10-21-2019

Good Morning All,

         Mark 16:15; “Then Jesus said to them, “So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News.”

    238 minutes, almost 4 full hours.  That is how long the movie “Gone With the Wind” is.  Even “The Birth of a Nation” isn’t that long.  The movie “Gone With the Wind” is an epic.  It goes into great detail as it tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara and her tumultuous life around the time of the Civil War. 

    I remember the first time I watched it.  I thought it was dragging along.  Then it came to the part where Scarlett says, “I’ll never go hungry again” and everything went dark on the screen; I thought that this was a strange way for a movie, especially one so highly acclaimed, would end like this.  Then the screen said “intermission”.  Two hours, longer than most other movies, and it is only intermission??  Wow, I had to make more popcorn; good thing it was a video so I could stop it for a bathroom break.  At a time when I expected it to be over, it was only half over and really, a major part of the story was still to be told!

    We often have expectations of when something is over.  There have been more than a few times when I quit listening to or watching a ballgame only to find out it ended completely different that when I stopped listening.  Our life is a lot like that. At times when we think the end is in sight; it may really only be the intermission.  We might spend weeks, months, even years trying to witness to a neighbor or a friend.  We think that it is over and they aren’t listening when they ask to hear more about Jesus.  It was only the intermission!

    Sometimes we feel we are at our wit’s end and ready to give up but we always need to remember that it is God who is truly in control.  So, if we struggle with life, we know that this is only part of the whole story.  We need to remember that God’s whole story for us is all about his amazing love for us.  Before the story is over, we will experience it in its fullness.  But until we do, we continue on in faith.  Faith in the certainty of his love and grace.  At times, it will be tough; it might be the toughest thing we do but it is only part of the story not the whole story.

    The whole story is about how the sacrifice of Jesus has paid our debt and gave to us eternal life and the hope for tomorrow and the comfort and the consolation for today.  The problem is that we are always in the middle of the story when we think it is over but God knows how and when the story ends; we know how it ends just not when.  So, we continue, each day, going about our life, witnessing to those around us.  We go about following the path that God has laid out for us.  Your story isn’t over until the final credits run; live the life that God gives you secure in the knowledge of your salvation.

Dearest Father, you know the path that lays ahead of us.  Give us the faith to trust you to keep us in your loving arms and to know for certain that we are safe with you.  Be with those who are especially feeling lost and hurt.  Guard them with you love.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret