S. O. A. P.

Here’s your 90 second AM devotional!

S-cripture:

Acts 21:1

After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos.

O-bservation:

This hero of the faith, “Paul the Apostle,” was leaving Ephesus for the last time. He was heading to Jerusalem, and he said to the elders there in Ephesus, “You will not see me again.” Their hearts were so moved with compassion that they begged Paul not to go. But the writer says, “we had to tear ourselves away from them.”

A-pplication:

Every other month here in Miami, we take 50 children to see their parents who are incarcerated. The emotion that is evoked when a mother sees her child for the first time is hard to describe. But even harder to describe is seeing the children being pulled away from a mother who is holding on for dear life at the end of the visit. The sorrow and emotion is heart rending. That’s the mental picture that I get when I read the story of the “Great Apostle” leaving the believers in Ephesus for the last time. Most of those who were emotionally distraught were people who had been changed by the ministry of St. Paul. God made us with an emotional component that sometimes releases without notice. Sometimes that emotion overflows with joy and happiness, but sometimes things happen to us in our Christian walk that engages the other side of emotion. “It’s Not ALWAYS Joyful.” And that’s OK. There’s more than ONE side to life, and JESUS will help us through BOTH.

P-rayer:

Dear Jesus,

I thank You this AM that I’m full of Joy. But that’s not always the case. Help me be ready for whatever the day may bring! Amen