Well, it is hard to believe, but the summer has quickly flown by and we find ourselves on the precipice of another Fall in Los Angeles! Oh and what a summer it has been. Our family has experienced much over the past several months from fun times at the zoo, the beach, and the California Science Center. We have celebrated good times with others including birthdays (Aidan's 11th, and Ava's 5th), a wedding (my nephew Jesse), a trip to see the Giants play in San Fran, and many dinners with friends at our home. God has used the summer to strengthen our convictions and to give us new opportunities to share Christ with others, give comfort to those in pain, and preach His Word. We have enjoyed sweet times of fellowship at our amazing Church (Grace Community Church), in our great fellowship group (Mainstream), and with our home group (Generations). Furthermore, God has continually provided for our every need and has blessed us with consistent work along with the strength and energy to complete it.
What do all of the above items have in common? GOD's Provision and Grace! The picture above was taken on top of Mt. Pinos which we summited last weekend while enjoying the outdoors. It was a two mile hike to the top of the mountain and the Filbrun family made it just as the sun was setting in the West. We rushed to get to the top and then spent a short amount of time there and then quickly hurried back down as darkness settled in for the night. I think life is often a lot like that hike. We spend so many of our days trying to finish the task in front of us so we can tackle the one on deck. We rush from task to task unaware of the beauty and purpose of the very thing we are striving to accomplish. We miss the joy of the process and the enjoyment of the prize because we are more concerned with the next thing. What a reminder that hike was for me to slow down and enjoy each day, each opportunity, each gift from the hand of our Heavenly Father! He is so Good to us and is so kind and loving to his children. So many believers I know (often myself included) live lives full of complaining and anxiety, hiking life's mountains as it were with little joy and little peace. Sadly that is not how God wants us to live out the Christian life. Life is not always easy and the road to the Celestial City is full of trials and tribulations but we need not be afraid, we need not worry or complain, for Christ is ever with us. Remember the great words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1, "3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 [He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
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Filbrun Family6 sinners saved by God's unmerited Grace, trying to live for the Glory of God in all things! Archives
December 2019
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