Greetings,
I like places in the world that have seasons. Oregon has at least three and a half seasons and that is delightful. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in one of the few places on the planet where there are stereotypical, definitive seasons -- like the Winnie the Pooh world with frozen lakes turning to rainy spring clouds, transitioning to golden summer evenings, turning to blustery fall days.
In reality, most of us have a mashup of spring weather in winter and fall weather in summer and sometimes, in Oregon, they all get mixed up and the rain falls whenever it so chooses. Some days you can leave the house dressed in shorts and flip flops and by the end of the day you need a raincoat and pants.
Life is often described in seasons. Each one of us are in various stages or seasons of our lives. Wouldn’t we love to know exactly what our next season will look like? Wouldn’t it be nice if our current season were to play out like they do in the movies, with a happy outcome and everyone smiling at the end of it?
Seasons do sometimes go as expected, but more often than not they are nothing like we imagined they would be. Some of us are in the darkest seasons of our lives -- we dress like summer on the outside but it is a dark and dreary winter day in our soul.
In order to know that someone is struggling in their current season, you need to either know them well enough that they disclose it, or have the Holy Spirit reveal it to you. I sometimes try to imagine the season someone is in and empathize with them. I imagine that the person who just cut me off, spoke rudely to me, or discouraged me is in a dark season.
The great news is that Jesus has provided us with joy abundantly even in the midst of those dark seasons. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (that is, a dark season) I will fear no evil!! What a testimony to the amazing grace of Jesus.
Even while I am in the midst of the darkest season, I can trust in the Lord to be my shield, my strength, my strong tower and loving father to run to and find comfort and peace in His presence. That is tough to do. Sometimes we need some serious encouragement and help to remember the promises of God in Christ. You are a child of God and you are always welcome in His presence. Humbly bring your burden to Him in prayer.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe. (Proverbs 18:10)
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings,
I heard a lot of great stories about what people did since we had to cancel church on Sunday. It was a great time to get to know your neighbors and serve people. The Lord is moving in exciting ways at Way of Life Fellowship!
It shouldn’t surprise us that when we act like His bride and operate as ministers of reconciliation, as each one of us are called to be, that lives are transformed. Reconciliation is a big word that essentially means to bring together in unity. Jesus brought all people that believe into unity with God the Father through the restorative act of death on the cross and His defeat of death through resurrection. This reconciliation is something that we couldn’t do on our own, we needed a savior. Jesus is that savior and we need Him to be reconciled to God.
Once we have received Jesus as our savior, it is now our responsibility to share that great news with others. It is not our responsibility to stand in the position of the savior. We cannot save anybody. We hold no such authority, but we do hold the keys to the truth of the gospel. We know the one who can save, and our job is to introduce our friends and family to Jesus. When we share with a heart of peace and restoration of relationship, humility and grace, we are operating as ministers of reconciliation.
I am learning in a deeper way how important patience is in the process of the ministry of reconciliation. Often, when we see the answer, it is too great of a temptation and we suggest, confront or react quicker than is necessary. There are times for a quick decision to be made, but most of the time it is better that we wait and pray and let the Lord do the convicting and confronting. As ministers of reconciliation we must operate always out of the love of Christ. So, when you are tempted to respond on social media with a snarky or divisive remark, or when you see something in someone that needs correcting or if you are angry, disappointed or hurt, take some time to discover again your title of minister of reconciliation and respond according to your position and title.
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings!
If you’re reading this than you have most likely survived the winter storm of the century. I hope that you’re picking up on the sarcasm. I am not a fan of canceling our weekly service unless it is truly unsafe. Unfortunately, the school district did not give us the choice in this situation.
We have cancelled services before for weather issues and it has sometimes led to a great experience. I remember a couple of years ago we, held a church service at our neighbors house for the people on our hill that couldn’t make it to church. It was a beautiful time with people from different congregations.
Remember -- church is not a building, but the people; it is not a weekly gathering, but a daily mission. We are the Bride of Christ and today may be our opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ to our neighbors. If you bake cookies, maybe you could take them some and ask them if they have any needs that we can be praying about as a fellowship. You can email them to the church and we will commit to pray with you. Or maybe you can show kindness and love to your neighbors with an act of service or simply a knock on the door and a visit. Today can be filled with all sorts of God glorifying actions.
It may also be a day where you refocus your own life. Maybe today is the day that the Lord leads you to spend a good amount of time in solitude and focused prayer or catching up on Bible reading. These are things that build our relationship with the Lord and with other people. It may not be as treacherous today as we thought it might be, but just because the facility isn’t available today doesn’t mean we don’t act like His bride today. Show true hospitality today and love the people around you well.
Enjoy the “snow” day :)
Corporate prayer time will be held as normal, 6:00 to 7:00pm at our house tonight. Please join us!
Love you all!
Chris