Pastor's Point: Let's Get Engaged

 What’s going on this weekend?  Well, for starters, it’s Growing Further Weekend, our annual opportunity to welcome ministry partners from around the country (every other year it’s global).  It’s also our second week with Engage during Sunday morning community time.  Around 350 people took advantage of the chance to reach out to others at Hope in an effort to get better equipped to reach those outside Hope.  This Sunday, during our community time, we will be looking at a teaching by Vik Marballi around the theme—Jesus, the only Way. 

As the body at Hope jumps into this new initiative, I thought it a good time to remind you of one of our core values as a team of leaders: “Finding common ground with the seeker.”  This is a clearly taught value throughout scripture, both for us individually and as local communities of faith.  The apostle Paul reminds us in his letter to the church at Corinth that “though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I become like a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law, I become like one under the law, so as to win those under the law.”  (1 Cor. 9:19, 20)

Growing further weekend reminds us that God intends for His kingdom be forever expanding and growing.  “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” after all, and the last time I checked that pretty much extends to everyone on the planet with a pulse.  And Engage is one vehicle designed to help us do that very thing with those both inside and outside the faith.  But how do we get started?  How do we take that first step to walk across the room and begin to build a relationship with those we don’t know or who don’t know Christ? 

Twenty years ago, we were taught to share the 4 spiritual laws with anyone and everyone who would give us the time.  Or we were encouraged to ask a couple of probing questions, like “If you died tonight, where do you think you would go?” and “If God were to ask you, ’why should I let you into My heaven,’ what would you say?” With our post modern culture becoming more and more secularized and increasingly skeptical of authority, biblical or otherwise, we followers are being forced to look at different entry points to the discussion. 

Rather than the approach of “I know something you don’t” being the opening salvo to a total stranger, Paul suggests we start by incarnating or identifying empathetically with the culture in which we find ourselves.  For some that could be your work culture, your neighborhood, your family, even your recreational buddies.  But the bottom line—start with something you share in common, NOT what separates you.  Jesus did it constantly in his ministry.  He hung out with sinners, told stories to which they could easily relate, asked lots of questions, and then be willing to really listen to their answers. As the master discipler, Jesus consistently communicated that he understood their inner longings before trying to fix them. 

A perfect example was his conversation with the woman at the well in John 4.  He could have begun with, “What’s a (bad) girl like you doing in a place like this? Don’t you know that you’re talking to the holy Son of God? In case you don’t know, I’m kind of a big deal.”  My guess is the temple scribes were not into publishing religious tracts back then, but even so I doubt that would have been Jesus’ method of choice in this encounter either.  Instead, He found the common ground.  Not of ethnicity, not of age, not even of religious pedigree. He started with what unites us all—we get thirsty.  “Will you give me a drink?”  He started by admitting He needed something from her!  Simple, but it provided Him entry into her world.  And he took time to listen.

For you and me in a worship and arts ministry, the outside world may not understand exactly why we use our gifts for this worship thing on Sunday morning, but they can understand our love for music.  It touches us all.  So our crossover point with those individuals can be the common ground of art, not their faith or world view.  One of my current personal goals in this area is to establish relationships with artists and musicians outside the faith, at least outside the faith community.  Right now I am seeking artistic advice and technical counsel for our Christmas production from a young, very gifted artist/actor/writer in the Cincinnati area.  Don’t believe he’s a Christian, but for starters, Deb and I have attended three different performances of his.  We’ve had dinner together and have regular correspondence through texting and emails.  I have also approached him about being interviewed for our Christmas program video, and answering the question “What do you long for in life that money can’t buy?”  All this takes time, but I believe it really is the fulfillment of Paul’s call for us: “to the Jew, become a Jew.” 

