Last week was a rough subject but we can no longer put aside the damage being done to us as a people as a nation, and particularly as a church by the hate for God in our country and world  today. While doing my devotions, I came across this particular one. In his 1985 book Generation to Generation, family therapist Rabbi Edwin Friedman, introduce the phrase. “a non-anxious presence.”I want to share part of that with you and these words were written by Rabbi Edwin Friedman and I quote…  it was his belief that the  “climate of contemporary America has become so chronically anxious that our society has gone into an emotional regression that is toxic to well defined leadership.” The Pew has always made an effort to be transparent in the sources of our information that we share with you. Today’s blog was inspired by a devotional from “Our Daily Bread.”you will find that URL to this article at the end of this blog, we encourage you to go and read it. The author of the devotional for that day referenced Psalm 4, the following is a verse from that psalm… 

Psalm 4:8 

In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.

I don’t know or remember that much about 1985, but I do believe that the Rabbi’s statement about the climate of the country may even be more accurate today. Myself, I believe that it doesn’t matter what your politics, religion, or denomination might be, none of us want to live in a state of high anxiety. In 1997 Mel Brooks made a movie  titled just that, it was a fast paced and funny movie. I remember seeing the movie, enjoying it, but I believe  most of us would prefer to leave the anxiety on the movie screen. It’s just not something that we want to live with. Last week we shared with you,The Hate Factor and how hate is fundamentally changing our nation and the world. As we seek the Good Way, there are many things that seeks to interrupt our time with God and our journey to be closer to Him and anxiety is definitely one of those interruptions. Anxiety is a normal stress response to danger and hate, but then it becomes excessive and uncontrollable worry, separating us from the ones we love and our God. The Bible acknowledges anxiety as a common human struggle while offering comfort and practical advice and guidance to combat it through faith. What we read the 1st Peter 5:7 we’re urged to cast all our anxiety on him because he cares for you. That verse seeks to replace fear with prayer thanksgiving and trust in God’s sovereignty. Here are five biblical observations about anxiety. In Philippians 4:6-7 we are commanded not to be anxious about anything, but to instead pray about everything which brings “a peace of God which surpasses all understanding” to guard your heart. Scripture encourages us the believers to transfer the burden of anxiety unto God, trusting in his personal care, knowing that when we leave these things to God, we will have peace. Matthew 6:34 teaches us that worrying about tomorrow as unnecessary burdens, it instructs followers to focus on today’s needs and trust God for the future. We also should rely on God’s strength. What would be again feeling overwhelmed the Bible provides reassurance that God is a helper, and that the Lord is my shepherd who provides rest. Perhaps one of the more stronger things we can find in scripture is that we are not to have a spirit of fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 tell us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind, allowing believers to combat anxiety with divine strength.

It is very plain, and simple, God is a refuge in times of trouble, you are invited to exchange your anxiety for His peace. You can take this with you and work to practice it… Philippians 4:8…

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

May the God of Peace be with you…

Life is Good

jk

Source’s:

