October 31, 2019
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
New International Version (NIV)
                 “Comfort, comfort my people,” wrote the prophet Isaiah.  Why do we need the ministry of mutual comfort?  Because our burdens are great.  Someone said, “Be kind to everyone.  Everyone is having a hard time.”  Another said, “There is a bucket of tears beneath each heart.”  Paul’s story of ministry sounds a bit like some of the old songs I grew up with, “Trouble, I’ve got trouble . . .”  or “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” 

                In our troubling world, where do we go to find comfort?  In another country an entrepreneur opened a business called the “Cry Room.”  People pay to go and cry in that place.  Where do we go with our tears if not to each other?  One child visited her neighbor who had lost his wife to an illness.  Her mother asked her, “What did you say?”  “I just cried with him,” was her response. 

                Paul praises the God of all comfort and Father of all compassion for his comfort in trouble.  God comforts us in all of our troubles . . . so that . . .  we may comfort each other. Comfort is transmissible.  We can share the comfort we have received with others.  Years ago when we lost Melanie’s mom in an accident, Shawn Shannon, then the BSM director at Mary Hardin-Baylor brought gifts of comfort in the form of stuffed animals to our sons.  Some years later, one of our sons saw a little girl who had lost her own sister and shared the gift he had received years before with her.

                We can’t really fully comprehend the pain others feel, nor can we take it away.  But by God’s grace, we can take God’s new mercies given freely to us and share them with others.  When we do, not only are we a blessing but we are greatly blessed.
Pray with me:      
Father, thank you for the comfort we have found in Christ.  We share in his suffering and also in his comfort.  Help us today to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice.  We ask you not only to heal our hurts but to make us wounded healers of others.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.   
This year our Every Day with Jesus readings will follow The Bible Project Read Scripture Plan.  Copies of this reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download 
the app at readscripture.org.  Read through the Bible with us in 2019!
Joyfully, 
Duane 
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