Will you join me as our ministry area begins to discover ways to open its doors and hearts to people unlike us in their faith experience, not as fellow worship leaders, but as fellow artists on various endeavors and projects which can help us build a bridge to their world.  May I challenge you to pray for wisdom and creativity as we begin to walk across the room to those in our sphere of influence.  Whether it’s getting closer to one another in Christ’s body or learning how to better connect with the ‘outsider,’ let’s get engaged.

tad

Pastor’s Point:      The Power of Words (adapted)

A wise king once wrote: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” It seems a direct contradiction to a perhaps more familiar proverb which says, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  Oh, really?  Words don’t hurt?  Try telling that to the families of children who have been bullied into isolation, depression, even suicide.  In fact, words are very powerful and carry with them the potential to render great harm or good to the recipient. 

I once had the misfortune of squandering an entire semester in an English Lit class, simply because of poor choices to procrastinate and avoid reading the material. The result: failing a college English course in my sophomore year—and English was my minor!  As a junior, I transferred to a new school, retook the course I had failed, and met a new teacher.  Personally, I struggled with whether or not I was really as unintelligent as getting an F would normally suggest. You can imagine the shock when I got back my first paper in my new class with a big red A atop the page and this simple comment from my new prof:  “Your superior talent is quite evident.”  In six simple words, I shed my shame of being a loser to really believing something was working upstairs after all.  I never forgot it, aced the class, and went on to teach English for ten years upon graduating from college.

Do words matter?  Consider the thoughts of greater minds than mine… 

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. –Jesus

 Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, 

 and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it. --Robert Frost

The trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you haven't thought of yet. --Ann Landers

There are two types who say very little: the quiet type and the gabby type. –Unknown

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.    – Plato

Do not be quick with your mouth; do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.

God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.  As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words. Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.  –King Solomon

Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness. --Margaret Millar

Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks only when driven to speech by something outside himself-like, for instance, he can't find any clean socks. --Jean Kerr

After all is said and done, more is said than done. --Unknown

The words we say will teach if we practice what we preach. --Unknown

When you are arguing with a fool, make sure he isn't doing the same thing. —Unknown

If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind - give it more thought. --Dennis Roth

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.  --Mark Twain

Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence. --Spanish Proverb

Never miss a good chance to shut up. –Will Rogers

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. --C.S. Lewis

Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.

-- Adlai Stevenson

Learn to say no. It will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin. —Charles Spurgeon

            One half the troubles in this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.  –Josh Billings

If you think little of a person, you ought to say as little as you think. –Benjamin Franklin

The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.  

--Harriet Beecher Stowe

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. --Colossians 4:6

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  Ps. 19:14

Couldn’t have said it better myself.  Speak life into those around you today.  You never know when it just might be a lifeline. 

tad

Pastor's Point: I wouldn't be caught dead...

You’ve certainly heard the phrase before.  Perhaps you’ve even used it in conversation.  I wouldn’t be caught dead…  In reality, unless the Lord comes first, everyone of us will be caught dead doing something.  I had a college buddy who got a letter from his mom informing him that their church organist had literally died in the middle of the service that Sunday.  Needless to say, it was not a joyful noise. 

As a retired pastor, my own grandfather, William Frederick Dommer, died instantly of a heart attack administering communion to a woman in a hospital. That’s the thing about death—no matter when it happens, there is always a where.

But this phrase, I wouldn’t be caught dead is usually heard in the context of some despicable job or life situation in which we could never imagine ourselves.  Years ago, I served a church in the Chicago area as a minister of music and full time teacher in their Christian school.  Once, while taking my eighth grade students on a field trip to a factory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I actually made the unfortunate and arrogant statement that “I wouldn’t be caught dead” working on an assembly line doing something menial and boring like that.  Almost a year to the day later, I was standing in a paper mill, counting notebooks and packaging them for shipment…eight hours a day, six days a week. 

It followed a fateful decision to leave that church position in Chicago and embark on a consulting ministry with a pastor friend of mine.  Long story short, the free-lance ministry never gained traction, and I found myself jobless with a wife and three young kids in Appleton, Wisconsin.  The factory job was my last resort.  In fact, I wasn’t found dead in that paper mill, but for close to nine months I found myself slowly dying inside. 

How could I have so misheard God?  How could I have been so presumptuous as to leave one job without securing another?  How could I take such a risk with my wife and family involved?  And what good was I now to God, when all my education and training was for “ministry?”  I’m making no music.  I’m not teaching young minds the things of God.  I’m not leading people in worship.  And to add insult to injury, any attempt at rational Christian thought was drowned out by the noise of high-speed machinery and worse, the loud blaring rock music over the factory PA system. 

Among the many decadent and depressing lyrics to which I was subjected was a song repeated several times daily by the rock band Pink Floyd.  Into my already dwindling self esteem rang out this mantra…                                                                                                                                  

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave those kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave those kids alone!
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

Well I was no longer a teacher, but that is exactly how I began to feel.  In the kingdom of God, I had become just another brick in the wall.  So I cried out to God, admitting my sense of worthlessness, repenting of squandered opportunities and wasting His time in this God-forsaken place. 

It was then that God spoke to me in a way I had not heard before and have treasured ever since.  It went something like this: Tim, your value to me is not in what you do…in how much ministry you accomplish.  Your value to me is simply that you are my son.  I pictured, for a moment, those words ringing over Jesus after His baptism…this is My Son, in whom I am well pleased.  At the beginning of…not the end of…His public ministry.  God’s pleasure in Jesus was rooted in relationship, not behavior.  If that were not the case, God could not be pleased with any of us.  As the Psalmist says in Psalm 130:  If you should [keep track of] iniquities, who could stand?  God’s introduction of Jesus to the world was not “TA DA! Meet the Savior of the world!” but rather, “Here’s my Boy, in whom I am well pleased.”  The Father delighted in His Son simply because He was His Son. 

We have been bought with a price, not with silver or gold, but with Jesus’ very own blood, to secure that relationship.  It was, after all, while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us.  That’s how much we matter to Him.  Do you believe that on a deep level?  I know for me personally, it took me ending up in a place “I wouldn’t be caught dead” to really discover my true value to God.

tad

Pastor's Point: The Power of a Moment

Have you ever wondered what you’re going to be when you grow up?  Whether you’re an adult or not, many of us struggle with this question throughout our life.  Part of it is this: as fallen creatures, made in the image of God, we intuitively know we are in process.  But also contributing to our restlessness is an awareness that even while time is marching on, we are prone to devalue or even waste it.  Christian songwriter Chris Rice expressed it this way:

What am I gonna be when I grow up?
How am I gonna make my mark in history?
And what are they gonna write about me when I’m gone?
These are the questions that shape the way I think about what matters

               

But I have no guarantee of my next heartbeat
And my world’s too big to make a name for myself
And what if no one wants to read about me when I’m gone?
Seems to me that right now’s the only moment that

matters

The chorus of this song, “The Power of a Moment,” went like this:                                                                                                                                                                            

You know the number of my days
So come paint Your pictures on the canvas in my head
And come write Your wisdom on my heart
Teach me the power of a moment.

These words suggest that we don’t naturally default to placing a high value on time.  The One who has ordained the number of our days has to teach us to live in the moment.  Left to ourselves, we tend to live as if time will never run out.  Much like the makeup opportunities we have for everything from missed piano lessons to college entrance exams, we assume that we can always do just about anything later.

The prophet Isaiah warned: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.” The apostle Paul reiterates this in 2 Corinthians 6:2 “In the time of my favor, I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”  If none of us can really control how much time we have left, then what we can choose to do is make the most of what we have—namely, this moment!  Honestly, we don’t even have the rest of today, tomorrow, or next week guaranteed to us.  I think about a friend I had, in the earlier days of my ministry, who was picnicking with his wife and two young children, suffered an aneurysm, and died before he hit the grass under the table.  My point is not to be maudlin or to scare you into action.  It’s to encourage you to maximize each moment God gives you.

Think back to your childhood.  For a moment, don’t reflect on periods of time (your first summer camp experience, your favorite Christmas, the year your parents split up, etc.).  Instead, let your mind lock in to certain specific moments that have really had an impact on you.  For many, if not all, of you, it might be the day you received Christ as your Savior and Lord.  Maybe it was the birth of your first child, or the day you left home.  For others, it could be a historic event, such as the day JFK or Martin Luther King were assassinated, or the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded before our very eyes. 

