Greetings Family: As we are in the third week of our State/County mandated shelter-in-place, I pray you’ve found a point of focus in Christ which will light your path moving forward.  I pray you and yours are well spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally.  I pray that on the other end of this experience you come to know the beauty of fellowship with a sovereign God, through the Holy Spirit.  I pray you come to know the one, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is able to keep you, and more than able to save a sin-sick soul. In reflecting on our conference call of 3/21 and the 1st chapter in the book of James, I again became mindful of how God does math.   Verses 9-11 point out the importance of those with “much” to become humble before God, as well as, those persons who are of a “lesser societal importance” to be exalted.  In other words, God does addition by subtraction.  Considering the station of our lives are set by the will of God, in these verses we come to understand that God in turn is not impressed by our wealth, or lack thereof, as the goal is to be in relationship with Him.  In order to move to a deeper place of relationship in Christ we must be willing to step away from who we think we are, to who we ought to be.  The bible says God is a spirit and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth.  Addition by subtraction…. In this forced quiet time if you will, I had a thought to call on God through prayer.  I began to get my mind right and started to focus on what my topic of prayer would be.  Of course, it required the TV be turned off and any other distractions be shut down, as in my understanding, God couldn’t hear me through all that stuff.  I set my physical atmosphere for a showing up of the Holy Spirit in my very house, and when I was just religious enough to get started something happened.  I realized the only thing missing in this equation was my willingness to humble myself.  What was missing was my willingness to take my mind off circumstances, and situations out of my control, and right there in my “current state” be willing to meet up with a God who was waiting all the time.  That’s right, what became apparent in that space was that God is always right there waiting for me to engage in my half of the relationship.  Only when I stepped away from myself was I able to sit at God’s table. Who knows when all of this will be settled, and life can take on a since of normalcy again?  Family, here’s what I do know:  I was once young, and now I am a little older, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. (Psalm 37:25) Keep the faith till patience has her perfect work.   I respect you! Pastor Don