"But the time is coming – indeed it’s here now – when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth." John 4:22 (NLT) It was a crisp day with a bright blue sky, no clouds, and a slight breeze blowing across the landscape. The mountain stream rushed by and a good pace toward a waterfall about 50 yards in the distance. It was very peaceful on the mountain and the views were spectacular. Surrounded by nature and overwhelmed by the sights and sounds one thing became crystal clear. No human hands could have ever created such amazing beauty. In that moment that place became a sanctuary. That part of the day became worship. Have you ever had such an experience? Where what you thought we be a fairly ordinary day became a time of worship? The day I described above was a day at Yosemite National Park hiking the trail to Half Dome. I knew the hike would be through beautiful terrain and amazing views. But I truly did not expect a rest break on a rock in the middle of a mountain stream to become worship, but it did. Every day we are given opportunities to worship our amazing God if we will just take them. As a community of faith we gather together every week to worship together in the sanctuary. It is the central act of our community. It is a special and sacred space each and every week. However, worship is not a time and place as much as it is a response. We worship God as a response to who God is and all God has done. Worship is an attitude of our heart toward God. In a conversation with a Samaritan woman, Jesus tells her that God desires those people who worship Him in spirit and in truth. He also tells her this worship is not bound to a place, rather it is bound to the one whom we worship. This type of worship can take place anywhere and at any time. This is why we say we want to engage in a lifestyle of worship at St. Andrew's. I encourage us all to take every opportunity this week to have moments of worshipping God in spirit and truth wherever and whenever we are moved. We will come together in worship on Sunday as a time to be together as a culmination of a week of engaging in a lifestyle of worship. We will worship God together in spirit and in truth. May God receive all honor, glory, and praise. I look forward to continuing the discussion this Sunday in the second week of our series "Love Does." See you in church.

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus …” Acts 20:24a (NLT) Do you remember the story of the little engine that could? The story was first published by that title in 1920. It’s a story of determination and a story of belief. If you know the story you know the little engine that could had a purpose, a passion, and faith. The little engine that could had the purpose of pulling all the train cars up the hill. The little engine’s passion was to complete the mission and show everyone that this unlikely little engine could do the job. The little engine also had to have faith to accomplish the purpose before it. It has remained a story that inspires kids and adults alike because of the hope the story gives us all. I see the work of the church in a similar way. The church is a community of believers with a common purpose, a common passion, and the faith necessary to accomplish it all. I also believe that, in the words of Bill Hybels, the local church is the hope of the world. There is no other entity that is designed and empowered to carry out the purpose of Christ in the world. Christ knew this when he told Peter, “…and upon this the rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” The purpose of the church is to spread the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the word. The Great Commission to go into all the world and make disciples is what The United Methodist Church claims as their mission, “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” The people of St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church are a community of faith that lives out our mission as a local church within this greater mission. Our particular mission statement is to lead people to experience God’s grace through a growing relationship with God. This is our common purpose. It is what we focus on as we work our way up the hill. We focus on this mission for two main reasons. First, we believe that God is revealed to the world around us through acts of grace. The Wesleyan Way of Salvation is centered on God’s grace toward all of humanity. So we focus on making sure that the people we serve experience God’s grace through our work together as a church. Second, we believe that God’s grace is given to us through a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Whether someone is a nonbeliever or a long-time believer, we see our mission as helping them grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Our passion as a community of faith is to stay on mission. To help people experience God’s grace and to grow in Christ. We are unwavering in our focus on this mission. We are clear on what God has called us to do and to be. We are people of grace who are growing in Christ. Because of our mission and our passion to pursue it, we have the faith that God will be faithful to help us accomplish it. God equips those whom God calls. We place our faith in the God who provided dry land for the Israelites to escape Egypt, who provided victory for David over a giant, who provided a small army to defeat the stronghold of Jericho, who provided healing for the sick and sight for the blind, who raised Jesus to life, and who provides us with new life through Christ. We have faith that God will provide for our every need as well. This Sunday we will begin a new message series entitled “Love Does.” This series will be about our Mission and Vision at St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church. The series will help us remember and seek after our purpose, passion, and faith. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