But what about those moments which seemingly came out of nowhere which not only impacted you but also really shaped who you are today or how you look at life?  I still remember my Aunt Millie cupping my face in her hands and telling me I had “smiling eyes.”  I think I was nine.  I still remember it like it was yesterday.  And yet there was an even more powerful moment in my childhood which left an indelible print on my mind and heart.  It involved my mother and me.  It was not planned.  It was not pretty.  But it was profound. 

Our family of eight lived in a small parsonage (preacher’s home owned by the church) in Aberdeen, South Dakota.  The smallest room in the house, other than the one bathroom, was the kitchen.  It was separated from the dining room by a swinging door.  On one special occasion when we were preparing to have company for dinner, I was helping set the table (don’t think too highly of this action—I’m sure it was conscripted service).  I remember being in a bit of a hurry, and as I rushed into the kitchen for more tableware, I swung the door into my mother, who was standing on the other side holding a bowl of beans.  Like I said, it was not pretty.  Nor was her reaction.  She screamed at me, and I, being the young stud that I was, ran screaming up the stairs to my bedroom.  Soon after, I was summoned back to the kitchen to my mom’s waiting arms for a big hug and an apology for her tirade.  She admitted that it was obvious I was only trying to help.

In truth, I believe that moment was so powerful mainly because her physical gesture of approval was so rare. She had a very difficult time expressing those kinds of tender emotions, having grown up in the home of an abusive, alcoholic father.   And yet in a moment, she decided to swallow her pride and dial into my pain.  In a moment, she modeled the need for even big people to admit their faults to little people.  And she chose to kneel down, make a physical connection, and reassure me of her love, even when time was running out before our guests arrived. 

Are moments powerful?   Chris concludes his song with these words:

I get so distracted by my bigger schemes
Show me the importance of the simple things
Like a word, a seed, a thorn, a nail
And a cup of cold water.

Who in your sphere of influence needs an encouraging word from you today?  Who needs a cup of cold water?  Who needs to hear that thorns and nails were endured on their behalf by a loving Savior?  Look around.  Don’t miss…better yet, take full advantage of the power of a moment.             

    

                                                                                                                                                    tad

Pastor's Point: Who Moved My Cheese?

SHIFT HAPPENS.  It’s been said that the most dependable aspect of life in these times is that things change.  Somebody “moves our cheese.”  Shift happens.  Just when we think we’ve got all our life neatly organized (right!), something changes.  Sometimes, it’s really big.  A boss says the company needs you in another city.  Or another department.  Or not at all.  A child leaves the “nest” for school or a life on their own.  A spouse walks away.  A doctor gives a not-so-welcome prognosis.  Worse, someone we love dies.  This shifting happens even in the church.  Worship styles change.  New staff come and go.  Different kinds of people start showing up.  We are asked to share the role we once thought was uniquely ours. 

For me, as a creative person, I usually greet change with excitement, enthusiasm.  But not too long ago, I experienced a change in my life that rocked me more than I care to admit.  The little 5½  dog that shared life with Deb and me for 15 years, needed to be put down.  And “Sammie” was no ordinary dog (I know we all say that).  She was like a furry angel God placed in our life for the very reason of providing stability and unconditional love through the many changes we would navigate during her lifetime.  Her death left a bigger hole in my heart than I imagined was possible from a non-human.  Occasionally, she still shows up in my dreams.  Our house feels different.  It’s a noticeable shift, and one which will never return to the way it was.

As a person living in an increasingly unstable and changing world, I am beginning to weary of it a bit, seeing more and more of change as not so much for the better, but just because we can change.  Technology is shrinking our world and enabling us to get places faster, do things cheaper, and do whatever we can dream.  In fact, human kind appears to be growing more and more restless.  So I find myself simultaneously excited and uneasy.  Stimulated, but suspicious.  Eager, and yet a bit dreadful. 

