Hey Church, your word for this week comes to us from the prophet Nahum in Nahum 1:7

“The Lord is Good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in him.”

I want to talk to you a little today about this “refuge” that God is to us.  Webster defines “refuge” as a place of shelter, a retreat, or a safe harbor.  Whatever we may face in this life, whatever we may have to go through, we have a “safe harbor,” a place of shelter, in God.  And that is provided for us through Jesus our Savior who came to earth and lived a perfect life and yet took all our sins and humanness upon himself and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, bringing us into right standing with God by our acceptance of that gift.  I want to encourage you today to remember that if you have that relationship with him because you’ve accepted that gift, that Jesus did not leave us as orphans when he ascended back to heaven, but his Holy Spirit came and he’s still here today within each of us. He is that refuge for us, here to comfort us, to guide us, to teach us and to protect us.  When the “storms” and “chaos” of this life seem to “erupt” all around you, I want to encourage you to do as it says in

2 Corinthians 4:18

“So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, (earthly things) but what is unseen is eternal (Heavenly things).”

God Bless

Tim Olsen

Lay Leader