Genesis 18: 20-32; Psalm 138; Colossians 2:6-19; Luke 11:1-13
Lisa and I had a midweek night out in the stockyards with Pastors John and Kyle and spouses Ruth and Crystal. It turned into a Tim Love tour (Fort Worth’s cowboy celebrity chef) starting at the Love Shack for Amore Caliente (hot love) Burgers, and progressing to the pool table at the White Elephant Saloon and ending with rattlesnake and rabbit sausage and ostrich nachos at Lonesome Dove. Good friends, good food, and country music made for a night when one is grateful for the gifts that God gives. Though Abraham did not go far enough to spare the twin sin cities, the gift of the righteous One when none could be found spares us the same fate. The gift that prompts the psalmist to praise is the big G God who doesn’t act all high and mighty but regards the lowly and protects the poor. The gift of Christ completes all the rules and regulations and requirements of the law so that no record of wrongs stands against us. And the gift of the prayer that begins and ends with the Parent who is “ours” means our asking, seeking, knocking will be answered by the kingdom come in daily bread given and shared, the forgiven forgiving and times of trial overcome. And while it might not seem particularly pious, pastors and spouses playing pool in a saloon is a gift of the kingdom as well, especially when one pastor, who shall remain nameless, makes a pool shot worthy of Minnesota Slim.
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