Family Style

“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, 

proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him." - Luke 8:39

The stay at home orders during COVID-19 have given us an amazing opportunity to slow our lives down, and quite frankly, I am enjoying the slower pace of life. We aren't rushing around as much anymore. Since all practices and games have been cancelled, we have time to be together as a family. Hopefully you are spending that time around a dinner table. 

The dinner table at home is even more important than the dinner table at the station. It is the place where our relationships are forged and our worth is found. It is a place to both hear and to be heard. It is a place of love, acceptance, and truth. Kids who eat dinner regularly with their families develop verbal skills earlier, do better in school and have less incidents of depression and drug use. I believe that families who eat and pray together, stay together. 

My family has enjoyed lots of laughter and conversation over the past month and a half. We aren't scarfing down our food to get to the next thing. We are actually enjoying each other's company. With more time for meaningful conversation, now is the perfect time to share your faith with your children. It is an excellent time to pray together and count your blessings. It is a time where you can share how God has come through for you, how He has changed your life, and how you can't imagine life without Him, especially during this pandemic.  Seize this opportunity to share your life and faith with your family. Let us declare just how much He has done and is doing for us. 

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You!

Senior Captain Bobby Delgado

HFD Chaplain

Flipped It

"...and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons." 

-Mark 11:15 

If you've ever played a no holds barred game of monopoly(the only way to play), it may have ended like the picture above. Did you think this was a game? Anger at a game, in hindsight, is pretty silly. Jesus did something like this this in much more dramatic fashion.

He had just entered Jerusalem to much fan fare on what we call Palm Sunday. Many of the people in Jerusalem declared him King. His first act as King wasn't to overthrow the Roman government but to overthrow their religion. He flipped it upside down.

Their sacrificial religious system required people to buy animals to be sacrificed on their behalf. The sellers were over charging and making a profit in God's house! Not only that, but they were doing so in the Court of Gentiles, the only place where non Jews were allowed to worship. As he flipped those tables in righteous rage, He reminded them of the scriptures saying my house will be a house of prayer for all people (Isaiah 56:7), but you have made it a den of robbers(Jeremiah 7:11). I picture Him waving his index finger in the air like Dikembe Mutumbo and saying, "Not in my house!"

God's house is a place where EVERYONE is welcome: all ages, races, economic statuses, and sin backgrounds. It is a hospital for sinners, not a country club for saints. It is not a business or a place to make a profit. Its leaders don't need or "deserve" million dollar mansions, personal jets, fancy clothes, book deals, or any other luxury. The church should stand against injustice and seek to care for orphans, widows, the marginalized, and the "least of these." And the church should be devoted to teaching ALL of scripture holding its leaders accountable for their own sins and crimes. May our churches be led by Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and the Holy Scriptures. 

-Senior Captain Bobby Delgado

HFD Chaplain