The Next Season

 

My daughter stopped by last week with several baskets of mums from the greenhouse.  And it was perfect timing because our summer flowers were past their prime.  You see, everything has its season.  The geraniums like the cool nights of spring while the vincas, marigolds, and impatiens like the long days of summer.  But when the days begin to grow shorter and the nights grow longer, the summer flowers begin to fade.  Fall is in the air, and it’s time for the mums to begin to blossom.  Each flower has its season: they grow, they flourish, but they soon decline.  Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”  There is a time to flourish, and a time to prosper, but soon there is a time to decline.  It happens to flowers, and it happens to people.  But in every season of life, there is time to serve the dear Lord.  There are things that I cannot do anymore as I approach my 75^th birthday, but there are many things that I still can do.  And each of us should do what the dear Lord has for us to do in our season of life.  I can write and inspire others to serve the Lord.  Hey, that’s what I am doing right now with you!  Say, what are you going to do for the dear Lord today?  God has been so good to you.  How are you going to repay God’s love for you today?  Think about it, and then do it.

Sign-Up Sheet

 

We have a small church, but a great church.  Everyone is involved in doing something for the Lord.  Our pastor is bi-vocational: he works a full-time job and pastors our church for free.  Wow!  Thank you, Brother Jamie!  We take up a love offering for him the first Sunday night of each month.  And we can’t pay a janitor, so we have a sign-up sheet for cleaning the church every Saturday.  I was reminded of the “sign-up sheet” that Nehemiah used in Nehemiah 10:34, “And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year …”  Wood for the burnt sacrifices had to be brought in regularly.  So the priests, Levites, and people took turns bringing it in.  They had their own “sign-up sheet” year by year.  Hey, are you involved in your church?  Do you teach a Sunday school class?  Do you host a small group?  Do you teach a Bible study at your house?  You may say, “I can’t teach anyone.  I’m not gifted to speak in front of people.”  Well, at least you can clean the church house.  You can keep the nursery.  And you can hand out tracts.  Hey, be involved at church on a regular basis.  Like Nehemiah’s wood sigh-up sheet, be busy serving the Lord!  You’ll be glad that you did!

Old Toyota

 

Wednesday night, we were late for church.  And the construction on I-24 didn’t help.  And to make matters worse, I had to stop by the drug store to pick up a prescription.  As I crossed the bridge and got onto the one-way street that leads to our church, I pulled in behind an older Toyota whose driver obviously wasn’t familiar with the construction area.  The three-lane road was narrowed to one and two lanes, so I slowed down so as not to tailgate the confused driver.  He was driving 10 mph under the speed limit pausing at every intersection, even though there wasn’t a traffic signal or stop sign.  After a mile of frustration, I resigned myself to being late and relaxed … just a bit.  I was relieved as our church came into view.  But my heart sank as the Toyota turned into our church parking lot.  I pulled in, hurriedly pushed my wife’s wheelchair into the auditorium, and selected a hymn for the opening song.  And as I sat down on the platform facing the audience, the driver of the Toyota came in and sat down on the right-hand side.  I recognized him!  He had been a member of our church thirty years ago!  I was so glad that I hadn’t blown by him on the highway or cut him off!  After church, I had to apologize to my wife, who had heard me grumbling at “the old grandpa” driving the Toyota.  I could have said with David in Psalm 139:23&24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  The Lord reminded me Wednesday night to drive as if I would meet the other driver at church ... because I did!