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Last Thursday was the National Day of Prayer. Since we were not allowed to gather at the Court House to pray together, I wanted to share with you my prayer on behalf of all of us. If ever there was a time we needed to get on our knees, it is now. I believe that prayer still changes things because God is still on the throne. We are not alone in this all. And when we give God room to move in our lives, that is when miraculous things begin to happen! So, Lord, hear our prayer!!!

Lord, I am crying out to You on behalf of our County, our State and our Country. My petition goes way deeper than just asking You to make the coronavirus go away. We need lots more healing than just that which touches our physical bodies. There is so much division among our people. There is mistrust and hatred looming all over the place and these traits never lead to life giving conclusions. We know what You have said about pride, God, and ego is such a trap that our flesh so easily falls into. Forgive the ways some of our leadership speaks as if You don’t exist. Forgive us for depending upon the latest news to meet our needs more than we should be hungering for our daily bread. Nothing is bigger than what You can handle Lord and no human power intimidates Your sovereignty. Draw us to lean into Your presence and find solace in Your grip. I hope and yearn that rather than trying to change the course of events with our own ingenuity, we would humbly and willingly surrender our agenda to Your hands and follow Your directions.

There is so much disappointment in our midst, Dear Father. There are no sports, no graduations, no birthday parties, no field trips, no church services with true community, no hugs, no touch and lots of anxiety and worries. The old saying boasts that children are resilient, but I hurt for them and ask that we as adults will take the time to allow them to express their hearts. Let’s assume nothing. Not that we have all the answers they seek, but venting and sharing helps anyone feel better because at least it gets what is boiling on the inside to simmer down on the outside. I also pray that in our efforts to keep everyone safe from a virus, we don’t do it at the expense of losing our souls. What good is it if we are physically healthy but spiritually bankrupt. I know there are times and seasons for everything Lord, but I am asking that those who make the decisions will take into account the fact that people need each other not merely to survive but to thrive. Open the locked doors Lord. Let us be wise and careful, but also allow us to get out of the bubble because we aren’t as protected as we think we are by dwelling there.

Bring a holy peace to those who have had to say goodbye to loved ones from a distance. I ask that our senior adults who are in these special care facilities will sense Your touch and when their loneliness gets overwhelming, please show up to comfort them at just the right time. And for those who serve faithfully in the medical field, God, they must be weary and just wearing those masks all day, putting themselves regularly on the front line, smack dab in the line of fire, God they need to experience fresh energy and renewed strength. Those who serve in retail and restaurants and do so out of necessity also need encouragement. Customers who can’t find what they need are not the easiest of crowds to work with. We need patience and compassion in bigger doses than we are normally used to so that we can treat one another with love and respect.

And there are those who are rightfully concerned about their finances and livelihood; and every day this pandemic continues, the questions of what will happen to their future grow louder and more intense. Lord, You promise to provide our every need and we take You at Your word that You will not abandon us when we need You the most. I pray that doors will open and miracles will take place. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world and we refuse to use logic when, Lord, there are so many instances when common sense must be tossed aside and obedience to You must take precedence. Speak Lord, for we listen and when you lead, give us the courage to follow no matter whatever.

We confess our sins of pride and greed. We all have way more than we need. When we should have given more, we tried to hoard what should have been shared. It’s not too late for us to return to You and to put You first. Teach us to be grateful for what we have and not spoiled brats, always seeking for more. Let us not be ashamed to share our faith. Let us be filled with Your love so that we can spill it on to those who don’t yet believe in You. Let us walk the belief we talk. Let us not be so holier than thou that we don’t take the time to embrace all those you bring across our paths! Even those who don’t look like us or talk like us or believe like us. I want to lift You up Jesus, change the world through me, beginning right here in Cape May County.

We don’t know where this is going, Lord, but we do know You hold the future and our story will not end in defeat. Don’t let us abandon ship unless You want us to walk on the water. Open our eyes to see You everywhere. Open our hearts to receive You anywhere. Open our mouths to speak a truth that will set others free. I know whom I have believed in and I am persuaded that He is able to keep all that we have committed to Him for the day when only what matters most will remain! I pray this in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen!

There is a story told of an American who went over to Paris, and wishing to buy his wife a little gift, he purchased a phosphorescent, mother-of-pearl match-box container; and the beauty of it was that in the dark it was said to radiate a wonderful light. He packed it in his trunk, took it home to the U.S.A., and after the family welcome dinner asked for the lights to be put out. In the dark he took the match-box container from his pocket to present it to his wife, but, when he looked at it, it was as black as the darkness around. Then he said, “That is just what they palm off on us clueless foreigners. I’ve been swindled.” Next day his wife, a bit curious, discovered that on the box there were a few words written in French. She took it down to some friends who had a French maid and had it translated. That night, in the darkness, it was all aglow, for she had followed the instructions written on the box, which said: “If you keep me all day long in the sunlight, I will shine for you all night long in the darkness.”

I fear that too many Believers have packed themselves away during this pandemic, so much so that they have lost their godly glow. This world and the life we live this side of heaven is not capable of keeping our lights ignited bright. Like batteries that we put into our transistor radios, what energy this planet provides us doesn’t get stronger as we play the music, but weaker with each hour it is left on. To conserve its precious power, we hesitantly go without when what we really needed was for it to be on full blast! Our fuel as Christians must be the Holy Spirit of God, or sooner or later, the bulbs of the body of Christ will flicker and eventually burn out just when we were needed to be the illuminating rays of our Savior for the surrounding shadows.

Much like the moon does not generate its own glory but reflects what radiance it receives from the sun, so we too need to stop trying so hard to be dazzling disciples and simply surrender our hearts humbly and fully to the access of the glory of the Son of God! Isn’t it ironic that we could do nothing to save ourselves from our sin and we willingly received the finished work of Jesus on the cross by grace through faith to purchase our salvation but now, somehow, we behave like it is up to us to live holy and righteous lives? This is why so much Christianity is defined by what we don’t do rather than highlighted by how God is at work within our daily behavior. Just because someone knows the Bible inside and out intellectually doesn’t equate to an individual who is madly in love with the Lord. There are many who have been properly informed but they are are still missing the supernatural work of the Spirit in their souls to be transformed. God promises that He will make us more like His Son when we choose to follow Him. It doesn’t occur by freestyling. We must constantly long to dwell in the shadow of our Shepherd.

Growing up, I was my Dad’s right-hand man. I was Little Rudy and he was Big Rudy. The moments I was right by his side were my happiest and most courageous memories. It didn’t matter what was happening around me, I was always secure and satisfied when I was next to my Dad. I found my identity in the presence of being around him. We need to do the same thing with Jesus. We can’t go off on our own and try to figure out how we are going to live a life of faith if we are not in the proximity of the One that we claim to be the servant of. The reason we run out of gas is because we try to attempt to make God-sized works happen without the Miracle Maker even in our midst. If Jesus is not in the neighborhood, don’t expect to feed a crowd of 5000 with a young boy’s lunch! Those feats only occur when we know that our feet are marching in the steps of our Savior.

Do we believe that God can still do awesome lifechanging happenings through His church even while we are locked out of our sanctuaries? Do we believe that God can use us to impact those around us if we will only truly trust Him and accentuate what we are able to accomplish rather than get all frustrated about what we aren’t able to participate in right now? How about the precedents set in Scripture when the God of the universe still showed up with Joseph in the pit, Daniel in the lion’s den, Paul in prison and John on Patmos? Has our ability to live the word of God been taken away from us? Can we still love our neighbors and pray for those who might think differently than we do? Don’t we serve the Lord who created all we see with just a word? Maybe we need a little less whining and complaining from us and a little more constructive input from the One who can really affect the output! Is God on the disabled list? Can any human government really hamstring the holy omnipotent power of our indescribable Lord?

And they’ll know we belong to Jesus by our buildings, our choice of Bible, our hot worship band, our beloved theologian? Nope! We can even have the kind of faith that moves mountains, we can give away money, food, possessions, and speak in a tongue that makes angels jealous, but it is all bankrupt if there is not the unconditional, life altering, no strings attached love of God enabling the acts of His devoted followers. I pray every day for Cape May County. I am not just praying for those who believe like me. I pray for those who don’t believe anything at all. Like the very trees all around us that provide life giving oxygen without prejudice or bigotry, so the grace and mercy of God should be flowing to us to go right through us to touch all that might be in our paths. As long as the Holy Spirit dwells within us, the light will never go completely out. Let’s live like we don’t need any other power source to provide our daily needs.

This pandemic has definitely caught us all off guard. Nobody said last year that they were hoping 2020 would be known as the year we would all miss one thing or another. Children would miss their friends. Athletes would miss their sports. Seniors would miss their graduations. Adults would miss their jobs. There would be no concerts, no weddings, no funerals, no picnics, no movies, no restaurants, no haircuts, no dentists, no chiropractors, no school and no church services. Life is hard enough battling this coronavirus to begin with but to have to do so without one another physically there to lean on has made this ordeal even more challenging.

Nobody misses being together more than me, but this ordeal is something that we are all in together. We are not being persecuted because of our color, our social background, our creed or our level of intelligence. The virus is not picky. It will infect anyone within its greedy germs. So as a Family, as a Church, as a Neighborhood and as a County, we must be willing to work together. It is going to take the prayer of all the denominations to beat this disease. Lord knows that it has already accomplished stealing so much life from everyone up to this point. No one group, one church, one people are being persecuted! It is messing with all of us!

I have really felt for the children. It is so easy to just assume they are doing well because they go along with the program, but they have feelings and just because they don’t express them as freely as adults do, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. I have been asking children what they miss most as they have had to venture through this chaos and their number one answer is their friends. Isolation is not in the makeup of any of us no matter what our age may be. I have been encouraging adults to make time and take time to give the kids a chance to talk. This challenges most of us to practice another trait that we are not always that good at and it’s listening. Listen with our ears and our eyes and our hearts.

We must stay away from the blame game. This isn’t the Democrats fault or the Republicans fault. This isn’t because of New Jersey’s negligence. Just ask those in Ohio or Omaha. They too are facing the same stipulations and barriers that we are. And it is much too easy to blame God. But remember that the Lord has made us with free will, and because of that, sin has reared its ugly head in all of our gardens. Cancer doesn’t discriminate. Depression isn’t choosy. Storms ruin the plans of both those who believe and those who label themselves as atheists. What I love about my faith is that it doesn’t abandon me when the skies get dark and things don’t go my way. The Lord is our Shepherd and stays with us no matter what might come upon His sheep. He doesn’t watch us from a distance. He is right there in the room of the senior adult who appears to be dying alone. He is right there promising to redeem the brokenness and restore what this planet tried to paralyze. If ever there was a time to run in the right direction to the Lord, it is now!

As the Pastor of the Lighthouse Church, our church will continue to be creative in the ways we worship and interact together! Thank God that the One we worship never changes and is still in charge! Not even Covoid19 could separate us from His Love! We must refuse to live in fear and can’t allow the “what if’s” to rob us from the reality of “what is!” April has seemed to last forever. Most of us don’t even know what day it is, but this too will pass. May is coming and so is June, July and August! I know we will all be committed to getting Cape May County open again, even if it must be done via baby steps rather than giant steps. We may not always agree with those in charge, but who does? As a Leader, I am used to those in the grandstands second guessing me and thinking they could do my job better than I could. I have invited many who want my role to come and get it. Still when you are placed within a position that has to make the best decisions for others, you hope and pray that ego and pride don’t get in the way of doing your absolute best! I know in our family we don’t always see eye to eye but we still treat one another with love and respect. This world would be a whole lot brighter quicker if we would treat one another not as the enemy, but as a brother or sister.

So we look for the things to celebrate even amidst a rainy parade. We applaud and give a special shout out of gratitude and appreciation to all the Pastors taking care of their flocks in ways that we were never taught in Bible College. We come alongside our local Policemen and Government Leaders and Medical Personnel and Retail Workers and Postal Employees and Everyone who is fighting this chaos together! I don’t have to wear a mask at my job mostly because you wouldn’t understand a word I was saying at the church or on the radio. I have seen the pictures of those who have facial marks because of the imprints those tight masks have made. I ache for each and every one of our neighbors who put themselves in harms way every single day. I also pray for all of you. If you have any personal requests or needs, please don’t hesitate to let me know. It’s hard to complain about inconveniences when you know that we are all in this together!

So Lord, we collectively and corporately trust You and cry out to You on behalf of the lonely and the sick and the hurting and the tired and the depressed and especially the children! Please Lord, we humbly ask that Your will be done and Your Kingdom come here in Cape May County as it is in Heaven! Hugs to you all! We need to keep looking up no matter what we see when we look out! I truly believe the best is yet to come and we will see treasure in all of us because we have sojourned through these unique trails together. God has blessed us and He is not finished with us yet!

Nostalgia has always been in style. No matter what day and age we might live on, there is always a contingent that looks fondly on the good old days and has a tendency to make that stroll down memory lane lots better than it actually was. In the early 1970’s, there was a sudden fascination with the 1950’s evidenced by Movies such as American Graffiti and Television Hits like Happy Days. Even Radio Stations began adopting the Oldies Format playing only the records from the roots of rock and roll. And while knowing where you have come from has always been good wisdom to help navigate where you might be going, sometimes the old adage is also true, “You can never go back there again!”

One such individual who discovered that reality was Ricky Nelson. Ricky grew up in the public eye both on radio and later of television as a member of his iconic family that included his parents Ozzie and Harriet and his Brother David. It was sort of Reality Media long before that genre took on a life of its own. One truth is known and that is Rick Nelson never felt comfortable having his life observed in that kind of intrusive fishbowl.

Yet hesitantly, on October 15, 1971, when Richard Nader hosted a Rock ‘n Roll Revival concert at the legendary Madison Square Garden, Rick Nelson and his Stone Canyon Band were part of the all-star lineup meant to celebrate good times and great memories of yesteryear. Chuck Berry was there and so was Bill Haley and his Comets. Bo Diddley showed up as well as Frankie, Fabian and Bobby Rydell. Even Pat Boone and his iconic white shoes made its way onto the stage. Almost every performer gave the audience what they came for. Everyone looked like they were frozen in time singing all the hits that had made them famous in the first place. Unfortunately, Ricky Nelson didn’t get the memo that nothing new was welcome for this gathering.

Rick Nelson came out onto the stage with long hair down to his shoulders wearing bell bottom jeans and a purple velvet shirt. Obviously, Harriet didn’t dress her youngest Son for this outing. And while he did include his top ten songs like Hello Mary Lou and Traveling Man in his set, they didn’t sound exactly like everyone remembered them. He gave them a seventies sound when this was strictly a leave things as they were celebration. Things turned ugly when Rick and his Band began playing the Rolling Stones hit, Honky Tonk Woman. The audience got ugly and began to boo profusely, so much so that Rick not only exited the stage, but along with Elvis, he vacated the building.

A disaster like this might have ended another’s career. At the very least, it would have sent them looking for therapy. But I have always admired how Rick Nelson responded to his less than positive surrounding circumstances. Nelson wrote a song about the whole crazy experience. He was able to express his frustration on paper and using his guitar, mix in a little sarcasm and a huge dose of refreshing honesty. What might have knocked him out only caught him off guard but he came bouncing back up fighting. Rick Nelson’s effort tuned out to be a huge Number One Hit in 1972 entitled of all things, Garden Party. When life gave him a thumbs down, he rewrote it with the response being overwhelmingly positive. If you are like me, you still remember the words to the chorus: “But it’s all right now, I’ve learned my lesson well. You see, you can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.” And then there is my favorite line of the lyric, “If memories were all I sang, I’d rather drive a truck.” This was a nod to Elvis Presley who was told in his earliest days to stick to truck driving because he was never going to make it as a singer. Another brilliant call, Not!

The reason I write about this today is because we have all been dealt a hand of cards that none of us could have ever wished for. Nobody said last year, “I’m hoping that we all get quarantined from normal life for months and months in 2020.” There might even be the temptation to become obsessed so much with yesterday or so focused on what will be tomorrow that we actually miss the life that is right in front of us today. This may not have been the way we planned it but I do know that God will help us make sweet music even using some of the sour notes on our scale if we refuse to lose perspective that every day is a gift. Could there be a hit song in our making even if the melody isn’t even close to how we hoped it would be when we first set our pen to paper?

When it comes to a mess, you can choose to clean it up or slowly become part of the scenery. I’m not much for quitting easily. As a matter of fact, the fire in my belly gets even more overheated when someone tells me that it can’t turn out positive or even worse, it won’t! God is all about redeeming the grounds the locusts have attempted to destroy. We can either start rolling around in the mud or plant a garden where we have discovered ourselves in such a time as this. I love that God gives us room to whine and complain. One needs only to read the Psalms to understand this trait of humanity. But once we get our eyes off what isn’t and start to value what is, then we are ready to write that song, remodel that heart, regain that relationship and seize the opportunities we do have rather than waste our moments worrying about the doors that might be closed to us right now.

If I have a word for us this week, it’s to create our own Garden Party. What can you turn around for good that might otherwise end ugly if you don’t intervene? Where can you add some vibrant color to the ugly black and white of this poisonous pandemic? Who needs words of life rather than just being booed off the stage? Who needs to hear beautiful music rather than the endless noise of the news channels? Who needs to be instructed of what they are allowed to do rather than hear never ending lists of all the things we are forbidden to participate in? Decide today to not be afraid to get your hands dirty so that you may plant your seeds and set your stage for your own Garden Party!

The isolation of this social distancing world we now live in is starting to get to me. During this coronavirus battle, I have only ventured out to two places besides the house that I live in. I go to the Lighthouse Church building and I go to Coastal Broadcasting’s radio studio. While I am in both places, I do get to interact with many people through social media streaming and the FM dial. The only problem is, while others get to see and hear me; I don’t get to see and hear them and this spells a recipe for loneliness and a skid into potential depression for an extroverted soul like mine.

