6722 Clark Rd. Paradise,
California 95969 |
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Across the Pastors Desk
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love god, who are called according to His purpose.” - Romans 8:28 As Nadeen and I left for a week at a time share we bought years ago at Squaw Valley, I was mindful (worried?) a bit about the fear of drought that January brought us. We need the moisture, I cried, too well I remembered the results of a dry winter when the following summer brought yellow ribbons to our mailboxes, reminding us of imminent possibility of evacuation due to fire dangers. Then, after becoming ensconced in our studio apartment, we beheld a wondrous thing, snow! Snow on snow, over ten feet of the white fluffy stuff, and in just two days. Now forecasters are beginning to talk of flood dangers...oh well. The anxieties being played out on our world’s stage, disturb, perhaps even frighten us as we witness the uprisings in Tunis, Egypt, Iran, and Libya (and maybe soon others). A line from Green Acres, summed up a common feeling, “Everything that has been nailed down is coming loose.” Political upheavals bring anxieties, some well founded, some, founded on our fears of what might occur. Yet, what if we really believed that “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity?” What if we, instead of praying for what we want or for what we fear, instead believed that God was at work all along, working to bring about a better world in ways and through means, we cannot see or understand? Deep in the heart of all human beings is a longing for freedom, from want, from fear, from meaninglessness. Repression is rarely healthy, often exploding in anger, but sometimes that release can bring about the most complete healing. We pray for the families who’ve lost loved ones in each of those countries, and pray for a brighter future, finding the healing and freedom for which those lives were lost. Longing and drought have some commonalities, both disturb us and frustrate our hopes, the result is often fear, fear of change, fear of what might be, fear of ,well, fear itself. But god is faithful in all our seasons of drought, promising us He is still at work, bringing to fruition the thing He first began. and like all deserts, it is often here that God is leading us to that future place of abundance and fulfillment. I heard the weather forecast this morning...looks like rain is on the way.
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