02/25/2026
Leaning on God’s Word
The Christian Motorcyclist Association
The Upper Room Servants of Palatka Florida
Article by Jorge Schmidt III Chaplain
R e s t o r a t i o n
Chapter Article
February 24, 2026
Have you ever wondered; oh, of course you have, why do people leave you in your life? Not to death, but rather to life. We all understand well that death is very much a part of living, Jesus Christ of Nazareth did exactly that for us. He was born (as a matter of prophesy), lived among men (as a matter of prophesy), crucified died and was interred in a tomb and (as prophesy fulfilled) rose again on the third day in fulfillment of the scriptures. We all know the hardships and sorrows and the grieving that comes with the loss of life to death. Today, we still remember “The Cross” and the triumph over sin, to this moment.
But what about when people leave you and they are still living? And what happens to the faithful when someone walks out of your life, all circumstances considered, and how does Jesus rectify this in our lives. Let me give you an example.
Speaking from intimate experience, there has been “family” that have recently separated themselves from Catherine and me. People in the secular scheme of things may ask, well “what did you do to make them leave?” Well, there could be that, or there could be that God saw something in the relationship that was detrimental to our relationship with Him. In this case, there is a difference in lifestyles. While ours is not better than theirs, there are differences of the world where people thin their inner circles of people that are not on the same page as their ideologies. So, we ask, “why Lord is this happening?”
Consider Job. Job is a popular stop in the bible where a lot can be learned on a lot of different levels. For example, Satan was not allowed to touch Job (1:12), only his possessions. God gave Satan permission to test Job and his faith. In this test, important people were taken from Job’s life, his sons and servants and more. Job’s friends accused Job of hidden sin as to why God allowed his suffering, but, even as he suffered, he did not waiver or renounce his faith. As a result, God RESTORED Job, in his fortunes as much as twice as before, elevated numbers of sheep and camel and oxen and female donkeys, as well, as ten more children and long-lived life. So, in retrospect, Job lost people and possessions and was restored according to His riches and glory.
Fast forward to today. The people I had mentioned live in Kentucky. Catherine and I were just in Kentucky for a brief visit just last weekend on our way home from Indiana. Catherine’s father is buried in a family cemetery there in the family’s “holler” on Ball Creek. To avoid the presence of drama and the emptiness of the family fabric, we decided that we would not go back there right now. As a matter of fact, in our senior planning we had intended to be buried there in that cemetery but talked ourselves out it because the fracture of the family there, still unbeknownst to us as to why, exists. So, we drove to a different part of Kentucky, legitimately following the will of the Lord to see family that Catherine has not seen in exactly 20 years. The reunion was very beautiful, tears and hugging and praising Jesus. Life happened and for 20 years this part of the family was absent, both sides apologizing for the lost time and moments but intensely happy to be together again.
Before we left, I prayed for certain situations that had become known to us with the family and for one member we laid hands as I led a prayer for her healing. Aunt Joyce has a testimony of top to bottom healing and RESTORATION. Where one door closed, another was perfectly timed to open with like-minded individuals all of which were ready to spread the love (1 Cor 13:13). This was not the case equally with others mentioned. Catherine, because of her distance from them as her father left Kentucky, was considered the outsider. This hurt Catherine very much until recently when God spoke to us both in this manner: Mark 6:11 …and whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. ***and then it states what will become of those persons*** Verily (whenever the Lord says this word it is important to take note) I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for S***m and Gomorrah in the day of judgement than for that city. Whoa! This is one reason we should aspire to love one another because a punishment has already been prescribed generations ago for working against 1Corinthians 13:13. And, in our real time example God spoke to us both and told us to not even take their dust with us. Whoa! Not even the dust and in this real time example God RESTORED what was taken from us, with love. We began to ask questions such as why and how and for what reason. And the Lord graced us with the mercy of his love by providing family who love us as if we were never gone. Missed us to tears, both sides, coming together in the name of Jesus and where there are two or more gathered in His name (and we were/are), He is there in the midst.
There are other such circumstances with other people too that have age to it. And Catherine and I both, 7 years in the making on this situation, still hurt in our hearts over this loss. Grandkids, whose mother began playing with witchcraft and made it known to us both the evil within. God finally reckoned with US on this issue. Yes, with Catherine and I and told us both, “do you remember what my Father told Lot and his wife when they were fleeing S***m and Gomorrah? I told them not to look back and what did Lot’s wife do? She looked back and was immediately and forever punished for her disobedience. The chances there were given to save ten righteous people to saving just one and it could not be done. Lot’s wife looked back to S***m as a reflection of her attachment, not only disobeying God but doing it behind Lot’s back, Genesis 19:26. God has told us that while the loss is great, the loss of our faith and relationship with him is greater and reminded us of this verse in the New Testament: Matthew 10:34 etc., Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace , but a sword.
In this text Jesus is telling his disciples that there would be persecution and division because of following His teachings.
His teachings: what is there to learn from this article and example? We are experiencing a time of sorrows in these last days. This was always a part of the condition of our lives. However, it is easy, almost expected that when we lose people in our lives to death or to life that we mourn that loss and then ask God to prove us the reason this has happened. It is in that moment that we recondition our faith (I know because I’ve done it) to call on God only when our backs are against the wall or we feel that He is secondary to the circumstances of our lives when in fact, He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, which puts him too in the middle, with or without our participation. Learning to trust his judgment and wisdom can seem like a tall order, until or unless you see and feel that the need to do that is greater than the need to know why.
Our God in Heaven and Earth is all about RESTORATION. Even in those people I discussed, restoration will take place in their hearts as it is written that every knee shall bend and every tongue shall confess to God, Romans 14:11. I pray right now in Jesus’ name of Grace and Mercy that exactly this happens, we all come to honor our Lord with Faith Hope and Love, to people that we minister too in the Christian Motorcyclist Association and the Upper Room Servants Chapter of Palatka Florida. To our friends and family and strangers alike, the greatest of these things is Love, in Jesus’s name AMEN.
Jorge Schmidt Chaplain the Upper Room Servants.
