Who stole my life?

Best of 2020

Our experience with COVID-19 continues to shave the edges of our life. There are very few nations in the world that have not been visited by this invisible aggressor with it's deadly and unpredictable invasion of life. We are well acquainted with the social distancing and washing our hands and limiting our ventures outside the home. We know WHAT to do but we DON'T know how long this season will last; we DON'T know what our world will look like when the restrictions are gone; we DON'T know who will still be in our lives; or what we will still be able to incorporate back into our schedule.  Plans have crumbled, hopes have been shelved and our schedules have been rewritten so many times we can't recognize the minimal entries on the page.

In the pause before we resume our lives have you thought about writing down the things that you had to let go from you full and busy life prior to COVID-19?

Rather than jumping back to the old regime why not assess what you have written in your list and extract only those things that build your life and not burden it and separate you from what you value such as family friends.

Time is such a mercurial essence.  It slips away from us without us noticing, or it weighs on us if we are waiting or anticipating an event.  I remember my father setting me down and adding up all the minutes available to me every day or week.  Discounting time to sleep and eat - it is amazing how many minutes are given to us each week. We should regard them as we value money.  How do we spend this valuable resource? One thing is true, a minute unused is a minute lost. Times gives no second chances.

Working from home and staying out of restaurants and recreation places has not only reduced the gas bill but has added hours to many of our days.  Time to connect with family members and time to do some of those hobbies that have been put in the cupboard. I hear of families playing board games again and so much incidental training by general conversations. 

I am hoping you take good advantage of this time.  Before the pause button is released you can make some very important rearrangements in your life pursuits.  Ecclesiastes 3 starts with that familiar series of statements - "Time to  ..". Be confident in your list of "Time to" before the tyranny of time responsibilities clouds your judgment.

David and Cherie Rodway

Was It Murder? or, A Life Given?

April 2020

In last month's blog we looked at the fact that change and the unexpected can sometimes arrive without warning and put our life into a spin. Little did we know March 1 that our life would be so disrupted before March had barely reached the halfway point. The main month of Lent became a time of not giving up something but giving over our freedoms and schedules to an unseen force - COVID-19.  Furthermore, the change brought with it those terrible twins - Fear and Despair.  It is one thing to go from one day to another or one season to another but one set of the normal routine to total disruption and total change controlled by an unknown force is the perfect set up for overwhelm.

This is the month of Easter.  We are days from Palm Sunday and Holy Week and the solemn days of Good Friday and Easter Saturday culminating with the victorious Day of Resurrection. Jesus identifies with our feelings when he is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Bible tells us that he 'sweat drops of blood', That is intense apprehension and anxiety. He prayed to His Father "If it is possible let this Cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but your will be done."  It was always the determination of Satan to bring down the Kingdom of God and Reign of Jesus. Remember how he tested Jesus in the Wilderness after Jesus had spent 40 days without food in preparation for his time of ministry.  When that didn't succeed Satan used the jealousy of the Religious leaders and greed of one of his disciples to carry out the death of the Son of God.  To the eye of the outsider it could look like Satan finally won the war.  But look again. The Cross loomed as the Final Scene.  The thoughts of betrayal and greed sown in the heart of Judas and the angry opposition of the Pharisees fueled by fear of competition and loss of the authority of fear they had spent decades perfecting were meant to overcome the good with evil. To the untrained eye it looked like Satan had perpetrated the murder of all time.

But we know a different Truth. His life was not taken from Him but Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost clearly set the record straight.

Acts 2:21-24 records it this way:

21 It will be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved from the punishment of sin. 22 Jewish men, listen to what I have to say! You knew Jesus of the town of Nazareth by the powerful works He did. God worked through Jesus while He was with you. You all know this. 23 Jesus was handed over to sinful men. God knew this and planned for it to happen. You had sinful men take Him and nail Him to a cross. 24 But God raised Him up. He allowed Him to be set free from the pain of death. Death could not hold its power over Him."

This was not murder - this was the Gift of God and the Supreme submission of Jesus to the will of His Father.  John 3:16 declares that God so loved this world that He gave us His only Son so that whoever would believe on Him would be saved. 

An Irish friend I knew had this amazing saying - Everything is going wrong just right! When we allow God to rule in our life and circumstances the wrongs turn out to be the stepping stones to the best outcome our eyes could not see.  Satan had a momentary sense of achievement until Easter Saturday. Jesus was not lying in the tomb resting. He was down in the depths of Hell itself warring with Satan and wresting the Keys of Death and Hell from Satan's control and Ephesians 4:8-10 states that Jesus then led captivity  captive triumphing over him (Satan).

The "It is Finished" on the Cross was sealed with the Resurrection of the Victorious Risen Christ and our future was secured for all Eternity.

Do not Fear! Do not be dismayed with what the natural world is telling you. Look unto the victorious Jesus - in His hands He holds the Keys. He was the willing One who gave His Life and He is the Victorious Savior who welcomes all that will believe.

David and Cherie Rodway

The Certainty of Change

March 2020

One of the certainties of life is that there will always be change. Change from day to night happens every 24 hours. Change from one month to another runs to schedule. Change from one season to the next can be variable in timing but it is inevitable that winter will give way to spring and summer is followed by the colourful fall.

We all have events or conditions in life that we wish would change in a day and other more pleasant options that we would be happy to enjoy for a year or a lifetime.

But when you think about it, a totally predictable life with no variable or change would result in a lifeless accepting of the inevitable rather than enjoyment and anticipation.

On the other hand, too much change undermines our ability to cope in life.  The result culminates in anxiety and dread. We can get to the point where we are unable to make the simplest of decisions for fear we get it wrong. 

When we read the Bible, particularly the Psalms and the Letters to the Christians in the New Testament there is the repeating message - don't be afraid! Jesus said to the disciples in John 14:27,  "My peace I give to you, not like the world peace but a peace that is beyond your understanding." This promise is one of the constants in life.

James, Jesus' brother wrote in the first chapter of his encouragement to the Christians of that time that were very aware of opposition and uncertainty that if they needed wisdom in making their decisions they should ask God who was eager to supply all that wisdom available, as long as they remained confident in His way and did not waver back and forth - "I know this is right"; "Oh, I am not sure any more"; "Yes, I think it is the way to go!" When God speaks to your heart the way forward determine to stay with His instructions. He is the only power that can ensure success for all his instructions.

In the Book of Isaiah God declared ~

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Ephesians 3:20 encourages us with these words ..

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

Remember always that while this world may spin and change, when we have committed our way to God and invited Jesus to rule and reign in our heart, believing that He died for our sins and took our punishment upon his body for us, we can confidently declare the words of God's Word and have faith that they will rule in every circumstance and season of our lives.

David and Cherie Rodway