It Is Over Too Soon

Today is February 28, the last day of the month.    As all of you know,  February is the shortest month of the year.    For those of you who have faced trial and trouble this month,  perhaps you see the end of February with gratitude and relief.   For those facing business goals that must be met by the end of the month and others of you facing deadlines with a target date of March 1,  perhaps this month of February ends way too soon.      

The shortness of the month of February reminds me of the shortness of life.   As Februray is short, so life is so brief.     While children can hardly wait till special occasions like Christmas and their birthday,  life is too short.   The year of 2018 has already reminded me well of the brevity of life through too many trips to the funeral home.  I am reminded of these words of Psalm 90 where we read:

¹⁰ Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
¹¹ If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
¹² Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

February is almost over, but if you are reading this your life is not.  Live this day and life well knowing not one of us comes stamped with a specific  expiration code on us.    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  I  thank you for the gift of my life and of this day.  Forgive me for the times I take the wonder of my life so lightly.   Help me to live this day fully and gratefully;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Giving Up, and Giving In

There are many ways that followers of Christ Jesus observe this season of Lent.   While Lent is the season before Easter, it is intended to be much more than that.    Some people make it a tradition to attend special worship services and Bible studies during Lent.     Remembering how Christ Jesus “gave up” His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, followers of Christ Jesus through the ages during Lent  have also  given up eaten certain foods or even eating for portion of a 24 hour period

During this season of Lent,  I want to suggest you consider “giving up” something else in these Lenten days.    Considering giving up one or more of the following:

·         Why not “give up”  a judgmental attitude toward others?   Most of us never know the full story about another person and their story.  And you know what?    We are not the judge on eternal things anyway.    

·         Why not “give up”  some of the ways you are spending your time.   Stop in your tracks for a bit to enjoy a sunrise or sunset… to share a conversation with a loved one… and to share time with a child.   Perhaps the things that appear so urgent are not so important in the grand scheme of things. 

·         Why not “give up” some habits that are getting you nowhere.   Give up talking before listening.   Give up feeling you always  have  to be right even when you are wrong. 

I am told that it takes three weeks of doing a new thing for it to become a part of your way of life.   While it is good for our health  to give up desserts and such for Lent, perhaps we would be more Christlike and the world around us would be a better place if we would give up some behaviors  during Lent.   I think that if I would “give up” some of these behaviors, I would be giving in to the ways of Christ.      Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  I confess that I am not the person you have called me to be.  There have been times I have looked like a Christian on the outside, but not been a Christian fully on the inside.   Create a new and clean heart in me, O God.    Help me to surrender myself more fully to you;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.   

A Day of Love and...

Many of you will remember the 1939 movie classic, “The Wizard of Oz.”    Near the end of the movie,  there is a scene where Dorothy and company finally arrive at their goal of seeing the Wizard of Oz.   You may recall that the Tin man was in search of a heart.  As he encounters the mighty  Wizard, he discovers that a heart is to love and to be loved.     Today is a special  day for many people.  Flowers, candy, cards, special dinners, and the like will be shared on this day we call Valentine’s Day.  For those who are followers of Christ Jesus, today is a special day for another reason, and that reason is that today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent.   Lent is the season of preparation for Easter.  It lasts for 40 days as we remember the 40 days Jesus faced temptation in the wilderness. 

It is wonderful to love and to be loved.  It is a blessing to give and receive Valentine gifts with someone on this day.    I am sure that are some reading this who feel a veil of sadness over them knowing they do not have a sweetheart this Valentines Day for all sorts of reasons.   I am so grateful to share this Valentine’s Day with my wife, Ann, who is such a blessing to me. 

Yet, let us also remember that today is not only Valentines Day, but also  Ash Wednesday.  As we begin the journey toward the cross and the empty tomb, let us remember another love:  the love of God.  While human love might only last till “death we do part”,  God’s love is eternal and perfect.    Each of us as human beings sometimes take others for granted, and fail to love others in the way that God intends.  Yet, God’s love is perfect. 

As you live this day even if you do not feel very loved by those in your world,  find hope is the fact that God loves you.  Why, His love is out of this world.   Ash Wednesday is a reminder of that.     Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  I give you thanks for your love that never lets us go.  During this season of Lent, help me not  only to remember your love, but help me to show it and share it with others;  through Christ our Lord.   Amen..  

Telling the Story

 

 

I  wrote a few weeks ago  about the Christnas gift my oldest daughter, Heather, and her family gave me this year.   There is a web site out there called StoryWorth where a person is prompted to write stories once a week for 52 weeks (one year) from a question that is emailed to you each week.  The recipient of the email then either answers the question in written form or they can call into a phone number and verbally answer the question.  When the 52 weeks are over,  StoryWorth prepares all of these stories in a book form and sends it to the giver of the gift.   

I am enjoying telling my story a little bit at a time over the course of a year.  I have a story to tell not because I am so special or so great but simply because all of us have a story to tell. As I prepared a few years ago for my final Sunday as pastor of a particular church, the music director asked me what was my favorite hymn.   In her kindness, she wanted for the congregation to sing my favorite hymn on my final Sunday as their pastor.   I told her without hesitation that my favorite hymn was “I love to tell story”.     “I love to tell the story of Jesus and His love,” the hymn says.   As I write these pieces each week about my story, I am also reminded again that I have a story to tell not only about my life, but also about “Jesus and his love”.    All who call themselves followers of Christ Jesus have that story to tell.   We can tell that story not just from a pulpit as pastors do, but we can also tell that story through who we are and what we do.  We can also tell that story through what we do not say and do.     We can tell the story of Jesus and His love through the way we treat and serve others through actions as simple as a smile.     I am sad to admit that sometimes I do not tell the story of Jesus and His love very well.    I need to do better and am still “striving to perfection”.   If you are a follower of Jesus, how are you doing telling the story of Jesus and His love?     You don’t owe me an answer, but some day  all of us will have to answer that question to God.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  I give you thanks not only for the people through the ages that told the story of Jesus to the world, but especially for those that told the story to me.   Help me to go and do likewise in word and deed;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.