI Abbey Roads studio, which was the premier recording company at that time. One of the biggest highlights for the Beatles came in 1964 when they arrived in the United States for the first time. They played on the Ed Sullivan Show. Nearly 74 million Americans tuned in to hear this revolutionary rock and roll sound (that was about 40% of the population of the United States at the time). Their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show opened up the door to Beatlemania and the British cultural invasion of America. The Beatles would continue to be a household name through the 1960s. The band would go on to record 21 main albums, but that does not include other compilations or singles released over time. They would write and play over 230 different songs. Of those songs, twenty were number-one hits on the Billboard Charts (a record to this day). They would sell over 600 million albums (also still a record). It looked like the Beatles would be a permanent part of the culture. But everything started to fall apart in the late 1960s. Tension began to build in the band. McCartney had been flirting with going solo and reportedly Lennon left the band in 1969 but the band kept it a secret until April 1970. There were also some major tensions regarding managerial decisions. The last Beatles appearance before the break up was a public concert on the rooftop of the Apple Building in London in 1969.

      The singer Neil Sedaka said it best, “Breaking up is hard to do.” It’s hard to imagine how a band as famous and influential as the Beatles could break up. They seemed like a perfect team. The Beatles weren’t the only famous team to break up; the Bible mentions a famous missionary team that had to go in two different directions. The book of Acts tells us about the great teamwork of Paul and Barnabas. They worked faithfully alongside each other during the first missionary journey. They even worked together to settle major issues at the Jerusalem council, but in Acts 15:39-40 we read “And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sail away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and left…” These two men loved the Lord but could not agree with each other. This very easily could have destroyed the missionary work of the early church, but God used the break up to create two mission teams that would take the Gospel to more places. That being said the believer should not desire to break up with each other. We should strive for unity, reconciliation, for harmony in the body. We will differ and disagree from time to time, but we should work to set aside our feelings and opinions and work together for the furtherance of the Gospel. Don’t allow unresolved conflict in the body of Christ to exist. If you are harboring ill feelings about a brother or sister in the faith, repent and release it.

Our Guide: April 3rd Devotional

Our Guide

John 16:33

April 3rd Devotional

      On this day in 1953 Triangle Productions introduced the world to the first official version of the TV Guide. Another version of a tv guide was published years earlier but it only contained information relevant to New York City. The magazine was a huge success in NYC and Triangle Publications purchased the rights to produce it on a more national basis. The first guide cover featured Lucille Ball and her baby, Desi Arnaz Jr. The picture was far from flattering but the publication was extremely well-received. The first TV Guide appeared on the newsstands in ten cities, costing .15c, and would go on to sell over 1.5 million copies. The first TV Guide was naturally a smaller magazine, consisting of only four main articles, a few reviews, and a schedule for shows running from April 3rd through April 9th. At that time there were only three major tv networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS. It was the best-selling publication from the 1960s into the early 1970s. The magazine naturally evolved over the years and became a staple item in almost every American Home. A quick way to date yourself is by your knowledge of the TV Guide. Many of us can remember the red tv logo with the words TV Guide blazoned on the upper left front cover. We can remember our family picking it up at the local grocery store. We can remember some incredible front covers, we can also remember our grandmothers religiously looking over the contents (especially when Soap Opera time came). Or maybe some of us tried the crosswords at the end of the book. Or maybe we can recall it sitting beside some very dated couch with floral or forest designs. The TV guide would continue to be printed for 53 years until the final print run in 2006, selling countless millions of copies during that time.

      The TV Guide was used to help us navigate the mysteries of what was on television each night. We would simply turn a page, run our fingers down to the right listing, and find out what time our favorite show aired and a few details about the show. Over time the Guide became dated and irrelevant. There is another guide though that is far older, far more published, and is never dated.  That guide is the Bible. Each Christian needs to be committed to spending time in the Word of God. We need purposeful time set aside to dive into the Word, but our study in the world is not a single-person operation, we have a God-given guide that helps direct us. Jesus spoke out our Guide to God’s Word in John 16:13, which says “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth…” The word guide here means someone who will lead you on your way. So who is our guide to the Word? Jesus said “the Spirit of truth”, referring to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence in our life once we are saved. As a believer, we need the Holy Spirit’s help to navigate the Scriptures. We cannot simply study and understand them on our own. This week ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in your Bible reading. Ask Him to open your eyes to the truth and ask Him to help you apply it to your life. Ask Him to lead you.

