Oh, yes, He was and is and will forever be! Our most welcomed and invited family member \u2013 our big Brother. I remember when my big brother would come home, pick me up and give me the biggest bear hug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My big brother was my idol. He always (no matter our ages) introduced me as his \u201ckid sister\u201d. He had an incredible baritone singing voice. When we attended his church where he was the music and choir director, I would beam with pride. He was my handsome, talented BIG BROTHER. He\u2019s in heaven now \u2013 still cheering me on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yesterday, my family was all together in East Texas at Epiphany Ranch \u2013 so much food to eat, stories to tell, games to play, pictures to take, and much thanks to give for God\u2019s blessings in our lives.
I could almost see Jesus, our BIG BROTHER, sitting with us at the table. Scripture says in Psalm 22:3 \u201cGod inhabits the praises of His people!\u201d When we are thanking and praising our Lord, He takes a seat at the table with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yesterday, Friday, was the typical Black Friday when most people canvass the malls and the internet to get into the full swing of Christmas and finding the best deals for Christmas giving. It\u2019s hustle and bustle time. It wasn\u2019t that for us. Black Friday was a glorious Friday for me and my family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had \u201cGood\u201d Friday Thanksgiving together. We\u2019ll have more opportunities to give thanks and praises and welcome our Lord Jesus to the table with us today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The disciples finally understood Jesus\u2019 message. Their greatest gift, their BIG BROTHER, had been with them every day, talking with them, feeding them, teaching them, loving them and others. At last, His message was clear \u2013 \u201cGo into all the world and spread the GOOD NEWS. (Mark 16:15) And they missed Him. They missed Him because He had opened their eyes to true love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I miss my big brother, but best news ever, I\u2019ll see him again one day. And, more best news ever, we\u2019ll see our Lord, our BIG BROTHER, face to face, but that is then, and this is now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because all of us are created in the image and likeness of God, our Lord visits us in everyone we encounter. Every. Single. Person. Did you miss Him at your dinner table? You know, the one who served and waited on you after working for days on a meal that is consumed in a matter of minutes? Or did you miss Him in the one who sat at the table and might have been concerned and worried and couldn\u2019t really get into the Thanksgiving conversation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did you, by chance, get past \u201cpass the sweet potatoes\u201d to take a moment to put your arm around them because you saw Jesus in them. Oh, pray tell, you noticed Him. \u201cFor I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and You invited me in.\u201d Matthew 25:35<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The closer we get to Jesus, the more we\u2019ll recognize Him in others. Caring deeply about others as our BIG BROTHER cares about us, will surely help us pattern our lives after Him. I want to be a big brother and big sister like that! How about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oh, yes, He was and is and will forever be! Our most welcomed and invited family member \u2013 our big Brother. I remember when my big brother would come home, pick me up and give me the biggest bear hug. My big brother was my idol. He always (no matter our ages) introduced me as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28588],"tags":[26042,829,1210,1769,28587,20832,1392,1084,25248,3317,40,28585,833,749,28586,8854,775,28584],"class_list":["post-19113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-welcomed-guest","tag-big-brother","tag-black-friday","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-christmas-giving","tag-epiphany-ranch","tag-facebook","tag-family","tag-god-inhabits-praises","tag-good-friday","tag-inspiration","tag-invited","tag-invited-guest","tag-jesus","tag-kid-sister","tag-psalm-223","tag-thanksgiving","tag-welcomed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19115,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19113\/revisions\/19115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}