From Caterpillars to Butterflies

Recently Pastor Rebecca bought some caterpillars and put them in a netted cage in our house so that the students at Victory Christian School could watch them go through the process of metamorphosis. It was interesting to watch them go from what many would consider fairly ugly little creatures to beautiful butterflies in just a matter of a few days.

Webster’s dictionary defines metamorphosis as, “A marked and more or less abrupt developmental change in the form or structure of an animal (as a butterfly or frog) occurring subsequent to birth or hatching”. It is also defined as, “A striking alteration in appearance, character, or circumstances”. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. The word transformed is the Greek word “metamorphoo”. It means to change, to transfigure, or to transform. Many Christians get saved but never go through the process of transformation by the renewing of their mind by the Word of God. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. If you want to “morph” into the person that God wants you to be, then you must do more than pray a sinner’s prayer and come to church once or twice a week. You must meditate on the Word of God until His way of thinking becomes your way of thinking. When you do that, doing what God would want you to do is not just an afterthought, but your first thought. Old habits and ways of talking and doing things are changed. Your life becomes the beautiful life that God intended for you all along. You receive an alteration in character and the way you handle circumstances. You might even look better to the rest of the world, too, because you will be so happy about the changes that occur in your life.

Romans 12:2 in the New Living Translation reads this way, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is”. By the way, unlike the butterfly, our morphing process takes more than a few days. We begin to see changes as soon as we start acting on the Bible, but our process of changing will last until Jesus comes back. At that time our mind and bodies will go through a glorious and instantaneous change. Until then we have the Word of God to help us think like God thinks so we can begin to live the wonderful life that God wants us to live!

God bless you,
Pastor Jeff

Safe in Daddy's Arms

Dear Church Family,

I want to share something about our little Joshua that I hope will encourage all of you in the fact that we have an awesome heavenly Father who can always be trusted to protect us and look out for us. Joshua is used to being held much of the time in our house. If Glory isn’t holding him, often one of the boys is. Sometimes they will hand him back and forth to each other, talking to him and trying to get him to smile. I can only imagine what is going through his little mind some days as he is getting handed around from one child to the other. He is hearing all the noises they make, feeling them tickle his little cheeks, and watching them try yet one more look to try to get him to smile.

Although Joshua loves his brothers and sister, there are times he just wants mom or dad. There have been times when the kids have had him for a while and I will decide it is my turn to hold him. Several times he has looked up at me after being handed to me by one of the kids as if to say “thank you for rescuing me”. He then closed his eyes and went to sleep within about five seconds. I barely got a chance to look into his eyes or to tell him I love him. It was as if he was waiting until he felt secure enough to close his eyes and go to sleep. He knew that in his dad’s arms he was safe, loved, and protected.

Recently this played out once more. Again, Joshua fell asleep in my arms in about five seconds. I looked down at him and thanked God for our little treasure from above. The Lord reminded me of how much He loves each of His children and that He wants each of us to feel that safe with Him as our Father.

Psalm 91:1-2 says “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, My God, in Him I will trust’”. No matter what is going on in the world we can feel as safe as a baby in its daddy’s arms, knowing that our Father loves us that much and more!