“You gave them bread from heaven when they were hungry and water from the rock when they were thirsty. You commanded them to go and take possession of the land you had sworn to give them.” Nehemiah 9:15 (NLT) Every once in a while God seems to align things perfectly for your situation. This week I feel as though God has been using the very thing I have been sharing with you on Sunday mornings to help me. As I was beginning to prepare for this week’s message I was rereading the passage in chapter 9 that we will be looking at this Sunday. It speaks of the way God cared for God’s people in the desert as they were being led to the Promised Land. God was with them every step of the way and God provided for their every need. As I studied this passage again, little did I know that it would bring great comfort to me and be exactly what I needed. Debbie’s mom was admitted to the hospital on Saturday of last week with severe abdominal pain. We thought that it was a complication from her Lupus. They ran tests and some more tests and we began to become a little more concerned. On Tuesday we received a diagnosis of stage IV ovarian cancer. It was devastating news for the whole family. Debbie’s mom, Nancy, is one of the strongest women I know and I know she will fight. She has a great attitude and the doctors seem to have a plan. But it has taken some time this week to adjust to this news. Nancy will face chemo treatments for the next four weeks and then there will be a recheck. I know many of you have faced this type of news with family members, friends, and loved ones. It just plain stinks to receive such news. Then I was drawn back to my reading of Nehemiah. The people of God are reminded about the time their ancestors didn’t even know if they would survive. They were uncertain about from where their next meal would come. Would they have enough to eat and enough to survive? They truly did not know which way to turn. Nehemiah reminds them that in this dire situation, God provided. He remembers with them that, “God gave them bread from heaven when they were hungry and water from the rock when they were thirsty.” They may not have known the way, they may not have known where their next meal would come from, but they could count on God providing for the journey. Life is full of unexpected journeys. Some of these journeys are full of joy and seem easier than others. Some of the journeys are into uncharted waters and full of twists and turns. God promises to be in the journey, to provide for our needs, and to lead us to the promised land of His good and pleasing and perfect will for our lives. I know that our family is taking the journey one day at a time right now. We are trusting on God’s provision for our every need. We are clinging to the promise that God knows the way and knows the destination. We will give God the glory, honor, and praise in every part of the journey. I know that many of you are going through difficult times in your families. Please know that I pray every day for those who call St. Andrew’s their church home. I also pray for those in the communities we serve who are hurting. I pray for God’s provision for the journey and for God’s grace to be experienced. Our family would truly appreciate your prayers over the next four months. We know that God’s mercies are new every morning and we know he can rebuild the walls in our life. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week as we finish up the series “Rebuild.” I can’t wait to see you in church!

“They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.” Nehemiah 6:16 (NLT) One of the most interesting parts of the Olympic Games this time around has been the stories of faith many of the athletes have shared. In many cases the athletes have been very quick to give credit for their success in the pool, on the track, on the gymnastic floor, and so on. It has been refreshing to see some of the athletes recognize that their strength, determination, and abilities come from God. There are many things that go into reaching the goal of competing and hopefully winning a medal. The athlete must give themselves to the program/process, work hard, and endure through all of the training in order to reach the goal. You can tell when one of the athletes reaches the goal how wonderful the feeling must be. The story of Nehemiah has this dynamic to be sure. The goal is reached in 52 days! All of the sacrifice and hard work pays off as the wall is completed. The people of God who worked so hard to achieve the goal must have been ecstatic and jumping for joy. There must have been hugs and high fives all around the city as they reached a tremendous goal in record time. I would have loved to be a part of that celebration, wouldn’t you? What a day of rejoicing that must have been. It is truly something special when the people of God come together and achieve a God sized goal. Nehemiah’s enemies were not happy about it though. This time they did not come after Nehemiah and try and deride him at all. Instead, the Scripture says that they, “were frightened and humiliated.” They literally did not know what to do. They had spent the better part of almost two months mocking the people of God, Nehemiah especially, for engaging in a God-sized goal. The reason they were frightened and humiliated was that they neither understood the goal that was reached, nor the God who had given it. If the people of God could gather together while being under the rule of an enemy king and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem what else could they do? Nehemiah helps us understand the real threat to the enemies. The real threat was God! Nehemiah says, “They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.” Wow! That’s what had the other nations shaking in their boots. This God of the Jews could lead the people of God to do amazing things together. The other nations did not have this God on their side. Remember the story of Elijah and the followers of Baal? It was a testimony to the people around Jerusalem that the God of the Jews was the God who did amazing things for God’s people. That both put the fear of God in them and brought shame to them for all of their mockery. Whenever we reach a goal in our life as believers, it is only because of the help of God. God gives us the call to rebuild our life. We submit to God’s reign and rule in our life and endure all of the struggles along the way and eventually, with God’s help, we reach the goal. Once we reach the goal all honor, glory, and praise belong to God. We celebrate not because of what we did, but because of what God did with us. We realize that our goal was reached because of the help of our God. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week as we continue the series “Rebuild.” I can’t wait to see you in church!

"Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply." Nehemiah 6:4 (NLT) There are some questions that always have the same answer. One of my uncles would always have the same answer to the question, "What time is it?" His response was ALWAYS "Three hairs past a freckle eastern elbow time." The same answer every single time like clockwork, pun intended. There are some answers in life that are always the same, predictable. In the story of Nehemiah, his enemies asked him what he was doing constantly. He always had the same answer. He told them every time that he, with God's help, was doing a great work. Finally, his enemies ask for him to meet with them. The wall is almost finished and they are trying to keep him from crossing the finish line. Nehemiah discerns this. In the verse above he says that they asked him to join him four times and every time he gave them the same reply. Every time Nehemiah says he is doing a great work and he won't be joining them. It has been my experience that there are a lot of people who want you to join them in some insignificant work. These things can be appealing and tempting. But if they take you away from the purpose to which you believe God has called you, DON'T GO! In the face of those who would try to distract us from God's purpose we need to offer the same reply, "I am doing a great work!" We must not allow anyone to distract us from God's purpose for us. I love the story of Nehemiah. I love how God gave him a grand vision. I love how God's grace preceded the work of rebuilding the wall. I love how Nehemiah was laser focused on the purpose God had given him. We, too, need to stay focused on God's purpose for us, especially in the face of those who want to lead us astray. I pray that we will all stay focused on the great purpose to which God has called us. I look forward to sharing more about this on Sunday. See you in church at one service at 10:00AM this Sunday!

“Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me ...” Nehemiah 2:18a (NLT) Just south of the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky there is a historic homestead. The front part of the property in the rolling hills of central Kentucky is lined with a historic dry stacked stone wall. The term dry stacked refers to the fact that there is no mortar used when constructing the wall. The stones are fit together and stacked on top of each other. The benefit to this style of construction was that damaged parts of the wall could fairly easily be rebuilt with the same materials. While living in Wilmore I learned that restacking, or rebuilding, the wall was not as easy as it looks. There are people who spend years learning the skill of creating dry stacked stone walls. When it comes to rebuilding them, to do it right, you need expert help. The story of Nehemiah is a lot like the stone walls I mentioned. The walls of Jerusalem were in ruins. The enemies of Jerusalem had destroyed them and left them in ruins. This was a disgrace to the Israelites, the people of God. Nehemiah was very unhappy with what this said about God to the rest of the world. He wanted to do something about this. God made a way for him to talk to the king that was holding the Israelites captive. He convinced the king to let them go and rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. It was an amazing move and it energized the people. Nehemiah and the Israelites rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days. It was truly a God-sized accomplishment. At the beginning of The Book of Nehemiah we begin to see why Nehemiah was able to stand boldly before the enemy king, really the Israelite people around back breaking work, and endure through difficult opposition to accomplish this great feat. In Chapter 2 verse 18 we read, “Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me.” God’s grace enfolded Nehemiah and God’s people through the whole journey. They were not doing the work on their own. God prepared the way before the first stone was laid. God was with them even when they wanted to quit. God was with them when their enemies tried to stop them. God made a way for them to accomplish the great task that God inspired. Nehemiah knew they would succeed and he was not afraid to tell even his enemies that God’s gracious hand had been on him and he would not fail. In most of our lives the wall of our life is in need of repair. There are sections of the wall that have deteriorated. Some of the sections that can deteriorate are our faith, relationships, attitudes, and overall outlook on life. As we seek to get started rebuilding the wall of our life the first step is to understand that God is with you. God’s gracious hand is on you. God does not want for the wall of your life to be in ruins. God wants our life to be whole, holy, and full. If there is a section of your wall you desire to rebuild remember that God’s gracious hand is on you. God wants for you to succeed. So why not get started today? I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week as we start a new message series “Rebuild.” I can’t wait to see you in church!

