God the Provider You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” (1 Kings 17:4) Friday, Seventh Week of Easter Father, in glorifying Christ and sending us your Spirit, you open the way to eternal life. May our sharing in this gift increase our love and make our faith grow stronger. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen Dear friends, Intellectually we know that God provides for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. We may even know a few biblical stories of how God provides. Like the story of Elijah who was running for his life from political powers. God provided a place of refuge, and gave him food and drink and rest. He drank from the brook Cherith, and ravens brought him bread every day. Yet when we are faced with challenges and needs of our own, our hearts may be reluctant to simply trust in the Source from which springs every good. Elijah faced his own crisis. Eventually the brook dried from drought. Yet where one door is closed, another opens. God provides something new. He sent Elijah to live with a widow and her son in a foreign land. God also enabled a pot of flour and a jug of oil to never run out out so that they would be able to survive a three-year drought. How is God providing for you? It may not seem miraculous; it may seem very ordinary. However, you can count on the fact that whatever is provided, God’s hand is behind it. His provision may look like friends who show up at your door to lend a hand. It might be a phone call from someone you haven’t talked with in a long time. It might be a word, a gift, a challenge, an opportunity. He might provide through a friend, a family member, a church, a stimulus check, or even from someone you don’t agree with politically. Nevertheless, God provides for you. He also provides you with a drink of water from His brook of life. This water, once you drink it, takes away the thirst of the soul and heals you of everything that ails you. Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) Go ahead, take a drink from the brook of God that never runs dry, and give thanks this day for all that God provides. Here’s an inspirational quote from Candy Tusler that spoke to her heart the other day. May it also speak to yours: “When we cannot see the providential hand of God, we must trust the heart of God.” (Rabbi Jason Sobel, Messianic Jew) Relying upon God’s grace every day,
Pastor Langdon Reinke P.S. Hope you and your family are healthy and safe. We are in this together. We have help available if there are needs. Please let us know. | 
