Wednesday, April 15, 2009

the freshness of renewal


Spring is great. Really great. I dig it bigtime. It’s visually stunning. The aroma is wonderful. She’s the beautiful woman of all the seasons. The pretty girl among the different times of the year. Perhaps that’s why there’s “Spring Fever” and not “Winter Zeal”.

Life is full of seasons. My cohort and partner in crime that I pastor with has excellently applied it to our church life, as we partner with the Holy Spirit of God to grow our baby church hour-by-hour, day-by-day, soul-by-soul. Sometimes you feel the warmth of the sunshine on your face; sometimes the sleet pelts that same face with what feels like a thousand freezing bee stings.

Spring reminds me that God is reminding me that I get “do-overs”. “Watch, precious child of mine, and don’t fret. Yes, you’ve messed up things once again. But, that which is dark and cold in your life can become bright, warm, and sweet smelling again. My dear Steve, that’s why I walked out of that tomb on that spring day 2,000 years ago.”

I don't deserve even a single "do-over" or a fifth or sixth chance in anything. Remarkable, that phenomenon we call God's grace. I don’t think it’s any accident that Jesus busted forth from the cold shackles of death on not a winter, but a spring day. The most important spring day or any other day in all of history.