Real Life by Peggi Tustan

Welcome to Real Life ! Am I crawling or soaring? “He turns coal into diamonds, Sand into pearls, Worms into butterflies. He can turn your life around, too.” -Toby Mac During their fall migration, monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles south from Canada to Mexico. This majestic aerialist begins its life as a humble caterpillar, a creature who can barely crawl across the sidewalk without getting squished. The dramatic metamorphosis occurs when the caterpillar enters its chrysalis and dies. It then emerges reborn as a beautiful, free, soaring monarch. Monarch Migration, Wendy Park, Cleveland, Ohio Like a humble caterpillar transformed into a soaring monarch, those who place their faith in Jesus Christ also experience a dramatic metamorphosis. They are born again! Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV) Before the new life comes, the old life must pass away. But what if a caterpillar refus...

Welcome to Real Life . Many things are real, even if we can’t see them.      _____ He came to Jesus privately, at night, and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him,” [1] Nicodemus was a Pharisee who sat on the Jewish ruling council. He may have come at night for secrecy, because for the most part, his contemporaries didn't like Jesus. They considered him a rogue preacher who didn't come up through their ranks or play by their rules. Or, maybe Nicodemus was sent by his colleagues to get the down-low from the man himself. For, regardless of how they felt about Jesus’ ministry, they couldn't deny the God-size miracles. Whatever the reason, Nicodemus went sincerely seeking answers. And because he did, Jesus came right to the point, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” [2] (You see God in my miracles, Nicodemu...