whenever I am afraid...

The Word for today:
Ezra 8

mark these--
Ezra  8:31:  The hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way.
Ezra 8:18:   By the good hand of our God upon us...
Ezra 8:22:   The hand of our God is for good upon all that seek him.


I don't know when I last held one of our kids' hands as we crossed the street.

All parents do it, instinctively. Then there comes a day when we don't do it anymore.

My four kids are between 15 and 23, so the next hand they hold as they cross the street will be the hand of a child of their own.

But I have a notion that we're always little to God. I think there never comes a day when he decides we're too big for all of that.

Ezra keeps on saying that "the hand of our God was upon us."   He even makes it better sometimes by saying "the good hand of our God was upon us."

But my favorite is when he says "the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him."  That's my favorite because it's not just about Ezra--it includes you and me, too!

Don't you ever say a word about this, but there's times when I'm afraid and I actually hold my hand out to my side like little kids do, waiting for Dad or Mom to clasp it.

Don't you dare tell anyone, but I do that all the time.

If ever you're afraid like I sometimes am, I want you to remember that God has two hands. So even if he's got ahold of my hand, he can hold yours, too.

Sometimes the Good News isn't all about big things like sin and atonement and things hard to explain. Sometimes the Good News is just about holding hands.