March 27

Good day to all,
I have always been fan of local proverbial sayings. I guess that is due in part to my mother's influence. She was known to answer questions or making a point by repeating a proverbial saying. Each country has its own treasure of sayings designed to convey wisdom or to point out a human tendency.  Sometimes, the same saying is repeated in more than one country and generates a debate as to who originated it. Our years of living in Chile was cause to learn a lot of local proverbs. I always found they were a pretty good at denoting realities of life. One of my favorites was "es otra cosa con guitara". Translated, this is "it's a whole other thing with a guitar".  The proverb points out that it is one thing to pretend ot play a guitar and a whole other to actually have one in hand. It conveys the truth that there is a big difference between theory and practice.

In James 1:2-4 we read, [Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.] The testing we are all going through now is something we likely never thought of as a possibility. Yet, we are told in Scripture that this will yield positive fruit in our lives. Some of us have only considered "I will carry on through trials" in theory because we had never been tested like at the present time. Now we given the opportunity to go from theory to practice.

Let us consider what is happening now from the perspective that it will help us grow in our faith and  develop in our steadfastness.
What helps make this possible is the prayers, support, and encouragement of each church family member for another.  Steady on my friends, we are not alone. 
blessings, Vic