Where do we turn, when, as the ancient hymn writer once wrote, “every earthly prop gives way?”  Lately, I’ve been finding comfort in Psalm 34, penned by another artistic type, King David himself. 

I will extol the Lord at ALL times. His praise will always be on my lips.  My soul will boast in the Lord: let the afflicted hear and rejoice.  Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.  I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.  Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.”

From these five little verses, my 3½ lbs of brain conclude:  I need encouragement, I need a community, I need faith.  Or better said, WE need encouragement.  WE need community.  WE need faith.  If I am to be delivered from all my fears, I need to be urged forward, to keep joining myself with others, and to keep trusting the One who is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever.  And so do you.

Who are the ones in your life that God consistently uses to do just that in your life through their encouragement, their friendship, their faith?  Take a moment to thank God for their part in your life. Better yet, drop them a note, an email, a text message and let them know how God is using them to help ground you, when so many things in life are shifting.  It may come in handy the next time someone moves your cheese.                                                                                                                                                              tad       

Pastor’s Point: Food for thought

The wisest of kings once wrote: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” Solomon recorded his thoughts in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, and even a cursory reading of its contents gives evidence of their timeless value. What we say matters, and as those who sing a lot of words over the course of time, we would do well to weigh their importance in our song selection for corporate worship.

Here’s a question: Generally speaking, what draws you to a piece of vocal music first—the lyrics or the musical content? For some, it is a provocative melody or a funky or driving beat. For others, it is the turn of a phrase, an expressed thought that seems to resonate with one’s reality at the moment. I remember years ago hearing a tune by Billy Joel called Honesty. It contained a cryptic chorus:

“Honesty is such a lonely word.

Everyone is so untrue.

Honesty is hardly ever heard.

And mostly what I need from you.”

I recall the song really “grabbing” me at the time, because it was part of my experience at that moment.

By contrast, I can remember songs that I used to love to listen to or even dance to (yes, they danced during the Cro-Magnon age!) because of their beat, only to be surprised later to realize I was moving to some pretty raunchy or dubious lyrics.

What’s the point? Music has the power to engage us on a very visceral and emotional level, sometimes because of the message it communicates and other times simply by how it makes us feel. Put in the wrong hands, it can be a very manipulative and even destructive influence. But used judiciously and for a higher purpose, it can lift us, inspire us, comfort us. Look at the lyrics to this simple praise song:

This is the Day

Father, I am weary; I am pleading for your mercy

I am waiting for Your answer,

And I’m struggling with surrender.

But I’m trusting through the darkness that surrounds:

This is the day the Lord has made

I will rejoice I will give thanks

And live my life to bring you praise

This is the day the Lord has made.

Father, through the shadows, I will seek you, I will follow for your glory, for Your Kingdom;

For redemption, and for freedom,

In my weakness, through the power of the cross:

This is the day…

I will carry my cross, carry my cross,

And You will carry me

I will carry my cross, carry my cross,

And You will carry me. This is the day…

What initially drew me to this song was the fact that the worshiper appears to be “singing through” his circumstances, bleak though they might be. He confesses to being “weary, needing mercy, looking for answers…through the darkness.” The words to Psalms 42 and 40 come quickly to mind:

As a deer gets thirsty for streams of water, I truly am thirsty for you, my God. In my heart, I am thirsty for you, the living God. When will I see your face?

Why am I discouraged? Why am I restless? I trust you! And I will praise you again because you help me, and you are my God.

Every day, you are kind, and at night you give me a song as my prayer to you, the living LORD God. You are my mighty rock. Why am I discouraged? Why am I restless? I trust you! And I will praise you again because you help me, and you are my God.

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

For those in the worship ministry to stand before the Church week after week and sing truth through our pain, doubts or fear, it is a powerful way of reaching out to God and encouraging the saints. The psalmist says that through the public proclamation of praise, “many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”

In conclusion, love your favorite kinds of music for personal recreation—it’s what makes you unique! But when it comes to music ministry, give me a powerful, truth-filled lyric any day, one which nourishes my soul and “drives the dark of doubt away.” Long after the initial feeling created by the music itself, the words will refresh like ‘apples of gold.’

