​They say a sign of old age is when you reminisce about your childhood​.  It's usually the things you got in trouble for that are remembered...the things you did when you were really young and easy to laugh at. You didn't know any better.  I always said that I was not accountable for my actions.

​In my case, someone would eventually bring up the perfume incident.  I was ten or eleven years old and acting a little crazy.  Actually it was more excited.  I had the job of passing out the Christmas gifts but really I was more interested in finding some for myself.

​I found a gift for my mom and tossed it to her.  Unfortunately, she missed, it hit the floor and broke.  It was a bottle of expensive perfume, expensive for us anyway.  I had broken my mom's special gift from my dad.  Needless to say, my Christmas was spoiled and to this day I get an awful feeling when I think of it.  It was my fault.  I was responsible.

Of course, I was forgiven, and as a family we've had many laughs over it.

​This past Good Friday, as I sat in our service seeing pictures of Christ being arrested, tortured, and crucified, I got that same feeling.  Because of my sin, I was responsible for the suffering of another.

​In Lee Strobel's book, "A Case for Christ", Dr. Alexander Metherall, MD., PhD, gives a vivid account of the suffering of Christ.  His flogging, torture, and crucifixion were all designed for the purpose of punishment, suffering, and eventually death.  The Roman's had the whole thing down to a science.

​We have to take responsibility for it.  I hope every time we think of Christ's crucifixion, we get that feeling of accountability.

​Isaiah 53:5 - "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."

​Doug Leach

Band devotions tonight was based on the bible reading.. 1 Peter 5:7

Here’s what I want to do with care: I want to cast care. 1 Peter 5:7 says to “[cast] all your care upon Him.” You weren’t designed to carry care, you were designed to cast it. And when you try to carry it on your own, you’re in trouble.

I wonder how many of us aren’t really casting our cares on the Lord. I hear so many people say that they’re burdened with cares—finances, the economy, the world, their kids—and that they’ve given them to God many times. But how can you give something to another person so many times unless you’re taking it back each time? I’m not sure we’re actually giving them to God at all. Here’s the danger in that: even if you’re reading the Bible, the cares of this world can choke the Word of God if you keep hanging onto them.

Think about this. Have you ever been in a service trying to worship and hear the Word, but your mind keeps wandering and worrying? You can’t focus because the cares of this world keep rising up inside of you—maybe you had a fight with your spouse on the way to church, you’re having trouble with a friend or you don’t know how you’re going to pay the rent this month. If you want to truly take in the Word of God, you have to cast your cares upon the Lord. He’s the only one who can carry them, and one of the reasons He does is so you can have peace. Are you ready to cast all your cares on Him? He is ready and waiting to take them.

http://gatewaydevotions.com/day-13-0

Kelly Elkiw

I just want to share with everyone a song that was very special and important to me at a hard time in my life...
"I will cast all my cares upon you, I will lay all of my burdens down at your feet. And anytime I don't know what to do, I will cast all my cares upon you"

Kelly

Deryck shares with us his Blog for February on being a Bass Trombonist!