Good Friday Earthquake: March 27th Devo

 

Good Friday Earthquake

Matthew 27:50-51

March 27th Devotional

      On this day in 1964, a massive earthquake shook South Central Alaska.  The quake struck at 5:36 PM on Good Friday.  The quake measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, making it the second-highest recorded earthquake with an instrument.  It was over two times more powerful than the great 1906 earthquake which leveled San Francisco.  The ground shook for nearly five consecutive minutes!  The earthquake was felt over a distance of ½ million square miles.  Over 600 miles of the fault line ruptured destroying anything in its path.  Land masses were thrust upward of 60 feet (82 feet was the highest recorded) and land masses sunk by as much as 8 feet.  The earthquake caused two major tsunamis.  One particular tsunami struck Hawaii and Japan.  The other tsunami struck the coast of Alaska.  One particular wave was recorded as being over 220 feet high!  Coastal flooding devasted the area, mainly the West Coast of the United States.  There would be over 10,000 aftershocks over the next few months.  Some of the aftershocks measured over a 6 on the Richter scale.  Miraculously only 131 perished in the wake of the earthquake due to how densely populated the area was at the time. 

      This earthquake wasn’t the only one that occurred on Good Friday.  Another earthquake struck on the first Good Friday.  Jesus hung on the cross suspended between heaven and earth.  The perfect Lamb of God is offered as the sinless sacrifice for mankind.  Matthew tells us about the closing events at Calvary that dreadful day “and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rock were split (Matthew 27:50-51).”  On the day that Christ crushed sin the earth shook violently.  There is topographical evidence that an earthquake happened in that area around the year 30 AD!  One of the most important details of this earthquake is that it was divinely sent by God.  The earthquake’s primary purpose wasn’t the destruction of the earth but the destruction of the separation that once kept man from God.  The earthquake split the curtain of the temple, which was no mere task.  The curtain of the temple was so strong that two horses could not pull it apart.  Behind the curtain was the holy of holies, a place considered so sacred that only the high priest could enter once a year to make offerings.  It was a wall that symbolized the separation between God and man.  When the veil was torn it showed the world that all are welcome, that all can come, and that God had come to earth to crush our greatest enemy, sin.  The veil being rent was an invitation for us to worship God in His holiness.  It was an invitation sent by God to be His child, to be redeemed, to be saved.  This earthquake simultaneously destroyed separation and made a way for man’s reparation.  Mankind had wronged God but God repaired the damage done through Jesus Christ.

Love Thy Neighbor: March 20th

 

  Love Thy Neighbor

Luke 10:25-37

March 20th Devotional

 

      On this day in 1928, Fred McFeely Rogers was born in Latrobe Pennsylvania.  The  Rogers family was very well known in the community.  His father, James, was the president of a wealthy business in town and his mother was dedicated to helping the community, especially during World War II. Rogers's childhood was difficult. He was a quiet, reserved, and somewhat overweight little boy.  He recalled many times when he was bullied.  He dreaded going to school because of the taunting.  He was very lonely as a child.  His best friends were typically his stuffed animals.  Rogers broke out of his introverted personality in high school.  After high school, he would go on to graduate with a bachelor's in music and then a bachelor's in Theology.  He became an ordained Presbyterian pastor in the 1960s.  His desire to enter ministry stemmed from a burden to reach and teach boys and girls.  Rogers found his greatest success in reaching the masses of children with television, though he originally hated television.  He wanted to change how tv reached children.  Through the 1950s Mr. Rodgers would work on multiple different children’s television sets, typically designing and creating puppets (many of these puppets would later be used in his television show).  Rogers was offered a lead position with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.  This would be the first time he would physically stand before the television camera. In 1968 PBS brought the program over to their network.  It would famously be named Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.  Who can forget the famous whimsical opening jingle, Rogers changing into a sweater jacket, tossing off dress shoes for canvas shoes, and welcoming us to be his neighbor?  The show aired from 1968 until 2001 (33 years), encompassing 895 episodes.  Incredibly the set rarely changed, even the land of Make-Believe stayed relatively the same.  Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was unique because it didn’t just focus on education but instead focused on how a child felt and their social development.  Rogers tackled tough issues like death, rivalry, depression, bullying, racism, and he even addressed JFK’s assassination in a way a child could understand.

