Today, guest blogger Mike Illuzzi ushers us into Holy Week with “A Plaque, a Pastor, and a Prayer”:

Would you tell the guy sitting next to you about a person, Bible verse, or prayer that has been an important part of your faith journey?” asked Bill Allison of Cadre Ministries at a men’s conference a few years ago. I have considered that question many times since the conference, and as I think about Holy Week and the joy and reassurance of Easter, I’m asking Bill’s question again.

How about you?

What guidance, prayer or scripture do you carry in your heart to start your day, end your day, or share with others? We now have access to an amazing selection of Bibles, apps, and publications for study and contemplation. However, what guides you in the dark of night, at the stoplight, before a tense work meeting, or during that family conflict?

My answer is a plaque, a pastor, and a prayer.

A Plaque

When I was a child my mother gave me a plaque that said, “Prayer Changes Things.” Don’t even know what happened to the plaque as I grew up and left home, but those words have never left me.

A Pastor

My first study Bible was recommended by Pastor Roane Deckert who confirmed both of our sons and helped an overwhelmed thirty something find a way to be a husband and dad, keep up at work, and deepen his faith. Roane taught me to read and study the Bible. I found my way to Habakkuk 3:17-19. The NIV text notes describe this passage as “one of the strongest affirmations of faith in all of scripture.”

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go to the heights.” Habakkuk 3:17-19

A Prayer

During a meeting with a Christian counselor, she showed me the entire “Serenity Prayer.” I had never seen the words after “difference.” Later that day I volunteered at the church’s Celebrate Recovery program and heard all the words to the “Serenity Prayer” a second time that day. The complete prayer twice in one day…I got the message!

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking as He did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to his will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with him forever in the next.” Amen

As we prepare for Holy Week, I pray that each of us will remember those who have shown us The Way, that we will trust in the Lord every day, and that all of us will rejoice in our RISEN Savior.

Mike Illuzzi

More to come…
Jeremy