Okay, so why is it that you can search the internet and find so many examples of Christianity that are just plain weird? I've spent a little time over the last week looking up message illustrations to illustrate the power of unity within the church. More often than not I find examples of just how odd Christians can be. By odd I don't mean radical or counter cultural either, I mean down right odd. Christianity is designed to be counter cultural and radically different from the norm. We are to be radically different for our love, radically different for our patience, radically different for our joy, radically different for our gentleness and kindness. We are not necessarily to be radically different for our taste in music, our inability to do things with excellence. Many times churches and church people miss the mark because we have made our own preferences the mark. All of this takes place while a world in desperate need of a savior watches us and just shakes their head. So what are we to do about this disconnect? How are we supposed to ensure that we are radical and not simply weird? The simple answer seems to be to follow more closely the teachings of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus was radical, not weird. Jesus was equally able to be in a crowd of sinners and a crowd of self-proclaimed, self-righteous religious leaders. Jesus was able to bridge the gap between humanity and divinity. In fact, Jesus was, and is, the gap between heaven and humanity. The difference is that Jesus was radically different from anyone in the room and yet Jesus was radiantly regular in his approach to humanity. He was fully human as well as fully God. Jesus did not make people shake their head in embarrassment because of who He was. Jesus made people nod their head in conviction because a man who was so much like them called them to so much more. You see.... the thing about being a Christian in this world today that makes us different is our radical belief in the resurrection, our radical belief in the power of the Holy Spirit to save, and our radical belief that Jesus Christ loves us enough to set us free. We are free to run into a world full of sinners and choose not to run them off with our weirdness. We are free to offer them Christ in a real and believable way. We are free to help them understand that they are fearfully and wonderfully made and there is a savior who longs for them to know how much God loves them. This is the wonderful nature of being a Christian.... that they will know we are Christ-followers by the measure of love we have for each other. So next time you are faced with a choice of being a wonderful example of what a Christian is all about or being weird... choose wonderful. Choose to love the people around you in a real and powerful way. Resist with everything you can muster the temptation to be cheesy, trite, or clever with your faith. Choose instead to be real. Choose to represent the Christianity that Christ taught; the Christianity that shines radically above all the other options in life. Only then will the world around you begin to nod its head in conviction. Only then will the people in your life come face to face with the reality that they are a sinner in need of a savior. And they will come to this conclusion, this moment of conviction, because you chose the wonderful message of Jesus Christ over the weirdness of being clever with your faith. Someday I pray that all Christians will represent Christ in an authentic, real, honest, and powerful representation. When asked whether Christians are wonderful or weird the answer then might actually be wonderful. See you in church.

