Our lives are truly lived in the small moments... aren’t they?  We search for and long for the “bigness”; the grand scheme, and yet it is in the smallest and sometimes most insignificant moments of our lives when we are really alive.  We meet someone new and a simple conversation clicks.  We see someone in need and we take 5 minutes to help, and the smile that appears is magical.  A brief moment in silence becomes a holy space and our thoughts wander into the mystery of all that can’t be explained!  Our busyness robs us of the small moments; everyday we are cheated and blinded and seduced by our busy lives.  Do you really need to be as busy as you are... doing how many things in a day, and spending how many hours on the phone or online?  One thing I am sure of... God is in those small moments, waiting to be seen and heard!

For your reflection time... truth from God’s Word!

Acts 1:12 - 26 (The Message)

Returning to Jerusalem

12-13 So they left the mountain called Olives and returned to Jerusalem. It was a little over half a mile. They went to the upper room they had been using as a meeting place:

Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas, son of James.

14 They agreed they were in this for good, completely together in prayer, the women included. Also Jesus' mother, Mary, and his brothers.

Replacing Judas

15-17 During this time, Peter stood up in the company—there were about 120 of them in the room at the time—and said, "Friends, long ago the Holy Spirit spoke through David regarding Judas, who became the guide to those who arrested Jesus. That Scripture had to be fulfilled, and now has been. Judas was one of us and had his assigned place in this ministry.  18-20 "As you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts. Everybody in Jerusalem knows this by now; they call the place Murder Meadow. It's exactly what we find written in the Psalms:   Let his farm become haunted so no one can ever live there.  "And also what was written later: Let someone else take over his post.

21-22 "Judas must now be replaced. The replacement must come from the company of men who stayed together with us from the time Jesus was baptized by John up to the day of his ascension, designated along with us as a witness to his resurrection."  23-26 They nominated two: Joseph Barsabbas, nicknamed Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, "You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way." They then drew straws. Matthias won and was counted in with the eleven apostles.