Author: Jillian McGriff

Today’s Reading Act 27

So many images flash into my mind when I think of a shipwreck: broken crates, pieces of wood, survivors, and destruction. As I have read this passage these past couple of weeks, so many things in my life have been toss and thrown around. My wife, Jillian, and I have been a rollercoaster these past couple of weeks with our children’s health. This biblejournal community of believers has been there with us since last year and I am thankful to be a part of this family. That you for the continual prayers and words of encouragement.

As I look over this past year, my wife and children and I have been on a ship of life called the SS McGriff, captained by Christ. This ship has been through many passes where the tide and turbulence was rough. It has been a dock for “winters” and then released to sail. And sometimes we feel that we are almost shipwrecked, but God has gently placed us on still waters.   I take hope and courage that we have a God who is commander of the wind and water and has the authority to change the tide at any time. The story of Paul reminds me of another lesser-known shipwreck scenario earlier in the bible, the storm with Jonah.

In Jonah 1:4-16, Jonah attempts to run in the opposite direction of his appointed journey. While on the ship, Jonah goes to sleep and the ship is placed in a terrible storm that almost destroys the ship. Jonah understands the situation and has the crew throw him overboard. The result of this is the conversion of the crew to worship God. Jonah had intentions to runaway and God uses it for his glory.

In Act 27, there was a prison ship to take Paul to Caesar in Rome to be arraigned. The crewmembers and Paul were in the midst of an unfathomable storm. During the first three days, the crew did the protocol of lighting the load trying to stay afloat. Then it is recorded that after day fourteen they prepared for the shipwreck that was foretold to Paul by an angel of God. Paul and all 276 passengers were saved after the shipwreck.

From these two ship journeys I can take way a couple of points:

1. God is always in the midst of any situation
2. What may have been the usual time (3 days) to get through a storm, it may take a little longer (14 days)
3. If we train our spiritual ears, we can receive guidance and counsel from God in the midst of these storms
4. Stick to God’s plan and you will arrive safely

Today’s Reading: Acts 20

Hello Friends,It’s been a whole month since I’ve written to you. I’m sure it’s become evident that my Bible Journal journey is often more about my relationship with you, the readers through these “letters” than it is about me bringing any sort of expertise to God’s word! It’s late on Sunday, and I’ve been avoiding putting pen to paper. Acts 20 takes us to a heavy place. Paul is saying goodbye to the Ephesians for the last time. Paul and the Ephesians have cultivated a relationship that serves as a beautiful example to us of Christian fellowship. They cared for one another. They grew close, shared joys and sorrows and held fast to the message of Jesus Christ. Paul leaves the Ephesians with these words:

“I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in and among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Acts 20:29-30

 Paul’s departure from Ephesus is characterized by “much weeping on the part of all…” What follows is indeed a season of wolves for the Ephesians. After reading this chapter a few times, I find myself in a season of wolves. As much as I take hope and solace from the story of Eutychus falling and surviving earlier in Chapter 20, I’m still stuck on the emptiness left by Paul’s departure. The truth is that even after the joy of Easter, some of us find it difficult to hold fast to the Jesus we cannot see. Just as Paul promised, Jesus is alive in our lives each and every day, but we have to cultivate our relationship in order to live that reality. In the last month, our three year old daughter developed seizures. Just like the Ephesians, I felt my foundation crumble beneath me. So many of the wolves that Paul describes have come in the night to tear away my strength, my joy, my Jesus.

Just as Paul forewarned the Ephesians, he is also preparing us. We all know that a certain darkness will come to our lives. He tells us:

“Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:31-32

 Did you catch that? Three years. For three years Paul built up the Ephesians, never ceasing to grow their faith like iron sharpening iron so that they would be able to stand alone in the face of adversity knowing their God and His grace. Our daughter Ruby Mae just turned three. For three years she has remained healthy while our oldest son was tested time and again with physical illness. Our heavenly Father knows our hearts and knows that this new storm is just the next opportunity to bring us closer to Him. As I Mom, I felt the storm coming, saw the clouds on the horizon. When it came, my mind was armed and ready to stand strong but my heart was exposed. Slowly, God is shepherding us through this new challenge and we follow, stumbling, often losing our way. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen. In fact, I think my husband and I would agree that we have had way more bad stuff to face since we committed our lives to Jesus Christ. I know we’d also agree that the love, care and support we’ve received from our church family has taken away so much of that pain. At the end of today’s reading, Paul reminds the Ephesian’s of Jesus’ words:

“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than receive.’” Acts 20:35

We are so blessed to be helped when we are weak and called to help others when their weakness comes. I hope that our testimony of Christian love in our life gives you hope in yours. We humbly ask for your prayers for our precious daughter. The future is uncertain. We in turn promise to hold fast to prayer for you, our readers that we know face storms of one kind or another.

Peace I Leave You My Friends

Todays Reading Acts 13

Happy Easter Monday

The passage for today’s blog is a beautiful complement of the Easter Resurrection story. Paul and Barnabas are sent on their first mission trip of the gospel. They have recently come from Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover and they meet up with some spiritual brothers to prepare to go to Cyprus. While at Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas encounter several people who want to know Christ for their spiritual growth and some for their personal growth. While at the Antioch, Paul gives a great speech, which showed the completeness and fulfillment of the Scripture.

Acts 13: 15-35

After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” ¹⁶ So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. ¹⁸ And for about forty years he put up with^[b]them in the wilderness. ¹⁹ And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. ²⁰ All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ ²³ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. ²⁴ Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶ “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. ²⁸ And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹ And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from the dead, ³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. ³² And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, ³³ this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’

³⁴ And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

³⁵ Therefore he says also in another psalm,

“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.

In the New International version of the bible the word for corruption is replaced with decay. This is a really important use of the word and aspect of the Easter story that we sometimes forget. We remember the trial and the beatings and flogging of Jesus. Then we see the crucifixion and burial. Then we see the resurrection of the body. We forget the days in the tomb and the decay that was taking place for three days. Many of the disciples and followers of Christ witnessed the horrible treatment that he endured before the cross. This brutality started to disfigure him, so much that the people hardly could recognize him. Then he was crucified and left in the hot arid sun for several hours. This intensified his disfiguration and appearance. He had bruises and blood dried on him and that left him unrecognizable. Then he is anointed with oils and wrapped in linens and placed in a tomb. Here he lies for three days. This would have left him decaying to a point that no one would be able to know that it was a human before. The image that I imagine is one from those CSI shows where they have to re-create the person face with technology to make a positive identification. He not only was resurrected from the dead, he was recreated and perfected in Glory.

This was not the first time that a person was resurrected; remember the widow’s son and Lazarus, but this is the first time that decay could not hold onto the body or the spirit. This is the first time that decay could not complete its orders. This is the first time that decay could not accomplish its main objective and I am excited for the Monday after Resurrection Sunday. It tells me that no matter what type of decay that I may face in life, family, finances, work, or health the decay will not be able to complete its work because Christ has freed me from that death and given me a new and risen life.   Be Blessed as we start these 40 days of the Easter Season.

Today’s Reading : John 7
In the 7^th Chapter of John, John setups an interesting scene: there is a festival in Judea and Jesus’s brothers and relatives are urging him to go to the festival, but he refuses to go and participate. The Feast of the Tabernacles, is the seventh and final feast of the Jewish tradition, it’s a big deal. This is the feast of the harvest and ends the High Holidays of the Jewish celebration. It is symbolic to the tabernacles or huts that the Israelites used in the desert during their forty-year reflection. Upon researching further into the feast, this is linked to one of Jesus’s earlier miracles in John 5: 1-17. It was at this very feast probably a couple of years earlier, were Jesus finds a man at the pool called Bethesda and have the man pick-up his mat and walk. The Jews are upset at the man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. So the Jews are looking of him and want to persecute him for performing miracles on the Sabbath and for preaching the Scripture.  The question is “Would you go somewhere knowing that there are people waiting to persecute you?”

Lord thank you for always being able to perform miracles everyday and thank you for ministering to us daily with the Holy Spirit. I praise you for everything and having all authority. Amen