O Lord, what a morning! It is once again brilliant and
beautiful. Thanks be to Jesus, the Lord of the Eternal Morning. It
is getting warmer and warmer day by day. The days are getting longer and
longer. It is getting dark after about 8:15 PM and it is getting
bright at around 5:30 AM. I love longer days and shorter nights. It
is written in the Book Revelation that there is no night in New Jerusalem, the
Eternal City. WOW!
We
will gather for our Wednesday Evening Gathering this Evening at 6:00
PM for a special meal followed by Bible study. We
will be looking at Genesis 11, Joel 2, and Acts 2.
Alice
and I drove around the countryside the other day. The Lord is
awakening the earth through the gift of Spring. The choirs of Spring
birds are serenading with melodious sonnets. The Cattle on "a
thousand hills" are grazing with jubilant feet. Springs and rivulets
are sparkling and flowing, making joyful music. In Central New York we
are blessed with fertile agricultural land. We can see the heavy farm
tractors and vehicles are at work along with Amish farmers using their
work horses and all other non-mechanized farming equipment. We passed by
hundreds of beehives and fruit orchards, which were full of
the promise of abundant harvest.
Alice
and I walked vigorously yesterday in the late afternoon. The local
parks are full of children and youth playing t-ball, soccer, basketball
and baseball. Once again the fields and parks come alive withe the
sounds and sights of young people. The iconic Ice Cream shop that is
situated next to our church is open for the season. This Ice
Cream shop becomes the epicenter of the town for the season, when people
congregate religiously every day. Praise the Lord for the simple gifts
with which the Lord visits us in every Season. Blessed be His
name.
Through
the years in my various roles as a minister, I have dealt with people who are
depressed or discouraged. Many of us live as if we are looking through
the rearview mirror of life…always in the past. Every day seems to be a
gray slush kind of day. Joe Bayly wrote a “Psalm in a Hotel Room” that
expresses how so many people live:
I’m
alone Lord
Alone
A thousand miles from home.
There’s no one here who knows my name except the clerk
And he spelled it wrong
No one to eat dinner with
Laugh at my jokes
Listen to my gripes
Be happy with me about what happened today
And say that’s great.
No one cares.
There’s just this lousy bed
And slush in the street outside
Between the buildings.
I feel sorry for myself
And I’ve plenty of reason to.
Maybe I ought to say
I’m on top of it
Praise the Lord
Things are great
But they’re not.
Tonight
It’s all gray slush!
(Living Above the Level of Mediocrity by Swindoll page 239-240).
Alone
A thousand miles from home.
There’s no one here who knows my name except the clerk
And he spelled it wrong
No one to eat dinner with
Laugh at my jokes
Listen to my gripes
Be happy with me about what happened today
And say that’s great.
No one cares.
There’s just this lousy bed
And slush in the street outside
Between the buildings.
I feel sorry for myself
And I’ve plenty of reason to.
Maybe I ought to say
I’m on top of it
Praise the Lord
Things are great
But they’re not.
Tonight
It’s all gray slush!
(Living Above the Level of Mediocrity by Swindoll page 239-240).
In the Bible, God's holy
and anointed word, we find the encouragement to face life day by day. In
another book - one by Charles Swindoll, "Living Above the Level of Mediocrity"
- he asks his
readers to imagine that they work for a company whose president found it
necessary to travel out of the country and spent extended times abroad.
So, he says to you and the other trusted employees that while he is gone you
are to pay close attention to the business of running the company. He
says he will send instructions via emails and written correspondence. All
the parties agree, and he sets off for a couple of years while continually
sending messages…some long and some short. After being gone for two
years, he returns unexpectedly, strolling up to his company’s building.
He discovers the place is in shambles. The exterior façade is cracking,
weeds in the flower beds, broken glass in the windowframes with some of those
boarded. The receptionist at the front desk is dozing; loud, obnoxious
music is blaring from the back room. (Although, that does make me wonder
how she can nod off with music blaring.) Instead of making a profit, the
business has suffered financial loss. Within moments of his arrival, he
calls for a company meeting of all employees…no exceptions, no excuses and no
tardiness. The boss asks, “What happened? Didn’t you get my emails
and letters?” You say, “Oh, yes, sure. We got all your
correspondence. We have them printed and bound into a book. Some of
us have memorized them. In fact, we have Correspondence Study every
Sunday. You know, those were really great notes to us…very helpful.
Swindoll says, “I think the president would then ask, ‘But what did you do
about my instructions?' And no doubt, the employees would respond,
‘Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!’”
This
coming Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. We will celebrate the
Coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, who were discourged. The
Church was born on that day. The Lord of all encouragement is at work in
the world through the person of the Holy Spirit today.
Our God will not leave us unattached in life. He has sent His Holy Spirit to stand with us and walk with us in those gray slushy days. He will give us perseverance and encouragement as He escorts us through the down days, never leaving our side. As Swindoll observed, “Discouragement may be awful, but it is not terminal.”
In Christ
Brown
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