I can’t help it but God wired me to be very response oriented. Preaching to an empty room is not the same as sharing my messages with the flock staring back at me. I like to see the faces as I passionately share the Word of God. The weekends before this tragedy of life basically shut us all down, I would present the same sermon three different times on Saturday at 6PM and on Sundays at 9 and 1045AM. But it never got boring to me because each and every occasion provided a unique twist and spiritually driven turn that always kept things fresh and new. The content of my talks might have been the same but who God had placed strategically in the congregation always meant that it came out of me with renewed vigor every time. When I can’t interact personally with those within earshot of me, it definitely affects my psyche.

Do you think that maybe this is why Jesus came from Heaven to earth to show the way? I mean, He could have gotten on a supernatural powerful sound system and blasted his parables and stories down to us while our Savior stayed within the safe surroundings of Glory. Yet, Jesus didn’t do that. He came down to our level when we couldn’t get up to His. He lived among us. He made eye contact with His creation. He ate meals with us and walked where we walked with His disciples right by His side. The Shepherd didn’t direct His sheep via remote control. Our Lord was smack dab in the pasture that the sheep could literally rub up against Him and feel the security of His presence with them. This wasn’t God sending text messages from a distance. This was God so close to us that we could hear Him whispering truth in our ears.

Maybe this is why the pandemic is beginning to pound upon my gut. Being visible to others without the closeness of true communion is not actual fellowship. Somebody said to me this past week, “Are you going to continue with the online classes and studies after life gets back to normal?” As for me and my ministry, I responded with a very quick, “No!” This is why I am not a fan of going to church to just watch a speaker on the screen like you would watch a television at home. The apostles would sit at the feet of Jesus. They would experience all of Him as He also related life in an up front and unusually close to them posture. There are things that we all have to do out of necessity but that doesn’t mean that they are the best way. I long for all of us to be in the same room again as soon as possible. Nothing substitutes for being physically together while understanding spiritual principles. If it was just about intellectual learning, all we would need was books. But even the Bible itself can’t be fully appreciated unless you invite the Author Himself to interact with you while you read. The Holy Spirit revealing to us eternal truth is definitely not a one-way conversation. It involves the participation of God and man involved in the same place in a united process at the very same time.

I miss the hugs and the high fives. I miss the fist bumps and the laughter and tears we all share along the journey. I read where a high-ranking official said that human beings should abandon the practice of shaking hands altogether. I profusely disagree with that suggestion. We were not made by God to operate as robots. The Bible encourages us to greet one another with a holy kiss and that goes way beyond a polite head nod. Jesus wasn’t afraid to catch our cooties. It wasn’t a virus that took His life. It was hatred. I’ll risk the consequences that come with the power of touch. I for one can’t go the rest of my life without it. Like Olaf, the snowman character in the Disney Movie Frozen, I too need warm hugs just to get me through the monotony of days spent here on this planet. The fact that so many loved ones had to take their last breaths all alone without any contact from family and friends during this ordeal is enough to make my heart ache forever. This is not the way God designed us to live and move and have our existence here. All we need is love. Love is even more important than Clorox wipes and toilet paper.

The other day, it felt like spring and so I drove down the street because I missed my granddaughter Lucia and I still had not seen my newest twin granddaughters Adelina and Claire in person. I went by Leah and Jeff’s house and found Luci playing with bubbles in the backyard. She was giggling in such a contagious fashion that I couldn’t help but join in the festivities. I think she got a kick out of the fact that I was calling it “bubble juice.” Pop-Pop kept saying, “We need more bubble juice.” At that moment, in the arms of their parents, those new lives appeared at the door. It took all the restraint within me to not hold those precious treasures in my arms. I complied with the new world order, but my heart was protesting big time. They were right there in my reach and I couldn’t touch them. I share this because there was nothing normal about it. And in the long run, I don’t believe that it would be very healthy for them to be so protected that no other loved one could cuddle them and love on them in their arms. What I am trying to say is that ships in the harbor might be safer there, but that is not what ships were made for. And we people were created by God to be loved-up close and personal.

I am praying like many of you that this too will pass. We will not survive if this lifestyle goes on forever. But it won’t be a virus that kills us, it will be a broken-heart that does us in. No man is an island and we are not put on this earth as solo entities. We all need the power of a holy touch. We need to be held in the hands of those who cherish us. When I get to heaven, I will not be content to just be in the same room as Jesus. I want to fall right in the arms of my Lord. I hope we never get to the extreme where we outlaw contact. I for one won’t survive without it. Go away coronavirus. Return soon communion and community. I will never take you for granted again.

It’s Easter like it has never been before for any of us. It may well be the first Easter that many individuals will not actually be able to come together in community to worship the risen Jesus. But while the building may be closed, the church will be wide open. The last I checked, if death couldn’t prevent our Lord from rising from the dead, then the coronavirus shouldn’t keep those of us who wear His Name from raising the roof to proclaim our appreciation. Aren’t you glad that God is still in the business of rolling the boulders of gloom and doom away? Because Jesus lives, not only can we face tomorrow, we can find a life worth living right here and now, today! We don’t have to wait until this nightmare is over to dance to the music of heaven. No matter how hard fear and anxiety over the unknown might try to rule the day, the fact that Jesus did what He did to conquer sin and death is the key truth which opens the door to real freedom.

Easter still gives us a real reason to crank up the volume of pure joy and sincere celebration. Easter is not an escape from the pain of this pandemic, it hits this disease right between the eyes and exposes it for what it really is. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of what can destroy the body, but make it a priority to deal with what can isolate your soul.” The coronavirus can’t separate us from the love of God. The coronavirus can’t change the fact that the moment I take my last breath on earth, I will begin to breathe the fresh air of paradise. The coronavirus doesn’t negate Jesus being the Resurrection and the Life, the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the Way, Truth and the Life, the Good Shepherd, the Door, the One who would never leave us or forsake us, nor does it cancel out any of the other eternal words our Lord gave us about who He is!

