Spring is Coming

I love snow!  I know, you’re probably saying “What!!”  Sure it brings a lot of trouble with it, but it is one of the most beautiful things that God has given us.  But by the time February arrives I am getting ready for spring.  I’m tired of wet, cold, gloomy days.  My mind is turning to warmer sunny days, being outside, going fishing, maybe even hitting a golf ball, trees putting forth leaves, and seeing some beautiful flowers.  It’s a great time of the year. 

I’m also looking forward to my first spring in Kentucky.  Just as spring confronts us with new life it reminds us too of the resurrection.  Everything that was once dead (or so it seemed) is now alive with color and growth.  My spirit is already stirring thinking of our Revival Services that we will be having this April and the Easter services when we reflect on our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection.  So much opportunity for renewal and growth await us in our lives and in our church.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Do we look forward in faith to what God has for us this spring?  Do we have the vision to see what He has on the horizon for us?  Do we stand ready to be obedient to whatever He calls us to do?  Can we see lives changed, families restored, Sunday School growing, our church revived, and most of all our Savior glorified?  I believe so.  I know so.

Let me give you some things to be praying about.  Pray for our first ever ‘March to the Cross’ which will be our Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions.  America is more lost than ever and there are so many areas of our country that need the gospel.  Pray for our Revival in April.  Brother Tom James from Eastwood Baptist in Bowling Green will be preaching for us.  Begin now praying for those in our community that need Christ.  Pray for our Mission Emphasis in March and most of all pray that this Easter will bring salvation to many hearts and lives!  I’m looking forward with faith to it, aren’t you?

I think it’s time for a good snow and then spring!

Moving Month

With the renovation of the Parsonage coming along very nicely it will not be long until my family will be moving into our new home.  Sometimes we think of it as a one-time event to move from one home to another, but oh no, this has been a several months long process.  I remember last fall starting with a garage sale for all our items that we either felt like we didn’t need or just wouldn’t have the luxury of keeping.  Tools, mowers, a grill, odd and end furniture, books, just all kinds of stuff.  Then there was and is an ongoing list of things such as, changing our addresses (email and physical), getting new driver’s licenses (don’t ask Carolyn how I lost her first one – LOL), new insurance policies, registering our cars in Kentucky with the ‘blue’ license tags, and all the things that Tim had to do!  And we haven’t even started to think about filing our taxes in this state.

Moving can be exciting, adventurous, eye-opening, while at the same time frustrating, aggravating, and painful.  So many things we have and are leaving behind that would have been nice to keep (I did make sure that we kept my fishing gear – can’t leave home without that!), but at the same time not really all that important in the grand scope of things.  A lot of decisions have already been made and are still being made that effect our day to day lives.

Which brings me to my point of all this, which is, one day we will be leaving this world, and with that move we will leave a lot of ‘stuff’ behind.  After all, the Bible says that we are just strangers and pilgrims in this world (1 Peter 2:11).  So are there some things that I (we) need to go ahead and get rid of before the grand move?  Things we don’t need?  And they may be ‘good’ things, but are they things we really need?  Maybe things that are cluttering our lives and keeping us from seeing Jesus clearly?  Shouldn’t we be evaluating our walk daily looking for the things that are not going to be needed in our heavenly home?

I read this some time back.  It seems to say what I have to remind myself of daily. 
The story goes that there was an American tourist visiting the 19th century Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim:  Astonished to see that the rabbi's home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench, the tourist asked, "Rabbi, where is your furniture?"

"Where is yours?" replied the rabbi.

"Mine?" asked the puzzled American. "But I'm a visitor here. I'm only passing through."

"So am I," said Hofetz Chaim.

 It would do us all well to remember that.