https://ourdailybreadministries.ca/2026/12/02/a-non-anxious-presence/

This will be a very difficult blog for me this week. The Pew has always taken great care to keep politics out of the gospel, and I am proud of the fact that we have done a pretty good job at just that. We are not perfect and it’s highly possible in the past out of 680 blogs somewhere we may have slipped up a bit, but it’s only fair to tell you this week everything you read here is intended. We’re gonna get right into it, based on reports released in 2025 and early 2026. There’s been a high volume of hostility and violence against Christian churches with significant incidents occurring globally and in the United States. An Open Door report released in January 2026 found 3,632 churches were attacked looted damaged or burned worldwide between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025. The information that I share here with you this week is available on the Internet. You can Google it and that in itself is maybe one reason why it’ll be a little bit skeptical or you might want to check. But according to the report, there has been a record persecutions of Christians. The 2025 World Watch List indicated record levels of violence and oppression against Christians, with 15 countries reaching extreme persecution levels, in India alone there were 700 attacks on Christians in 2025 along with increased vandalism and disruptions of prayer meetings, particularly around Christmas. A look at Europe reveals a report covering 2024 with data that extends into 2025 which noted a sharp rise in violence against Christians in Europe, with 94 arson incidents against churches in 2024, a third of which were in Germany. Here in the United States   2024 into 2025 the trend has seen 415 acts of violence, that information was released by the family research council and it documented 415 acts of hostility against US churches in 2024, which included 284 cases of vandalism, 55 cases of arson and 28 gun related incidents. To try and keep things a little bit in perspective there were reports that indicated a slight decrease from 2023, incidents remain significantly higher than in 2018 and 2022. We continue to see in 2025 ongoing vandalism, such as anti-catholic graffiti, arson in states like Ohio, and attacks in Pennsylvania. There were 500+ attacks on Catholic churches those figures are covering May 2020 through early 2025 on US Catholic churches. When we get to the motives for such actions, many of those motives are really not known for sure, but they have been linked to ideological disputes over issues such as human sexuality, with a decline and incidents related to abortion according to the Family Research Council. All of these actions are not without consequences. Projections for 2025 suggest a potential record number of churches will be closed in the US, with estimates to go up to 15,000 churches, may close, driven by   declining attendance and financial issues. And now the hard part.

He is in the opinion of the Pew the result of the Hate Factor.  Society has a fancy word for what’s going on and that word is misotheism, I may have spelled that wrong if I did, I apologize, but it’s considered to be a conscious, active hatred of God, often manifesting and rebelling against divine authority. It’s linked to self and a desire to indulge in personal desires, with God perceived as a threat to ones ability to do it “their way.”Now, if we look at this from a biblical perspective, the scripture highlights that this is a hallmark of the unconverted and an, active, hostility towards God and his followers. It is seen as a violation of the first commandment. Now, in the interest of being fair, I have noticed over the years self included that a lot of good church people have the habit of wanting to do it..“our way.”This attitude usually takes the form of expressions that uses profanity, harboring, wicked thoughts, and a very cynical attempt to challenge the divine. These kind of people many times prefer the darkness over the light. We have a contrast here between the divine hatred versus the human hatred. In a theological context, God’s hatred is not viewed as a sinful emotional reaction, but rather a firm opposition to sin evil and injustice it is described as a protective stance against things that destroy us from flourishing. People of this ilk see that which is good and of God as being bad and hurtful. Now human hatred. We’re looking at hatred that includes hating God to be considered a sin, often fueled by pride and a selfish desire to ignore divine law. So what’s the answer?  honors God through obedience and service, so there you have it friends. Consider this…ordinary love is not going to get the job done. This may not resonate well with some of you, but we’re talking about a love that is not intended to foster tolerance. The church, has become enamored with the word inclusiveness. I invite you to look that up in the dictionary. From Matthew 22:37-40

 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.”

I am simply pointing out that to love God in the manner that is described in the above verses, requires more than just lip service and agreement. We must learn to live our lives in a fashion that emulates the life of Jesus Christ. This is not an easy thing to do, and there will be many instances when we fail, but if we continue to strive for that goal, salvation will be ours. So all I’m really saying is tolerance is not love, it is a failure on our part as Christians tolerate this type of behavior or we should learn from Genesis that when something bad confront us do like Joseph, don’t walk away… run away. If we learn and strive to live as God would have us live then and only then will these other verses come together.

39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

All the hate that we see in this world today, as Christians, we cannot continue to tolerate our excuse in any way this ungodly behavior in our world today.  The truth is that today…People Hate God…  and the people that believe. Join us in the Pew next week for a look at … A Nonanxious Presence.

Life is Good 

jk

A Quick Note: in the election year of 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson, use the phrase “I come to you with a heavy heart”…I simply go back to that time and add this little note for one very special reason. Our heart and what’s in it is the very essence of who we are. This was just one instance where someone laid bear the feelings of their heart. I hope you find something of importance or meaning in this blog today that will give you “peace of heart.”

We have examined many different factors that are part of not only finding the good way, but of walking in the Good Way. I will share with you upfront that the Pastor’s sermon this past Sunday at church led me to this subject for our blog today. We’re going to spend some time kind of traveling through scripture as we examine this. A lot of what we do along the good way is a matter of heart. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 4:23… guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life. All through our life, we hear about matters of the heart and maybe we don’t fully grasp what’s being said, but from a  religious and believer’s standpoint it’s the very core of our inner life. It controls our thoughts emotions and our will. It is considered the “wellspring of life”. As I begin to read and study biblical perspectives of the heart, I found there was no lack of information available. From proverbs we learn that our heart is often deceitful and in need of transformation. In Jeremiah 17:9 we read…the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked, who really knows how bad it is. Next we encounter Matthew 15: 19…these are words that Jesus spoke… from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. God is not misled by appearances, we as humans tend to do so, but God focuses on our hearts as we read in the following scripture.1 Samuel 16:7…but the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance or his height before I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. To put it simply in Layman’s terms God looks at our hearts, this focus of our God weighs heavily in his judgment of us. You might say that the heart is the center of faith and love. We read in Mark12: 30…Love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength. The importance of the heart is further emphasized in Romans 10:10… For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Jesus taught that the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart. You can find that in Matthew 12: 34…You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. The simple meaning being that actions in words reveal the true condition of the inner person. After all of these words, we find ourselves back at proverbs 4:23. All of our actions and our words are indicators of our inner self. We can also make note of Psalm 51:10…create in me a pure heart oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. So how do we put all this together after reading in scripture how important the function of the heart is in our relationship with God and our fellow man? Perhaps the best solution would be a new heart. Now we’re not speaking of a heart transplant as we understand it but a Godly heart.That is possible only through our faith in the God we serve. We go back to scripture and to Ezekiel 36:26…I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you, your heart of Stone and give you a heart of flesh. There are many other scriptures concerning this subject and the best place to learn is in the Scriptures. But sometimes for some of us, it becomes exhausting, so I’m going to simply a list of a few things that are practical as a means of encouraging you to listen to your heart. You have been instructed to guard your heart to trust it, try listening to your heart more. We know that the Bible advises, trusting in the Lord with all your heart and leaning not on your own understanding, you will find that in proverbs 3:5… find peace within yourself, Jesus offers peace specifically for the heart telling his followers let not your hearts be troubled which we find in John 14:27. Thank you for joining us in the Pew, come back next week.

Life is Good

jk

I think we all had enough of this snow and ice, while the back porch is kind of thawing out a little bit, I’m kind of left to my own devices. I kind of thought I’d take some time for a few words about a personal event. The Zoom bible class that I am a member of lost a good friend this past Wednesday. I’ve had a couple of days now to absorb the meaning of that loss and it took me to a rather surprising place. The passing of our friend Jim Fedraw led me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is a wisdom book in the Old Testament traditionally attributed to Solomon, that explores the meaning of life under the sun. Jim and I, our paths crossed about 10 years ago, in a Nazarene morning Bible study. Stay with me now and don’t let me confuse you.The key themes in the book of Ecclesiastes center around a Hebrew word which can be translated as vanity or meaninglessness. It appears nearly 40 times to describe life as intangible, unpredictable and fleeting, and the teacher laments  the fact that all people, regardless of their standing face the same fate… death. It is his consideration that nothing under the sun provides lasting meaning. There is a futility of human effort the author of the book laments, the fact that the cycles of nature in life repeat, leaving no lasting impact on the world. There are some key takeaways from this book in the Bible… They are that life is unpredictable, and death is an equalizer, both wise and foolish humans, animals, whatever, share the same end. The author reminds us that the one thing that really matters is that life  life is merely like just chasing after the wind.

I thought of this book in the Bible because Jim Fedraw was exactly the opposite. Jim was a man that loved God and he looked forward to learning about God, and he made God the centerpiece of his life, and was truly a blessing to those of us who sat with him all those years as we studied God’s word. Jim’s greatest burden was that his children would know God, that they would know Jesus, and they would make that the centerpiece of their life. He prayed for and worked for the salvation of his children, he valued family very much. Jim Fedraw knew that the things of this life were only temporary, and he knew where his treasure lay. I really don’t know how to end this. I guess the best way might be just simply say, job well done Jim.

 So Ponder This…can any man or woman have a greater legacy to leave than that they loved the Lord their God with all their heart with all their mind and with all their soul.

Kurt