      Mr. Rodgers invited each of us to be his neighbor every week but he didn’t just invite us, he showed us how to be a good neighbor.  Jesus spoke about how we can be neighborly too.  In Luke 10 Jesus is asked by a religious leader on how to inherit eternal life and Jesus asked him what the greatest commandment was and the man replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your hearts, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).”  The man then asks the key question, who is my neighbor?  Jesus proceeds with the story of the Good Samaritan.  A Jewish man was robbed, beaten, and left for dead along the road.  His countrymen ignored his suffering, but a hated Samaritan came by the scene, dismounted his ride, and proceeded to care for the man.  He cleaned him, bandaged him, poured expensive wine oil on the stranger, and brought him to an inn.  He told the innkeeper to take care of the man and that he would take care of the bill.  The greatest thing that the Samaritan did was to show compassion, compassion in action.  Our neighbors in the world are not just people we like or who are similar to us, or people we agree with, but everyone.  How have you loved your neighbor this week?  How have you shown compassion in action this week?  Mr. Rogers said, “won’t you be my neighbor?”  Who have you invited to be your neighbor?

The Replacement: Devotional March 13th

The Replacement

Isaiah 53:6

March 13th Devotional

      On this day in 1954, a young baseball player named Henry Aaron replaced the iconic Bobby Thomson who was ailing from injury. Aaron wasn’t known as Hammerin’ Hank yet, hadn’t won any baseball hardware, and his stat line was empty. Aaron was born in 1934 in Mobile Alabama. He was one of eight children. His family was desperately poor. Hank loved baseball but his family couldn’t afford any equipment. He resorted to hitting bottle caps with sticks and making his own baseball gear from things he found in the streets. Aaron thrived on the field. He tried out for the Dodgers at the age of 15 but they passed on him saying he was too young. Aaron would then sign with multiple different independent negro league teams, typically making less than $3 a game! In the year 1951 he signed with the Indianapolis Clowns, the highest level of Negro League play at the time. Aaron only played 26 games for the Clowns before signing with the then-Boston Braves. Aaron worked his way up through the minor leagues, posting jaw-dropping numbers. Aaron was invited to the Milwaukee Braves' spring training. On this day the great Bobby Thomson broke his ankle while stealing second, opening up the spot for the 20-year-old Aaron to step into the spotlight. Aaron would continue to play at an elite level for 23 years, 21 with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and his final two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. His most iconic moment would be when he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record on April 8, 1974. He would go on to hit a total of 755 home runs (many people still consider Aaron the home run king), hit 3771 (3rd all time, only behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb), win the world series and the MVP award in 1957, the record for most all-star game appearances, and more records then be counted.

     Henry the Hammer Aaron’s iconic career all started because he replaced another player. He took his spot on the field. The Bible talks about someone else who was a substitute, a replacement. Amazingly He was a substitute for us. This person is Jesus Christ. The Bible declares that the wages of sin are death and that all have sinned and come short of God’s glory. None of us are exempt from that. That is a Bible truth that cannot be ignored or brushed away. For us to be saved someone would have to take our place, someone would have to be our replacement. The prophet Isaiah writes about the “Suffering Servant” who would willingly and sacrificially lay down His own life for us. He wrote “But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).” I cannot think of more graphic words that could be expressed to show how deeply Jesus would agonize. Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God would be pierced (the text indicates pierced through, picturing the image of the spear of the solider entering into the chest of Christ while on the cross and the nails), He was crushed, He was punished, and was wounded. Why? For our wrongs, for our sins, and our well-being. He did it to heal us spiritually, to take away the stain of sin which we could never lighten let alone remove. Rejoice today that Christ, the greatest substitute would take our place to redeem us and make us His own.