                                                                                                                             tad

Trees Talk

Pastor’s Point:  Trees Talk

Usually when someone suggests to you that they are having conversations with inanimate objects, you begin to wonder if the porch light is on but nobody’s home. What’s that you say? The trees talk to you? I suppose the flowers whisper your name, too, right?

Actually the notion is not all that far-fetched. Throughout scripture it is suggested that God has intended all along to reveal Himself—to speak to us—through His handiwork. Consider just a few passages:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19

The seas have lifted up, LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice;

the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.

Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea—

the LORD on high is mighty. Ps. 93

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities— his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55

As the summer months allow for us to interact more freely with our natural surroundings, it’s a good time to be a little more intentional about what nature can “say” to us. Consider with me the connection between the tree and the four seasons: summer, autumn, winter, and spring. Here in this one beautiful symbol of life we have all the stages, the actual rhythm of the human experience. And ultimately, we have the reminder that through the use of a tree, God’s redemptive plan for his fallen creation was accomplished, and we are restored. We are made right with Him.

I am reminded of the lyrics to one of my favorite Nicole Nordeman songs, Every Season.* Read along and see if you don’t agree that God’s creative handiwork has a language all its own.

Every evening sky, an invitation to trace the patterned stars.

And early in July, a celebration for freedom is ours.

And I notice You in children’s games, in those who watch them from the shade.

Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder. You are summer.

I think of the summer of our days as the best of the best. And it’s not necessarily a confined season or stage of our life. It’s just when life is good, when we’re hitting on all cylinders, and all seems right with the world. This experience comes and goes, but when we’re in the middle of it, we don’t want it to end. It’s also a time filled with discovery and awe.

And even when the trees have just surrendered to the harvest time.

Forfeiting their leaves in late September and sending us inside,

Still I notice You. When change begins and I am braced for colder winds,

I will offer thanks for what has been and what’s to come. You are autumn.

Personally, autumn is my favorite season of the year. The colors, the smells, the cooler temperatures, the activities unique to fall: they all remind me that just because something changes does not mean it can’t be beautiful or purposeful. And I have learned the longer I live, that something wondrous happens even in the process of dying—if I look for it.

And everything in time and under heaven finally falls asleep.

Wrapped in blankets white, all creation shivers underneath.

And still I notice You when branches crack and in my breath on frosted glass.

Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter. You are winter.

I can honestly say this is probably my least favorite season of the year and of life in general. It is often used to describe that stage which precedes our own death, when we fall asleep and are no more. We hear the phrase the winter of our years. Actually, I usually greet the start of winter with enthusiasm. Certain elements, the snow, the warmth of a fireplace, even the beauty of dead trees and vegetation against a white backdrop intrigue me…initially. But then comes the waiting, the frustration of life slowed down, the lack of freedom, the lack of life, the sameness of it all. At times the bitter winds and uncertain conditions seem actually to oppose me in my journey, blocking my forward momentum. But then, it happens:

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced, teaching us to breathe.

And what was frozen through is newly purposed, turning all things green.

So it is with You and how You make me new with every season’s change.

And so it will be as You are recreating me, summer, autumn, winter, spring.

You and I, along with all of God’s creation, are reborn, given a fresh start, awakened to life as it was always intended. Solomon once wrote: “Lo, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone; flowers appear on the earth, and the time for singing has come.” It reminds us that even the bleakest of periods in our lives have an ending point. God is always at work moving us forward. He has made seasons to illustrate the spectrum of our human experiences. And He has made trees, including the one that was used for His own son’s death, to remind us, that in whatever stage we find ourselves, He is at work for our good.

[Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins,

might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 NKJV

Let the seasons speak to you. Listen to the trees. And be reminded, God is not finished with you yet.

                                                                                                                                       tad

*“Every Season” © 2000 Ariose Music, Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing