Duty Roster

9/7:  Nursery-Beth, Children's Church-Sue, Cleaners-Jim &John, Greeters-Glessing
9/14:  Nursery-Hannah, Children's Church-Sue, Cleaners-Roger & Don, Greeters-Jamison
9/21:  Nursery-Nancy, Children's Church-Sue, Cleaners-Noble, Greeters-Gordon
9/28:  Nursery-Joy, Children's Church-Sue, Cleaners-Gordon, Greeters-Noble

What's Happening This Month

Sundays:
9:30 Sunday School
10:30 Worship, nursery, children's church
Fellowship following worship
6:30 Evening Bible Study

Tuesdays:
4:00-6:30 Community Soup

Thursdays:
11:00 Prayer Hour

Saturdays:
9/13 Men's Breakfast @ Chimacum Cafe
9/20 Busy Hands @ Annex
9/27 Men's Breakfast @ IHOP (Irondale House of Praise)

Making Decisions

Each of us has a primary way to make most of our decisions.  For example if our car is old and starting to cost money for repairs and lost time we will weigh the decision to buy another.  If we decide to buy another, then we consider questions like—car? pickup? van?  Once that decision is made we consider Ford, Chevy, Dodge or whatever.   (But, of course, the most common way of buying a new car is when your brother-in-law tells you of a really good deal you better jump on.)

We usually don’t think of the psychology behind decision making (or the psychology behind anything else), but there is one.  When it comes to decision making there are five ways we can know things.  First is “Sensory Data,” that is touch, taste, sight, etc.  For example we can tell a brick wall by how it looks, tastes or by running into it.  Second is “Authority,” this is when we take the counsel of someone we admire.  Maybe a parent, doctor, pastor or even your uncle Fred; based on their experience and knowledge you can be confident or at least well-informed about your decisions.  Third is “Reason” which is basically figuring it out yourself.  For example, if you are making barbeque sauce and it tastes funny, you add some salt, sugar or whatever it needs to make it taste right.  You simply use your know-how and experience to solve the problem.  Fourth is “Intuition” which is that good old fashioned gut-feeling.  This is hard to explain, but if you’ve had a gut-feeling, then no explanation is necessary.  The fifth and final one is “Revelation.”  Revelation is when God tells us what to do. 

One way God speaks to us is, simply that, speaking to us.  At times with an audible voice, at times quietly in the stillness of our heart, both of these are wonderful, but both can be dangerous. Dangerous because not every voice we hear is from God and certainly not every inclination of our heart is from Him either.  God also speaks to us through other people, but we should weigh every bit of counsel we receive from others against the written Word, as not every practical idea is a godly idea.

The primary way God speaks to us is through the scriptures.  From the pages of the Bible we may not learn every particular detail we want to know, but we do learn about God’s character, and by understanding His qualities and expectations we can understand what He wants from us in every situation.  Jesus, of course, was the best at explaining this, for example in Matthew 5:21-22 He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”  From this we learn that not only does God want us to avoid murdering, He also wants us to avoid character assassination.  So if we are wondering if God wants us to speak harshly about someone, we know the answer is ‘no.’ (A little something to consider as we watch the political ads.)

Galatians 5 gives us one of the lists of don’ts and do’s, the don’ts are “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.”  The do’s are, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”   Then we are challenged to keep in step with God and avoid being “conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”   When we have check list passages like these, it’s easy enough to know what God wants from us in these areas, but what about more complex issues?  What does the Bible say about life on other planets or does God care who I vote for?  How should I deal with depression?   Or a spouse or parent who abandons me? 

Sometimes life is simply overwhelming and we are missing the answer.  When this is the case here are a few faith facts to keep in mind:

1. God tells us to be wise, James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him”.  That’s pretty simple; if you don’t know what to do, ask God.  My experience has shown that God gives us an answer or gives us peace with not having the answer, either way He gives us all the wisdom we need.  A word of caution, there is a big difference between knowledge and wisdom.  We can have a ton of knowledge, but if we don’t use it wisely it is of little use.  In the same manner you can have a little knowledge used wisely and do great things.

2. God tells us to be loving, 1 John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God”.  This is not loving as in “being in love” with someone; this is love as in extending charity, kindness and compassion without any expectation of being repaid in any way.

3. God tells us to be faithful, Proverbs 3:3, “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.”  The idea that we are supposed to be faithful to God is a no brainer, but how we show our faithfulness to God on Earth is by showing faithfulness to people.  We do this when we remain faithful to our church, family and friends.  We cannot separate our faithfulness to God from our faithfulness to His people, they always go together.

4. God tells us to be righteous,             1 John 3:7, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous.”  What does it mean to be ‘righteous’?  Verse 8 goes on to explain that, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”  So does God ever tell us to sin? No.  No matter how practical it seems.

5. God tells us to have tenderhearts— Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  There are lots of ways to treat people, but being tenderhearted is the way God approves. 

How do you make your biggest decisions?  If you are in tune with God’s revelation you will find your big decisions are quite manageable just by living out these faith facts.  Receiving revelation from God is not a mystery, but it does require reading the Bible and understanding its content.

               

What's Happening This Month

EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 8
9:00 am Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt
10:30 Worship Service celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
no evening Bible Study


Sundays:
  9:30 am Sunday School all ages
10:30 am Worship Service
Fellowship
 6:30 pm Evening Bible Study

4/22 Compassion Ministries Presentation
4/22 Oasis performs at 6:30 Bible Study

4/29  Annual Business Meeting following 10:30 Worship Service

Tuesdays:
4:00-6:30 pm Community Soup

Wednesdays:
8-4 OPHC
4:00-5:30 Kid's Club
7:00 Love & Respect

Thursdays:
11:00 Prayer Hour
2:30 Women's Bible Study

Friday, April 6:
7:00 Good Friday Service

Saturdays:
  4/7  8:00 Men's Breakfast meet IHOP, carpool to Port Ludlow for special presentation
4/21  8:00 Men's Breakfast @ Chimacum Cafe

Duty Roster:

4/1:  Nursery-Christine, Children’s Church-Sue, Clean-Conklin, Greet-Jamison, Offering-Kathleen

4/8:  Nursery-Mary, Children’s Church-Jim, Clean-Hay, Greet-Noble, Offering-Kathi

4/15:  Nursery-Melissa, Children’s Church-Colleen, Clean-VanCamp, Greet-Eddie, Offering-Barrie

4-22:  Nursery-Crystal, Children’s Church-Normans, Clean-Wilcox & Jamison, Greet-Glessing, Offering-Colleen

4/28:  Nursery-Christine, Children’s Church-Rona, Clean-Horner & Swanson, Greet-Gordon, Offering-Jim

EASTER: MUCH MORE THAN EGGS AND BONNETS

A while back I was watching the evening news when the news-anchor offered the teaser for the upcoming news after commercial: “There is a report that the bones of Jesus have been found in a tomb near Jerusalem; stay tuned.”

“Stay tuned?”  Do they have any idea what they just said?  “All hope for heaven has ended.  Stay tuned for more after a word from our sponsor.” “You’ll never see your deceased loved ones again, more after this break.” The consequences of finding Christ’s bones would mean the end of hope for eternal life, the end of eternal consequences for evil behavior, the end of any morality governed outside of our own conscience.  Finding Christ’s bones would mean that Jesus did not rise from the dead and if He didn’t rise neither have the millions and millions of believers who have died.  It would also mean that every believer deceased and living would have to be officially counted among the misguided and confused; wayward people duped by religion and fooled by the society they had trusted.  Do we need to be concerned?  Not at all.

The story was that roughly 30 years ago archeologists discovered a ‘coffin’ which they confirmed to be 2000 years old and an inscription was engraved on it, that when translated read, “Jesus son of Joseph.”  Next of that coffin was another which bore the inscription “Mary” and next to that one was a third.  The inscription on that coffin read “Judah son of Jesus.”  So there we have it, the whole happy family buried together and after the discovery civilization would be on the brink of moral disaster.

But before you make plans to sue the Vatican for perpetuating a lie, let’s consider some additional facts.  2000 years ago, Jesus, Joseph, Judah and Mary were among the most common of all names.  An example for today would be a crept that read, “Here lays Robert, son of Donald, his wife Mary and their son James.”  Though the names of Jesus and Joseph may raise an eyebrow, it simply cannot be given much credence.  Also Jesus’ ministry was to the poor, His mother was poor, His brother Judah was shot full of arrows that doesn’t sound like a family that’ll be buying a big crypt to me.

But how can we know that Christ’s bones won’t be found?  Can we be certain that Christianity isn’t just a big elaborate hoax? To answer that, we have to delve into the world of philosophers and critical thinkers. Since our eyes can play tricks on us and our memories can fail, how can we be certain of anything?  To answer that question philosophers analyzed the system we use to separate truth from fiction.  They found that knowledge is learned when we process it through five categories: 1. sensory data; 2. authority; 3. reason; 4. intuition and 5. revelation.

Sensory Data is when you use your senses to determine what something is.  For example, if I handed you a sheet of blank paper and asked you “what is this?” you would look at it and say, “paper.”  If you touched it, listened to it as you crumpled it, you would be more convinced it was paper.  Suppose I tried to tell you, “It’s not paper, it’s a handkerchief.”  You might respond, “No, all the authorities in my life have told me this is paper.  My dad, my mom, my teachers, everyone I respect have always called this stuff, paper.”  If I persisted and said, “Oh they were misguiding you.”  You may begin to reason with me by using your knowledge of the product, “Hand-kerchiefs are made from woven cotton or linen and paper is made from a pressed pulp product.  So we must conclude this is paper, it is the reasonable conclusion.” 

At this point in the conversation, your intuition or “gut -feeling’ is probably beginning to tell you that I am the one who is misguided, misinformed or simply lying.  Because now you have put into action four of the five means for finding truth.   These four means are all generated by our personal experience, research, life experience and inner (often-unexplainable) feelings.  The fifth way we can know the truth about something is through revelation.

Revelation goes beyond anything we can learn or do.  To have something come to us through revelation, is to figuratively have our heads opened up and have information poured into it.  Revelation is something that only God can do.   So to go back to our example of the sheet of paper, imagine that while we were having our conversation, God spoke to your heart and mind and said, “You’re right, it’s paper.”  Will there be anything I can say that will persuade you that the paper is a handkerchief?  Even if I blow my nose on the paper, it won’t make it a handkerchief.

So when we hear on the evening news or even if we watch a special on the Discovery Channel that the bones of Christ have been located, we need to process the information through our knowledge base.  As for me, I have seen, heard and touched people, including myself, whose lives have been completely changed through believing Christ was resurrected from the dead.  I have also listened to the people in my life that I trust the most tell me that they believe Christ has raised from the dead.  As I have reasoned through the Bible’s claims that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, I have concluded that He was.  After weighing all the evidence my gut also tells me that it’s true.  So by the time I add the fact that God spoke to my heart and flooded me with hopes and dreams and a cause worth living, fighting and dying for, I am absolutely, positively, beyond any doubt, convinced that whoever’s bones they found in that tomb, they weren’t Jesus’.  Because as the angel said, “He’s not here, He is risen.”

Don’t let the Devil, your television or critical friend steal your joy or peace.  Have a Happy Easter and let the fact of Christ’s resurrection and the empty tomb make your heart sing with joy and hope eternally!

          

-Pastor David

Duty Roster

3/4:  Nursery-Mary, Children's Church-Colleen, Clean-VanCamp, Greet-Noble, Offering-Jim
3/11:  Nursery-Melissa, Children's Church-Normans, Clean-Wilcox & Jamison, Greet-Eddie, Offering-Barrie
3/18:  Nursery-Crystal, Children's Church-Jim, Clean-Horner & Swanson, Greet-Glessing, Offering-Colleen
3/25:  Nursery-Christine, Children's Church-Rona, Clean-Noble, Greet-Rosas, Offering-Barrie

What's Happening This Month

Sundays:
9:30 am Sunday School all ages
10:30 Worship Service
Fellowship
6:30 Evening Bible Study
3/4:  Soup Fellowship following 10:30 Service
3/11, 18, &25:  Worship Team Practices at 8:45 am
3/18:  Gideon Presentation
Tuesdays:
4:00-6:30 Community Soup
3/13, 20 & 27 Worship Team Practices at 6:30
Wednesdays:
8:00-4:00 OPHC
4:00-5:30 Kid's Club
7:00 Love & Respect
Thursdays:
11:00 Prayer Hour
2:30 Women's Bible Study
Saturdays:
3/3 Men's Breakfast @ IHOP (Irondale House of Praise) 8:00 am
3/17 Men's Breakfast @ Chimacum Cafe @ 8:00 am

Hard Hearts and Political Correctness

There is an old theological debate where the question is presented, “Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?” Exodus 9:14 reads, “But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses” and Exodus 8:15 reads, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.”  The question has left many seminary students, scratching their heads and digging for answers.  The follow up question with application for today is, “Why are some people’s hearts so hardened toward the gospel?”

There are certainly many answers; perhaps the answers are as varied as each person’s question or conclusion.  Some answers are undoubtedly simple; people reject the gospel because of pride, greed, misunderstanding or meanness.  But what if there is a spiritual side to it?  What if there are times when God hardens people’s hearts?  We don’t like to think about that, the idea that God hardens people seems to leaves them without hope or choice.  However regardless of how things seem to us, the words of the Bible hold true.  Romans 1:21-25 says, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”  The Bible continues to push the point in Psalm 81:11-12, “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.” Then there is 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 which certainly credits God as the reason some will not believe, “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (italics mine).

Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart and who hardens the hearts of people today?  Sometimes we harden our own hearts and sometimes God hardens our hearts even further.  This is obvious in our world of “political correctness”.  It seems it’s wrong to speak ill of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and others.  Even small seldom heard of beliefs like Shinto, Baha’i and Wicca have arrived in a place where others must respect who they are and what they stand for.  Not to mention that Mormonism is now thought of as a Christian faith rather than a cult.  Even al-Qaeda and the Taliban are tolerable to some.  It seems our hearts have become hardened to the idea that we can say, I am right and someone else is wrong.  Except of course when someone says someone else is wrong, then the first person is clearly wrong, unless of course, the offending person is a member of any afore mentioned religion or any number of other off-center groups, then their positions must be heard and accepted with open arms.  All this reminds me of a sort of politically correct version of Abbott and Costello’s, “Who’s on First?” routine.

What do you think about the war on terror? 

There’s no such thing as terrorists.

What do you mean by that? 

You cannot have a war against an unspecified people group, terrorists are just individual criminals.

But if a group or organization supports and teaches terrorist things aren’t they also terrorists? 

No, there are only criminals who do terrorist things. 

So if the leader of a terrorist group sends someone to bomb another group, the group being bombed shouldn’t be upset at the group? 

Well of course they can be upset, but not with the terrorist group. 

 

 Why not?  If someone is trying to kill us, can’t we get upset with them? 

Yes, but, if you get upset then you are just like them and they have their rights too. 

Rights?  Where did they get rights? 

From the Constitution. 

But they are not U.S. citizens, how can they have rights? 

Every person has certain inalienable rights. 

Do they have the right to bomb us?

No of course not, but you have to respect their thoughts and positions. 

But their thought and position is that they want to kill us. 

You can’t deny someone their right to express themselves.

Express themselves?  They want to kill us. 

Well that’s your opinion. 

My opinion? I think God wants us to stand for what’s right. 

God? 

Yeah, the God Americans have been worshiping for the past 236 years. 

But what about the other guy’s god?  Doesn’t that god have the same rights & freedoms your God has? 

They’re trying to kill us. 

That’s your opinion. 

Opinion?  They found them armed with bombs, a map, a detailed plan and anti-American slogans written on the walls of their headquarters. 

Well that could have meant anything. 

Like what? 

The bombs may have been to protect themselves.

Bombs aren’t defensive weapons, they’re offensive ones. 

Well you never know. 

What about the maps? 

People do make vacation plans. 

The anti-American slogans?

Freedom of speech. 

So I take it you are not going to participate in the “support your military personnel rally” down at the church? 

Church?  No, the church should keep to itself and quit trying to push their beliefs off on others.

Isn’t that what the terrorists are doing?

There’s no such thing as terrorists.

Who hardens people’s hearts?  Not to be glib, but to quote Forrest Gump’s Momma, “Stupid is as stupid does.”  And it seems that when people willfully and defiantly believe and behave in stupid ways, God is willing to help them to get out of their wrong beliefs or God will accommodate them in those misbeliefs, whichever they prefer. 

The call of Christ was to “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”  Repent from what?  Repent from doing and believing stupid stuff.  So who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?  Pharaoh started it, God finished it.  Who softens hearts?  If you’ll start it, God will finish it.

Duty Roster

  2/5:  Nursery-Melissa, Children's Church-Sue, Clean-Wilcox & Jamison, Greet-Rosas, Offering-Colleen
2/12:  Nursery-Crystal, Children's Church-Yvonne, Clean-Horner & Swanson, Greet-Glessing, Offering-Kathleen
2/19:  Nursery-Crystal, Children's Church-Jim, Clean-Conklin, Greet-Rosas, Offering-Barrie
2/26:  Nursery-Melissa, Children's Church-Rona, Clean-Hay, Greet-Jamison, Offering-Kathi

What's Happening This Month

Sundays:
February 12 & 19-Worship Team Practice
 9:30 Sunday School all ages
10:30 Worship Service
-Nursery & Children's Church Available
Fellowship Time follows service
 6:30 pm Evening Bible Study

Tuesdays:
 4:00-6:30 pm Community Soup

Wednesdays:
 8:00-4:00 OPHC
 4:00-5:30 Kid's Club grades K-5
 7:00 Love & Respect

Thursdays
11:00 Prayer Hour
 2:30 Women's Bible Study

Saturdays:
February 11-8:00 Men's Breakfast @ IHOP
February 18-8:00 Men's Breakfast @ Chimacum Cafe

February 24-25:   Pacific Northwest District Conference At Black Lake Bible camp

A Word From Pastor David

I had prepared another article for this month’s newsletter, but in light of Olympia’s pending vote on same-sex marriage I decided to shift gears and write on that.  Some of this article is taken from a larger article: “Homosexuality: The Christian Perspective” by Lehman Strauss and posted on www.bible.org. 

The discussion of whether Homosexuality is right or wrong for a society is based on where society finds its morality.  If a person is guided by statistical research, public opinion, popular vote or legislative action then their conclusion is based on those findings.  For the Christian, the Bible is the final authority for our belief and behavior.

The Bible has much to say on belief and behavior.  Here is a brief overview of some sexual-sins mentioned in the Bible: First, adultery is sex by a married person with someone who is not his ­or her own spouse. It is condemned in both the Old and New Testaments (Exodus 20:14; I Cor. 6:9, 10).  Fornication is sex between unmarried persons, which is also forbidden (I Corinthians 5:1; 6:13, 18; Ephesians 5:3).  Christ even forbids thinking about such things (Matthew 5:28), this speaks to pornography.  Then there is homosexuality which, like the other sexual-sins, is condemned in Scripture.  One sin is no worse than the other, in the Old Testament violators of the sexual-sins were stoned to death by city leaders.  Which leads me to believe this is a very serious topic to God.  (Lest you think I’m picking on one sin above another, know this, I’m only picking on the one that’s headlining the news this week.)

The Bible says in I Corinthians 6:9-10, “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.”  Hopefully you don’t read this and say, “those terrible sinners will never make it,” because verse 11 continues, “Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  This leaves us with Jesus’ words, “Let him without sin cast the first stone.”  Homosexuality is an illicit lust forbidden by God and people need to avoid it.  Yes, some in our culture have embraced and encouraged some of the sins on that list, but embracing more sin does not pale any previous sin. 

One question often asked is, “Why do some Christians condemn and others embrace homosexuality?” The answer is complex, but to explain it briefly, some people including some ministers, understand the Bible to be only a book of advice from God and must be interpreted within the frame work of the current times and social environment. Others (like me), understand it to be God’s very Word that gives life, hope and peace.  The first group conform God’s word to their lives, the second conform their lives to God’s word.  Each person decides for themselves how much they will let God into their life.

Another question I hear is, If God didn’t like it, why does He allow it?  That’s the million dollar question!  Why did God put the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” in the Garden of Eden?  Why did God allow people to become so corrupt that He had to destroy them with a flood?  Why did God allow the people to become so close that He had to confuse their language and spread them over the face of the earth?  In short, why does God tolerate evil?  He doesn’t.  It’s just that before He permanently destroys the earth, He wants to give everyone the opportunity to receive Christ and gain eternal life in heaven (2 Pt 3:9).

Does this mean that homosexuals will not go to heaven when they die? Romans 1:18-32 records 34 different ungodly beliefs and behaviors.  Then verse 32 ends by saying the people who commit such sins “deserve to die”.  But it’s not as gloomy as it sounds, as long as there is life there is hope and according to Matthew 4:17, Jesus’ message was to “Repent for the kingdom of God is near.”  Repent from what?  Repent from sinning, which is something every person must do as the spirit of God leads them. 

Some ask, “Why would God create some people to have same-sex interests and cravings?  Because all of us were created self-centered and demanding.  When we were infants we wanted our milk now! and our diapers changed on our schedule.  Over time we learned to respect others and to put the need of the community ahead of our own cravings.  For some, as time passed, they also became enlightened to the knowledge of a life after this life and a personal responsibility to live to the standards that God calls us to live.  Other people remain in darkness, “abandoned to their foolish thinking” (Romans 1:28).  Some cry out, “That’s not fair!”  I think that must be what God says too.  After all, He sent His Son to die for our sins and all He asked us is to do is to lead good lives and build a strong community.

God’s judgment on this world is impending and as time expires for our world, we should be expecting things like same-sex marriage to increase.  2 Timothy 3:1&2 says, “You should know this … that in the last days there will be very difficult times.  For people will love only themselves and their money.  They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.” Then Jesus, in describing the end times said, ““When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes” (Matt. 24:37-39).

There is a standard of belief and behavior God created for us to live by.  God is also in control of our eternal destiny and our reward or judgment.  God does not judge us for being tempted, but we are judged for our response to temptation.  In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus makes it clear that there are two different rewards, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:46).  Choose life.

The Pink Light Fades to Gold by Colleen

Just a little breath of God’s amazing skill: pale pink and amber light whisked together, dangled between layers of morning dew and tender wisps of clouds.  A quiet moment, before the busyness of the day begins.  Hushed soil begins to silently cry out as plant life stretches its weary forms from the earth to the warmth it’s been waiting for.

How does it know? What truly wakes it from its ragged slumber beneath the rippled waste of last fall’s organic matter?  Which was, by the way, last year’s glorious display of greens, browns, yellows and all the colors of the rainbow, it too makes the same journey from beneath the ravaged decaying plant mass.  On and on it goes, in command of its “Maker;” year after year without our instruction or help.

Struggling to begin anew, I see small plants and bulbs pushing against the debris.  Like mistakes of the past given over to God, all things become “new.”  New growth, new hope, new plans, new opportunities, broken dreams-replaced with new or better ones.

It’s pushing its way up, I can see the change now as the sun seeks its appointed date on the horizon.  The beautiful pink gold painting begins to make way for the more brilliant and perfect light of the sun.  As glorious and amazing was its display, it can’t compare with what my eyes now collect to my senses.

The golden disk rises silently to bring about the change and without a word of hesitation, amber and pink flee from its hold on the canvas of earth’s land and sky.  Rightly so, it gives up its right to its moment of unequalled by earthly standards beauty.

It’s like a soul who, long weary, from the work it is called to do, and it is content and ready to flee to its rest in the arms of Jesus.  The sun fully rises, the night is completely wiped away.  Day begins almost with the sound of cymbals.

With the knowledge of the “Son in our hearts,”   we change just as drastically.  Letting go of the past and holding onto the newness of life in Christ, we are called forth, from the mess we have made of things.  We are called to walk in the newness of the day and let God establish His ways in us.  We let Him draw us into new life, new thinking, new behaviors and sometimes from what we thought to be glorious into a completely overwhelming sense of His majesty and power.  He now displays Himself in our humble lives.

He begins to work on the “new” canvas of our lives and hearts.  We are drawn to His feet for our instruction and plans for our lives.  Our lives, like the plants, will simply be here to bring glory to Him.

He promised to refine us like gold.  Like the beautiful pre-dawn light, we have to “let go” and let His plans be established in us to become that gold.