I am Rev. Dr. Dan Parrish and the newest staff member here at St. Andrews. I rejoice to be your Congregational Care Pastor and give thanks to Pastor Tim for affording me an opportunity to proclaim the word of God this Sunday to our congregation. But I’m not the only person on staff at St. Andrews, for everyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus Christ is a part of our staff. I feel that we do a disservice to our congregations when we fail to remind each person in the pew each Sunday that we are all called to be ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the congregations that I served, the first line in the staff listing was this: “Ministers – All the members of the family of God.” I did that because each of us is a minister of the Gospel every day, many times to eyes and ears that we don’t even know are watching to see our witness. Nonetheless, we do bear a witness – which leads to the following questions. Jesus asked an important question of those who followed him, a question that every person answers in one way or another – WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? Each of us must answer for ourselves that question. Our lives will either reflect his presence as we choose to serve Him as the Lord of our lives, or we will reflect a very different presence in our words and actions to those around us. Which will it be for you? Remember, to choose not to answer is ultimately to have chosen against Christ. Likewise Joshua challenged the people of Israel as they came out of the wilderness and prepared to enter the Promised Land with a very similar question – CHOOSE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE? AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD. Everyday you and I are giving an answer to those two questions by the very choices we make in our lives – who do we say that Jesus is, and who are we going to serve. This week as we gather to worship, I want to challenge each of us in thinking about our answers to these questions and to provide some thoughts on how we might be better equipped to allow our lives to truly reflect the answers we give. I truly believe that as a whole, most of the persons attending service this week would affirm that Jesus is the Son of God and the means of our eternal salvation. I believe that we would answer Joshua that we are choosing to serve God in our lives. But what answer did others see in the words and actions of your life each day last week? Are we truly living our faith before others? We all are familiar with the story about Johnny Appleseed who planted the apple seeds everywhere he traveled, leaving behind orchard upon orchard for all to enjoy. Did every seed grow – no. But that didn’t keep Johnny from planting his seeds – because he planted each in faith and God brought a bountiful reward from his faithfulness. I share that story, because I believe God has given each of us a bag of “faith seeds” to plant. And I don’t believe God will be any more pleased with us, than was the owner in the parable of the talents with the one who received only one talent who returned only the one talent to the owner. (See Matthew 25:24-27) God doesn’t desire for us to come before Him with our full bag of “faith seeds.” The pleasing act will be to come before Him with an empty sack – having scattered all our “faith seeds” for the Kingdom of God. Pastor Tim challenged all of us last week to Go Out and scatter those faith seeds that God has given to us, in order that God might bring the harvest. Do you remember the admonition of the scriptures – the fields are ripe for the harvest, but the laborers are few. You and I are the laborers that were being referred to in that passage. It all begins by answering the questions I asked in the beginning of this article. I want us to look at the story of the wedding in Cana of Galilee as we strive to learn what made those jars so usable by Jesus, as I believe that we can learn for ourselves how we also can be usable vessels for the Kingdom of God. Come and join us and invite a friend to come with you! That would be planting a few of those “faith seeds,” and let’s listen for God to speak to us in worship this week.

“So let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess his name.” Hebrews 13:15 (CEB) It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Florida in 2004. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature was in the low 80s with unusually low humidity. The worship service that had just concluded was beautiful as well. The people of God had come together to sing God’s praises, pray for each other and the community, hear God’s word proclaimed, and be challenged to go and live it out in Christ’s name. The people of God were talking to each other as they left and the atmosphere was very upbeat and exciting. It was in the midst of this wonderful morning that a few careless words cut through the air. For the moment, the morning was changed and my excitement for the morning was dowsed. Have you ever had this type of experience? An experience when things were going well and then in an instance some careless words, some biting criticism, some mean-spirited comment changed your outlook if only for a short time. I remember that Sunday morning and the words that were said. Twelve years have passed, but I still remember them. This is human nature. We remember negative words and encounters clearly. I wish it were different. My hope is that we can help make this different. We can be people of praise. The author of Hebrews challenges his readers to do just that. He challenges them to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise” with our lives. Our words should be words of praise, our actions should be praise, and our thoughts should be praise. The author says that our praise through Christ “is the fruit from our lips that confess his name.” When we praise Jesus we confess his name. We let people know who is the Lord of our life. When praise is our continual offering we help people remember differently. We change their experience. So what if we were people of continual praise? Would problems cease to exist? Would pain go away? Would negativity be cured? Of course not! What would take place is that we would be living a more obedient life in Christ. We would be praising God continually through our Lord Jesus Christ. We would praise God in the celebrations of life, in the problems, the pain, and the trials of life. We also would be bringing light into a darkened world by confessing Christ’s name through the fruit of our lips, our praise. The world around us would be a more Christ-like experience for those with whom we come in contact. There is a praise chorus that has been meaningful to me over the past 25 years or so. I sing this praise chorus often to remind myself of the call to praise. More often than not I sing this chorus in my head. I would like to leave you with the words of this praise chorus to ponder. I hope it helps you to continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through Jesus Christ our Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord. And we offer up to you, the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And we offer up to you, the sacrifices of joy. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