The big question is, “Will Christians find their ability to authentically praise the risen Savior from the current mess they are in?” “Will we choose to worship in the middle of the wilderness or are we so fickle and spoiled by not having our pleasures and conveniences that we will look up to the sky and claim spiritual laryngitis?” I find it ironic that we have been mandated by government to stay within our homes, buried away for an unknown period of time that is definitely testing our patience and spoiling us from participating in the beloved things of spring that we all know and love. If ever we were needing a timely resurrection back to life, it is now. Contrary to those who spout out that they don’t need anybody else to worship God, isolation doesn’t suit us spiritually! God didn’t create us to be loners. We are all at our best when we dwell within a caring community of loved ones. We need one another and those whom we become close enough to come to know us even better than we know ourselves.

Social distancing is definitely not a biblical principle. I believe we are fighting it because it is not in our DNA! God so loved the world that He refused to accept the separation from us that sin caused. It was Jesus who went to the extreme measure of leaving the safe confines of Heaven with no other purpose but to rescue us. He did so by literally becoming one of us. Jesus got as up close and personal with us as anyone could ever be. It was via these means that God mended the broken bridge between mankind and Himself, not by buying or constructing a massive stairway to Heaven, but by His only Son willingly laying down His life down to become the very walk we would gain access to the Father through. Jesus who knew no sin became the deadly virus itself, so that by grace through faith, whosoever will could find their eternal cure and healing in Him. The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t eradicated one fact of all God has done in love for His people. If ever there was a moment when we need something of substance to lift us up out of the pit, it is now!

There was no March Madness. There has been no Baseball. There will be no Masters, no Olympic Games, no Wimbledon Tennis, no family gatherings, no zoo to walk through, no Morey’s Piers to enjoy, no restaurants open to gather in, no where to run and nowhere to hide. There have been people talking like we are not going to have Easter this year. Are you kidding me? You can’t wipe out Easter with a virus. Jesus is not a computer! For years and centuries, the world has tried to squash Christianity, maim the church, silence its Disciples, steal the song of the Resurrection. They couldn’t edit Jesus from our vocabulary then and they can’t keep a good Man down now! Easter is not canceled! There has always been a Resurrection. There will be a resurrection again when this too shall pass. We were not made to live in tombs! We will all get out of our caves and come together again. It may not be this Sunday, but we have the hope that it will happen. That is why I encourage you to get all decked out this Sunday as a family. Don’t watch church online in your pajamas. Ladies, wear that Easter bonnet again. Men, put a shirt and tie on. Let the kids pick out their favorite outfit and tell them they are wearing it to a party! Easter is a jump, shout, knock yourself out, occasion. I will wear the white shoes like I always do, the ones I bought for my first Easter as a Believer in 1976! If Jesus rose from the dead, don’t you think we can rise from our beds? Make it memorable! Take lots of pictures. Open the windows and let the Son shine in! Easter is not good advice; it is Good News! Hallelujah, Jesus is alive! Let your behavior back up your belief! Who is with me?

For way too long, church has become an event to attend. For such a time as this, Jesus is calling us to not go to church but to be the church! I am so proud of all the Cape May County Churches that have been holding their Mass and Services online. Who would have ever imagined that the very smart phone that we thought was such a distraction would actually become a true lifeline? The Lighthouse Church will be remembering Holy Week. We will have live Online Services on Good Friday at Noon and another at 6PM. We will hold a live Online Service on Saturday at 6PM. We will host the Easter Sunday Praise Jam on Sunday at 11AM. Our Sunday Service will also be broadcast and streamed live on 106.3FM The Shore. The website for the radio is: theshore1063.com and the website for the Lighthouse Church: tlccma.org, this page will give you all the instructions you need to party with us.

On Palm Sunday morning, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, riding on a colt. He entered the holy city as a humble King. By Thursday night, after celebrating Passover with His disciples, He was arrested and held as a common criminal. On Friday, it appeared that all was lost when the Lamb of God was crucified upon a cross. Can you imagine how dark and depressed the world was that Holy Saturday. I believe this coronavirus has us stuck in Holy Saturday mode, but wait, there’s more! On Sunday, death was kicked in the teeth, Jesus rose from the grave! And all who would believe, our stories will never end in defeat!

The earth awaits a healing from this coronavirus. Christian have not been exempted from its ugly presence. But as Christians, we received Jesus as Lord to follow Him utterly and completely. We esteem Him above everything else, no matter what our present circumstances may be. Church is so much more than just a bless-me club. We are family and our Lord has said to us, “For better or for worse, I will never leave you nor forsake you and not even death will part us.” We claim Jesus as absolute Lord here. Let all hell rage against it. We are here by Him, through Him, and for Him, come hell or high water. Is Jesus not worthy of a true Easter celebration? You bet He is!

If I were to ask you to finish this sentence about yourself, how would you do so? An even better way to discover the real answer to this question would be for me to ask someone else who knows you and is very close to you to finish “BLANK is your life!” What fills in the empty BLANK?

In our culture, we have a brief, but right to the point, saying that helps us define someone’s values, loves, priorities, and passions, describing for us what that person is truly all about. If a person is passionate about music, we say, “Music is his or her life.” If another finds fulfillment in teaching, training and motivating athletes, we say, “Coaching is his or her life.” When it comes to a man or woman whose work means everything to them, who finds great fulfillment in their career, we might say, “The job is their life,” or in a more negative spin, “They are a hopeless workaholic.”

I follow an entertaining author on Twitter named Jenny Hale and she is a writing machine who seems to crank out one best seller after another, and it would be easy to say, “Novels are her life.” Growing up, anyone who knew me understood that I ate, drank and slept baseball and the game at that point of my journey was easily the answer that went into the blank. All of us are born with the words “BLANK is my life” written on our hearts and minds. Throughout our lives, we desperately try to fill in the BLANK with different things, forming our identities around people, hobbies, interests, obsessions, ideologies, and experiences.

Not all BLANKS are healthy and wholesome. Some BLANKS are just as deadly as the real bullets! These include behaviors that are dangerous and destructive like excessive “partying,” “drinking,” or “sex.” For others, it might begin as something harmless but it can turn quickly into horrible obsessions such as “eating,” “sports,” “traveling,” or “going to movies.” I know way too many people who live their lives vicariously through those they seen on the big screen rather than getting off the couch and start to experience some adventures of their own.

Even people can become paralyzing when it gets out of proportion. Love doesn’t mean control. If you live your life by attempting to make another human being your sole reason for existence by making your empty BLANK “my spouse,” “my family,” “my ministry,” or “my career.” Be very careful because whatever we place in that BLANK eventually has the power to define us, dominate us, and determine our thoughts and actions. In all my years of ministry, I’ve seen the tragic results of people filling in the BLANK with various worldly sources of fulfillment. On the other hand, I’ve witnessed some amazing things take place when individuals choose by faith to fill in the BLANK with big, bold, permanent letters that spell the name above all names, “JESUS.”

Many people who were once consumed by incessant worries and always filled with anxiety and fear have miraculously been transformed and filled with the peace and purpose that living with Jesus brings. Many others who had wandered aimlessly, uncertain, insecure, and daily confused about their existence have allowed their world to become redeemed, renewed and restored by the Word of God which gives eternal assurance, stable security, and meaningful direction. I have witnessed with my own eyes marriages and family relationships that were deemed nothing more than a huge disaster become renovated via the practical presence of Christ being invited into the union where two become one because God is in the house! And finally, I can give testimony about those who hated their jobs, resented their bosses, messed up in their roles and even fibbed and flubbed their ways through most days welcome a total 180 when a personal relationship with Jesus brought humility, justice, and fairness into the workplace.

What about you? Who or what fills in your BLANK? This time think it through. Maybe even ask somebody this question about you. If your spouse, children, parents, employer, co-workers, or employees had to fill in the “BLANK,” would “JESUS” occupy that place?

When something represents what we call “our life,” it means that something occupies an important spot in our heart and mind like nothing else does. We don’t need another to remind us to dwell upon it night and day because we are already doing it quite easily. It is a hobby we never grow bored of, a pastime that is never monotonous, a subject we are constantly captivated by, and a habit that always seems to consume our time and energy and most of our resources. This BLANK becomes our passion, our driving force, our consuming interest and ultimately our life!

If you were to ask the apostle Paul to fill in the “BLANK,” there’s no question what he would answer. Without taking a breath and without a hint of hesitation, Paul’s answer would be Jesus.

In fact, Paul says as much in Philippians 1:21 when he says “For me to live is Christ.” SERVING JESUS SHOULD BE THE REASON YOU LIVE! Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Look at the word, “Whatever!” “Whatever,” has become something of a teenage mantra. As a response to a teacher’s rebuke or parent’s challenge, it brilliantly conveys an air of effortless aloofness and casual rebellion. But the word needs redeeming. It is a wonderfully open-ended word, which is why Paul uses it here. For that reason, it is a word that legalists hate. They want their rules clearly defined to ensure they are clearly kept or broken, and thus easily patrolled. But a lifestyle shaped by grace can never be like that. There are no checklists in a grace mindset. Instead, at its center is the person of Christ or to be more specific here, bringing honor and glory to His name. Acting in someone’s name means both representing that person and acting with their authority. Doing everything in the name of Jesus is no small claim. When Paul says “whatever”, he really means “whatever.” This is about the whole of life. All of it is to be done in the attitude of worship and that doesn’t mean living in church! It means letting Jesus come alive loud and clear though you wherever you may be! When you work, when you play, when you sing, when you raise your children and love your spouse, when you are out and about, no matter what, no matter where and no matter when, the only name “BLANK WORTHY” is JESUS! How about you?

I have so much more I can say but I will stop right now. This Pandemic we are presently enduring will determine what place Jesus really does hold in you! Do you need to turn these areas over to the Lord in a prayer of surrender, letting Him completely fill in the BLANK rather than sharing that privileged space with something else? If you do, do it now. And remind yourself every day of the need to make it all about Jesus. Wherever, whatever, whenever, however, don’t go blank when to comes to hitting the mark in making the most of your gift of life. If Jesus fills the BLANK, then everything else will come up bullseye!

I was about to begin our Saturday Night Service which like many churches, we are providing online these days, when my brother Robert called. I couldn’t answer the phone as I knew I wouldn’t have the time to talk so it went right to voice mail. Not more than a minute or two later, my phone buzzed again and this time it was my sister Mary Claire. I knew something was up, so while my daughter Abbie was leading worship, I answered my phone and the first words I heard were, “Mom was tested and the results came back today. She has the coronavirus.” I felt suddenly socked in the gut as I knew in just a few moments I was about to bring a message of faith and hope to onlookers who needed their Pastor to encourage them at such a time as this.

Mom is 82 years old and she lives in Florida where the majority of my family resides. My siblings down there take very good care of her as she is a strong Italian woman of abiding faith who still exudes lots of life and energy with no signs of slowing down until this past week. This unwelcome virus that has altered the lifestyles of us all was suddenly draining my Mom of her get up and go and she doesn’t give in easily. I did get to talk to her Saturday night and I didn’t recognize her voice at first, I did share the truth of how much I loved her and would be enlisting an army of believers to be praying for her.

I actually preached two different messages this past weekend. One for Saturday night and one for Sunday morning. Preaching and pastoring are not my job; they are extensions of my soul. If I didn’t believe that the Bible was true and that Jesus was my Savior and Lord, I would have a different job. I believe I wouldn’t have survived the trials and tribulations of life on earth at all. On Saturday night, I looked at Nehemiah and how he refused to believe that God had abandoned His people. When Nehemiah, who was in Persia as the king’s cupbearer, got the bad news of how awful things were going in Jerusalem, he mourned, fasted and prayed. Nehemiah got still before the Lord and before he acted, he sought God’s plan for him in the midst of such chaotic times.

I believe that we have become too mechanical in our worship of the Lord here in America. One of the things that we might learn as we all try to adapt to a quarantined culture is rather than stamp God’s names on our events and programs, perhaps we might wait for the Lord to direct before we begin to act on His behalf! Look how life here in Cape May County has been altered in such a short time. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have encouraged Christians to look for Jesus daily and how He is still very present and at work among us even though we are experiencing a whole new now. Americans have a tendency to get bogged down in the past or overwhelmed by the future to the point that they can become blind to the life happening right before their very eyes. None of us can truly deal with the, “What Ifs.” What we do have control over is how we will handle, “What Is.” We are here on this planet to shine our light bright even in the darkest times. But the only way we will keep our wick lit is if we run consistently to the Holy Spirit to ignite the flame.

On Sunday, I shared with our congregation, that rather than seeking presents from Jesus, we choose to become more dependent upon His Presence. Too often we get greedy for God to give us this and that when what we really need is just Him. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I don’t need another thing.” If I cling to the truth that He will never leave me or forsake me, then I won’t get out of sorts when things don’t go my way. I don’t follow Jesus because bad things don’t happen to me. I follow Him because I know the journey this side of heaven is filled with bumps, bruises and lots of battering rams. More than the miracles that God has done for me, it is His accompanying me that allows me to press on when my heart feels like it is going to burst. I was able to preach passionately only minutes after getting the news about my Mom because I know whom I have believed in and I am thoroughly persuaded that He is able to guard what matters most no matter what may happen here on earth.

God’s people will get the coronavirus. It doesn’t make it any more palatable but it does give us purpose in the pain. Jesus took on much worse than a virus to set us free from sin and death. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that things like this sickness could only mess with the body but had no grip on the soul. I gave up my self-reliance long ago. I know my abilities are severely limited. I gave my life to Jesus no matter what others might think because I knew He was the One who could lead me to the only paradise worth having. Many think I’m crazy but I’m not taking a poll to see whether a life of faith is worth the blood, sweat and tears. God said it and that settles it for me. I have come to the place where I believe that God is big enough to back up His promises. In this world we will all have to face the results of a sin torn planet, but I can be of good cheer because Jesus has overcome the world. Because He lives, not only can I face tomorrow, I can even find seeds of life growing in the concrete of today.

I love my Mom and I believe God only needs to say the word and she will be healed. But I also know that she longs to join her Savior in glory. It’s been 20 years since my Dad graduated to be with Jesus. The other night, I dreamt that I heard the trumpet and I was experiencing the return of our Lord. It was so real; I could actually feel the release and wind in my face as I soared towards the sky. I was even holding my wife’s hand. When I woke up, I was so disappointed that I was still in my bed. It took me only a few moments before I realized that if I had a pulse, I still had a purpose. Another day to walk by faith and not by sight!

I don’t know where you stand with the Lord. Unfortunately, for far too many, faith plays a far too tiny role in the big picture of life. God loves you. We all have sinned and fallen far short of trying to impress the Lord with our petty petitions and egotistical good works. God made the move when Jesus took the punishment that we deserved on our behalf. Whoever believes in Him will be rescued. Whoever trusts in Him will have eternal life. This gift doesn’t begin after we die. It is initiated the moment we surrender all to God. It is by grace through faith that we can know beyond a doubt that we belong to Jesus. Have you made that decision? I wish you would.

I have much to live for. My daughter, Leah, just had twins. My son, Joel, hasn’t even graduated high school yet. My daughter, Abbie, needs me to walk her down the aisle someday. I have many more messages to say, articles to write and music to play on the radio. But if I caught this virus and it took my earthly life away, you wouldn’t have to weep for me because like my Mom, I can’t lose. I win either way. The Apostle Paul said it this way, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Let’s walk by faith and not be driven by fear. God holds my future. How about you?

The great Minister Charles Spurgeon once said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.” Jesus didn’t leave us here to live life on this earth as self-centered individuals. The greatest commandment was for men and women to love God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength and to love one another. In the midst of a culture gone selfie crazy, Christians who live for the Lord and put the spotlight on taking care of others should stick out like light shining in the darkness. It is when we become too inward and forget that God’s call is all about behaving outward that the church gets its priority of purpose all mixed up. I have learned via my own experience that God will take care of you if you go out of your way to take care of others. And if ever there was a season for followers to showcase our Savior, it is now!

But I want to challenge all of us to ponder something before we just run out trying to save the world on our own. Before anyone of us opens up our mouths, we best be sure that we first open up our hearts fully to the Lord. There is nothing worse than trying to accomplish spiritual works in the power of our own flesh. Peter bragged about all he was going to do for Jesus, but it only took a few hours to prove that he was not up to backing up his talk with his walk. We won’t give the best away to others or love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us without allowing God to do a miraculous work within our hearts.

Before I knew Jesus, I wasn’t a very giving nor merciful individual. I grew up in a very big family and as the oldest child, I just got tired of always having to look out for everybody else. I was expected to share and care always for my siblings at the expense of having to sacrifice my own schedule. I hated having to be so good. Just once, I wanted to tell everyone else to take a hike so I could do what I wanted to do without any responsibility for anyone else. But when I surrendered my soul to Jesus, God put a love in my gut that was never there before. I began to have a real burden not only for those in my life, but for anyone God put in my path.

Many times, Christians are better at making excuses than truly following after the Father’s will. I hear church people say, “I can’t love that person,” or “I can’t forgive them after what they have done,” but the truth is, we can, but we have to want to; and the Holy Spirit gives us the very power to do so. God will put His love in us to fill us so that He can spill us out to others. We can’t tell the Lord what we will do and what we won’t do, where we will go and where we won’t go when all He really requires from us is an obedient, “Yes!” God uses everyday people to accomplish extraordinary tasks when we surrender our lives unconditionally to His leadership. I can’t tell you how many times that I have prayed a prayer like this. “Lord, I wouldn’t do this for anybody else, but for You I will do whatever You ask.” My behavior flows from my deep and real love for my Jesus. If we desire the works of the Lord to decorate our lives, then we best be devoted to the One who produces the fruit of glory via the dirt of earth.

Anonymity is a not a virtue. It seems that some people feel burdened, inconvenienced, or uninterested in sharing their lives. A hardness of heart reflects itself in an unwillingness to open up our loves to others, to invite them to really know us, and to serve them from the bounty the Lord has given us. Perhaps past hurts create a guardedness, or selfishness erodes the desire to share. But in any case, many people think of Christian living in exclusively private terms. If you ask me, there is just too much “Jesus and me,” and not enough, “Jesus and me and everybody else!”

Have you reduced the faith to nothing more than “a personal relationship with Jesus” without recognizing either our union with other Christians or the necessity of sharing our faith and our lives with non-Christians? When that happens, the body of Christ suffers and the world we live in stays in the dark rather than invited into the light. Anonymity stunts the growth of accountability. Anonymity allows you to live a public life and still nurse a private persona. There needs to be a consistency between what we claim to be and who we really are. Bottom line might begin with not telling anybody else how much Jesus loves them until we are ready to love them too.

Bob Goff says that, “we grow where we are loved, not where we are merely informed.” You can inform somebody you have no intention of knowing or having any connection with. But you really can’t love someone you have no intention of knowing. How can we say we love others if we aren’t willing to listen and hear their hearts? Too many of us are really good at pounding people with the facts and figures of Scripture but we never allow enough time to just simply talk. Communication must be a vital component of education. How can you prove your love to the watching and waiting world if you have built a wall around your heart, complete with a mote that has hungry crocodiles waiting to pounce on anybody who dares to get close? Who in your life will you unlock the door and allow to come on in to your messy world?

The Great Commission may carry you to the ends of the world, but it starts in your apartment complex, your dorm room, your duplex, your rental, your bi-level, your rancher, and your neighborhood. God has given you a perfect environment for demonstrating the gospel and advancing His mission, if only you’d open your eyes to it. What if we made people more important than our projects? What if we decided that Jesus didn’t just call us to finish the race first, but He challenged us to make sure that we help those others running along the track with us?

As I write this article, we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic. Have you ever thought of it as a divine opportunity that could open a door to share the gospel? The Plague of Cyprian was a pandemic that afflicted the Roman Empire from AD 249 to 262. The plague had caused a widespread manpower shortage for food production and the Roman army, severely weakening the empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. The agent of the plague was much like smallpox, influenza and a viral hemorrhagic fever similar to the Ebola virus. History records how the Christians kept the light on in such a dark period. The Church of Jesus Christ became a virtual army of nurses, providing the basic needs the suffering community needed to survive.

At the height of the epidemic, around 260, Dionysius wrote a lengthy tribute to the heroic nursing efforts of local Christians, many of whom lost their lives while caring for others:

“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.”

Having noted at length how the Christian community nursed the sick and dying and even spared nothing in preparing the dead for proper burial, he wrote: “The heathen behaved in the very opposite way. At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.”

Christianity spread to the world through the selfless acts of these early Christians. What will History write about us today? Are our doors open? Have we given God our open hearts? Are we willing to sacrifice our very lives? Something tells me, we won’t have to wait very long to discover the answers to those questions.

I discovered the amazing talent of Kristin Booth when I caught the premiere episode of a Hallmark Channel Show entitled, “Signed, Sealed Delivered,” back in October of 2013. The Series was created and brought to television by Martha Williamson who also produced the legendary faith-based program, “Touched By An Angel,’ on CBS. On “SSD,” we get to see the adventures of the fearsome foursome who are affectionately known as “The Postables.” This unique team works in the Dead Letter Office at the Post Office in Denver, Colorado. They lovingly reunite the lost letters with their original intendents and in the process there’s lots of mysteries to be solved, fun to be had and a little divine providence involved along the way.

The Cast is made up of a very talented ensemble that includes Eric Mabius who plays the leader of the band, Oliver O’Toole, a blast from the past, part philosopher and all gentleman and constantly reminding everyone to “trust the timing” no matter how crazy things may get along the way. Alongside of Oliver are the innocent dynamic duo of Rita Haywith, played wonderfully by Crystal Lowe, a free-spirited gal with photographic memory and the soul of a child and Norman Dorman, played by Geoff Gustafson, who is the sweetest guy this side of heaven, as creative as can be when it comes to tracking down the letters’ destinations and madly in love with Rita. To round out the quartet is the one person who seems to be from this century named Shane McInerney. She is a wiz with computers, knows how to work the angles and is the perfect answer to Oliver’s questions. Kristin Booth plays Shane and she made me a forever Fan out of me by making this character come to life in such the dramatic manner that I had tears streaming down my face watching her work her magic.

Since the debut of Signed, Sealed Delivered, I have developed a real friendship with Kristin Booth. She has been kind enough to come on my Rudy On The Radio show several times. She has an infectious laugh and authentic enthusiasm that is more than just a little contagious. I have grown to respect her immensely as she is a woman of integrity, passion and excellence. Whether it is in front of the camera or behind it, you can be sure that whenever you invest time in watching one of her efforts, it never feels like it is wasted. She never disappoints and always makes me applaud. I wish every actor took their craft as seriously as Kristin does. I wish every actor would treat their fans with the love and respect that Kristin gives.

It’s because I believe in Kristin Booth that I want to share about a film project that we can literally invest in and become a part of. The movie is called, “Capacity,” and it deals with a subject near and dear to my heart, “mental illness.” This is a story about commitment and responsibility. It’s a tale about how far patience and understanding will stretch when dealing with a relative battling their own broken psyche. It focuses upon a lady trying to help her own sister break out of the self-destructive behavior that is leading her to darkness and debilitation. Kristin Booth with the help of her husband Tim Ware directing, shines much needed light on how quickly a flame can be snuffed out when an individual can’t even recognize their own disability? And it questions whether the aid being offered by hospitals actually lead to any true healing at all? Kristin is stepping behind the camera as the author and producer of this motion picture that I believe needs to be made.

There is a campaign in process online at www.indiegogo.com/projects/capacity#/ where money is bring raised to bring this goal to fruition. I am not asking anyone to support something that I have not already participated in by giving myself. There are several perks available to make your participation even more attractive. I am ready to do whatever I can to help reach that magic number that will make this dream a reality. When was the last time you were invited to become one of the credited producers in the making of a movie? It takes many hands to make a masterpiece. I would bet the ranch on Kristin Booth and this message must be expressed so that many more lives can be saved. It only takes a spark to get a fire going. Are you willing to strike a match for a great cause? I am hoping that together we will make the necessary difference. In a world that is in many ways more chaotic than ever before, let’s do something that tries to bring light and peace where there has only been confusion and ignorance before. It’s time to campaign for “Capacity!” It’s time to bring to light what must not be kept in the dark. Every penny turns the bulb in the right direction. Together we can make it shine! Keep up the good work Kristin Booth. We are right behind you!