Part of God’s family

My wife and daughter were headed to Florida where our daughter would be starting a nine-week clinical pharmacy rotation as part of her training. While in southern Illinois on the interstate, a car swerved into their lane, hitting them and causing them to lose control and to spin into the median. They were not hurt, but the car was severely damaged and undrivable.

The tow truck driver was willing to drop them off at a hotel, but they would also need to get from the hotel to a rental car place somewhere in that remote part of southern Illinois. When I was talking to my wife about options, I tried to think whether we had any family there she could call. As soon as my mind thought of the word “family,” my spirit reminded me that in Christ Jesus we have family all over the world!

I suggested they get hold of a phone book, look up churches, and start calling to see if a brother or sister in the Lord might help them out. Sure enough, it took a few calls, but help came and gave them a ride from the hotel to a small local airfield that had rental cars.

The Scriptures make it clear that if we share faith in Christ Jesus we are brothers and sisters with God as our Father. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God; and so we are!” (1 John 3:1) Through trusting, repentant faith in the grace of God, demonstrated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for victory over the power of sin and its consequence, death, He claims us as His own, works a spiritual rebirth in us and adopts us as His children and heirs of all His promises!

It’s great to have family in Christ right here in Bella Vista and all over the world! But then we must deal with family squabbles, sibling rivalries and those weird relatives. Oh well, that’s for another article. For now, I’m just glad to be part of the family of God! Hope you are, too!

•••