"For God had something better in mind for us..." Hebrews 11:40a Have you ever been upgraded to first class on a flight? I have only had this happen to me once. First class was better! There are times in life when we are set to experience one thing and another, something better, thing happens. An upgrade to first class, a free appetizer, or a complimentary beverage. It's always fun to experience the something better. This is what I love about he eleventh chapter of Hebrews. The author helps us understand there is something better. The chapter is filled with the heroes of the Old Testament who by faith accomplished great things. The author says that even though they had great faith and accomplished much they never received the fullness of God's promise. They would, but not yet. The author of Hebrews tells us that these heroes of the faith did not receive it all because "God had something better in mind for us." The something better is Jesus and the New Covenant. The something better is the cross and the promise that was after the pain. The resurrection that followed the crucifixion. The New Covenant is the something better. Jesus is the something better. As followers of Jesus Christ we live everyday in the reality of something better. Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection bring us something better. When the problems of life are getting you down turn to something better. In the eyes of the old song, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace." I can't wait to share more about this with you Sunday. See you in church.

"How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!” Hebrews 9:14 (NLT) To be purified means to be free from guilt or moral or ceremonial blemish. In Scripture the words pure, clean, Holy, and sanctified are used to convey this same meaning. It seems like a lofty and unattainable goal or standard. The one thing to remember when thinking of being pure, clean, Holy or sanctified is that it is unattainable on our own. The true downfall of anyone seeking after God is self-reliance. Especially in the western world where we have taken individualism very seriously. The reality is there are some things we cannot do on our own. I am sure you can think of a time when you tried to accomplish something on your own, but couldn't. When it comes to our faith, we cannot purify ourselves. This is the Good News of the Gospel! We don't have to. God has given us a great High Priest in the order of Melchizadek. This great High Priest, Jesus Christ, gave his life as the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. When we accept this gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ we are purified. We are clean, Holy, and sanctified. This is the greatest news ever. Jesus did for us what we could not do. If you have been struggling trying to be perfect, to follow God perfectly, you cannot. God asks us to surrender not struggle. Place your whole trust in the work that Christ has already done for you. Rest peacefully in the assurance that you are purified by Christ. Then follow Him in faith. Christ has already made you pure. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

"This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls." Hebrews 6:19 Our family has spent this last week in New York City on vacation. We have seen sights I have only seen on TV or in magazines to this point in my life. It has been pretty amazing to see these things for the first time. One of my greatest concerns about coming to New York City was safety. I am happy to say we have been completely safe the whole time. I also have been reminded of a couple of things too. I have been reminded that God is my anchor. It doesn't matter what city you are in. It doesn't matter what circumstances you find yourself in. It doesn't matter because when you know Christ you have a constant. Christ is the anchor of your soul. This means no matter where the wind blows you can hold fast to this anchor. I have been reminded that this anchor is strong as well. This anchor, Jesus Christ, is stronger than anything we will face. It is stronger than our fears, our failures, our doubts, our guilt, our shame, or our unbelief. Christ is the strong and trustworthy anchor for our soul. There is nothing that can move this anchor, nothing. No matter what you are facing today or tomorrow hold fast to this strong and trustworthy anchor for your soul. There is nothing better in life in which to hold fast. Christ promises to be with us always. Paul promises nothing can separate us from Christ's love. So let's live as people of the promise. Let's hold fast to the anchor of our soul. I can't wait to share more about this with you on Sunday. See you in church.