Remember Your Journey

Recently, reading through my One Year Bible, a phrase in Micah 6:5 jumped out at me:

“Remember your journey.”

How was your “journey” in 2019? Over the past few years? Has your journey been filled with potholes or high hills or floods that have washed out your way? Or has your journey given you exciting “adventures” - maybe some even unexpected? Any hiker will tell you that is how any journey will be until the “finish line” is reached...both joys and difficulties.  

“Remember your journey...the benefits:”

When you walk for exercise, you know that just walking on straight, flat, smooth paths is good, but the challenge and eventually increased strength comes from climbing those hills and walking on rough surfaces. Those produce endurance and strength.

Romans 5: 3-5 - “...We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Use those “rough paths” or “beautiful vistas” from 2019 to produce new love for the Lord and stronger character traits.

“Remember your journey...the preparation:”

A fundamental part of a journey is preparing for it. Since life’s journey is continually changing, we have to have a guide...a map...a GPS. You probably learned Psalm 119:105 as a child. God’s Word is a “light to our feet” when we are walking on dark and difficult paths. On your 2019 journey, did you find strength and direction through God’s Word? It is never too late to start your preparation for your journey into next year...read God’s Word daily!

“Remember your journey...the encouragement:”

Sometimes those memories of the journey in 2019 are very happy, joyful, unexpected pleasures. We say with the Psalmist in 136: “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good...”  If we think about the whole year, I am sure God has brought people into our lives in 2019 who have “sharpened” us. Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Do you need to say thank you to someone who helped you in 2019? Someone who “sharpened” you?

“Remember your journey” is in Micah 6:5. Then in verse 8, the Lord reminds us how to carry on our upcoming journey... “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Those are powerful verbs of action. Wow! What a difference we can make in 2020 taking these truths to heart. God bless you!!

--Maylou Holladay

Preparing for Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! It’s almost here!

So, what have you been doing in preparation for these celebrations? Have your creative juices been flowing? I’ve seen some inspiring and whimsical favors this season. No doubt Pinterest has sparked some people’s imaginations. Those who manage Hobby Lobby and Michael’s are aware that when people create something, they use materials like wood, iron, wool, cotton, etc. We simply don’t fashion something out of nothing.

Not so, with our great God! When He speaks, power within Him pours forth. So, in all of Creation, there’s a little bit of Himself there, right? I know this sounds a little New Age-y, but God’s own Word tells us He spoke everything into existence and we humans are made in His image. His Word also tells us that our words are powerful too – the power of life and death are in the tongue (Proverbs 18:24).

If you’re like me, you don’t see yourself as powerful. Many of us think we don’t make a difference, that we don’t have much influence. But have you ever visibly seen someone’s countenance rise or fall based on something you’ve said? I know I have, and it’s sobering. It’s a sign that I made a mark on that person, potentially a long-lasting mark.

Jesus said this in Matthew 12:36-37, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” In context, He was speaking about the Pharisees and what they said about Him. They had influence on what others thought of Jesus. Things we say also can have an influence on what others think of our Jesus. Our words can draw them closer to Him or push them away. The way we treat others while professing the Name of Jesus speaks powerfully too.

Here are some words to live by from Ephesians 4:

“Do not let any unwholesome [rotten, foul] talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

I’d encourage you to meditate on these verses before your next holiday gathering, and I’ll do the same. Holidays, with all the extra stressors and competing priorities, tend to be a hot bed of strife for many. There might be opportunities for gossip and slander and general unkindness. Bitterness and anger over past offenses may surface. Prepare your hearts with these verses and with prayer. And remember how powerful your words are. Be the reason others are drawn to Jesus!

Blessings for a wonderful Christmas!

joyce hague

All is Well

“All is well; all is well. Angels and men rejoice.” When our choir sang this beautiful song on December 8, I know I was not the only one deeply moved. While the words offer comfort and cheer, the melody somehow stirs feelings of melancholy. The combination of these seemingly disparate attitudes creates deep emotion.

I think of the scene in one of the Lord of the Rings movies when the hateful and wicked Denethor sends his son off to his almost-certain death while he himself sits to a personal banquet and orders the hobbit Pippin to sing for him. The sweet and plaintive notes of the song are juxtaposed with scenes of battle and destruction. It’s not unlike the way “What a Wonderful World” is played over scenes of war in Good Morning Vietnam.

For myself, as I listened to the proclamation that “all is well,” my mind went back to scenes from the past year: birthdays, family reunions, work days; but also hospital rooms, car trouble, funeral parlors. Life is just a mish-mash of the beautiful and the terrible. The poet W.H. Auden noted that suffering always takes place alongside ordinary events of our lives. He says that “it takes place/While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along” (“Musee des Beaux Arts”). Similarly, while some of us are enjoying wonderful, even miraculous, joy, others are in great pain.

