Trials and Tribulations!

For Saturday, November 29, 2025:

Romans 5:3-4 NLT: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”

“Thank you, Lord, for these problems in my life!” Somehow that prayer doesn’t seem to make sense. Shouldn’t being one of the faithful give us a better life, protect us from problems? The logical answer is ‘yes,’ but that’s not how life works.

 If we have conquered a problem in the past, we’ll have God-given experience in dealing with it. We’ll recognize the same issue if it crops up again and know how to proceed. Our experience can help others battling similar demons. Case in point: Most alcohol and drug counselors are themselves in addiction recovery. Similarly, people undergoing cancer treatments form small groups to support one another through brutal therapy. Being kind and helpful, i.e. loving our neighbors, is what Jesus told us to do.

With a Christian viewpoint, we can change life’s biggest problems into valuable Kingdom assets, and the world will be a better place! Salvation awaits the faithful!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

 

Psalm 44 - Teach Me Your Experience!

May 16, 2016 Monday Message:

“We have heard it with our ears, O God; our ancestors have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.” Psalms 44:1 NIV

We would do well to learn from our ancestors; life would be easier. But mankind seems to learn best in the school of hard knocks. We have to try things for ourselves, make our own mess, then try to clean things up and straighten things out before we realize that it would have been simpler to just listen to our elders, to learn from them.

When I was a young man, coming out of high school, going off to college, I thought I knew everything; I had life under control. My parents were hopelessly boring, simple people, who were intent on curtailing my youthful exuberance. I’d show them!

But as an adult, raising my own children, I frequently heard my parent’s words coming out of my mouth. It seems that my parents get smarter the longer I live!

America’s Revolutionary War supporter Edmund Burke wrote, “Those who don’t know history, are doomed to repeat it.” Learning from those who walked before us gives us the opportunity to build upon their experience, to increase our generation’s knowledge.

When legendary New York Yankee’s catcher Yogi Berra first came to the major leagues, he asked the previous catcher to “teach me your experience.” According to the Bible, that was a good thing to do.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday at 10 am in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. Sunday, May 22, Pastor Michael Pilla resumes our study in Romans.