We have seen this truth in our own community even in recent days. It seems to me that the beauty of “All is Well” is tied up in the great need we have for peace and solace. It’s because there is so much pain in the world that the message brought by a sleeping baby centuries ago is so poignant.

--Sherry Poff

Thankfulness Learned

Society’s Thanksgiving season has ended (barely), but a thanksgiving attitude never ends for the Christian. We are to give thanks – to God – always. Several years ago, I got a Thanksgiving jolt that has stayed with me ever since.

We were dining with the Hernandez family on Thanksgiving Day. There is never a shortage of food or friends at their house, and this day was extreme on both counts. As is traditional at many Thanksgiving tables, we all took a turn saying what we were thankful for. I don’t remember my contribution or anyone else’s except Tony’s.

Tony said most meals at his home when he was growing up in Puerto Rico consisted of beans and coffee. Except when there were no beans. Then it was coffee. I was stunned. Beans and coffee?? Or just coffee? For a bunch of kids? We were “poor” when I was a child, but we did have a good diet, consisting of beef and chicken and vegetables, all of which my “poor” parents grew on our farm. Hand-me-down clothes and no luxuries were the standard of life, but we did have food.

As I listened to Tony’s story and viewed the over-abundance of savory, nourishing dishes on his table that day, my attitude of gratitude was forever changed. Maybe we don’t need more in order to be thankful; we need less. I’m pretty sure that Tony’s gratitude that day was greater than mine, but I “learned the lesson” without having to experience it myself. So I’m sharing it with you so you can do the same. 

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

--Lynda Shenefield

No Longer a Slave

When we think of Christmas passages, Luke 2 and Matthew 1 come to mind, among others. Hidden among the epistles though is a great verse that should not be overlooked as we ponder the Christmas story. It starts with the incarnation and then beautifully explains the reason behind the coming of the baby that we celebrate.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth a Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5

As I meditate on this passage, each phrase speaks important truths:

The fullness of time: God has perfect timing in all He does. Thousands of years had passed since God’s promise that One from a woman’s seed would crush Satan’s head. But up until now, it hadn’t been the right time.  God knew what He was doing; the wait was intentional. And at this point in history, with the Roman Empire spread wide and the Greek language widely spoken, God was ready. The right people were all in place. The time was here. The Savior could come.

God sent forth a Son: This was a Son who existed from eternity past, who dwelt with the Father in Oneness. This was the plan all along. This promised One, the Messiah, would be the rescuer the fallen world so desperately needed.

Born of a Woman: How much more vulnerable can the Son of God become than to be a newborn infant, reliant on a young woman for His very sustenance? And because He was born of a woman and thus was fully human, He understands our frailties. He understands heartache, trials, loneliness, and pain. And we are also reminded of the promise in the Garden: One from the woman’s seed would crush the serpent.

Born under the Law: Ever since Adam and Eve’s fall, all humanity is born under the law. This law must be upheld to have a relationship with the Father. And yet, because of our sinful desires and actions, we cannot follow the law perfectly. We are slaves to a Law we cannot keep and hopelessly lost. Christ, born fully human, was now subject to the same Law.

To Redeem all those who were under the Law: Sisters, that’s us! Redemption has been made possible because this One whom God sent at the right time, who was born of a woman and under the Law, was able to keep the Law perfectly. Not only that, but He also took our penalty, death, on Himself, so that His righteous life could be imputed to us, and God’s righteous judgement against sin could be upheld as His wrath was poured out on Christ. We have been redeemed at a high cost.

So that we might receive adoption as sons [daughters]: We have not only been redeemed, but we have also been adopted. We are daughters of the Most High God! If we follow the train of thought in these two verses, it can be boiled down to this: Jesus was born to save us so that we could become God’s children. Christ’s birth had an end in mind… our salvation and adoption into God’s family. Jesus was born to die. His manger lay in the shadow of a cross that would purchase our freedom.

            

I love the next two verses in this passage as well:

“And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God.”

           

Because of Christmas and what would follow, we are no longer slaves to a law we cannot keep. We are heirs to a kingdom that is yet to come when the Savior we celebrate at Christmas comes back a second time, yet this time not as a baby, but as a conquering king. May we not just look to the past as we reflect on Christ’s birth this season, but may we celebrate our salvation and adoption in the present, and wait with anticipation for the day in the future when God’s final plan will be fulfilled at the return of His Son.

--Amy O'Rear