Looking Forward in the Midst of the Present

“Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming.  One second he was peacefully perched in his cage.  The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

“The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner.  She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage.  The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up.  She’d barely said ‘hello’ when ‘ssssopp!’ Chippie got sucked in.

“The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag.  There was Chippie – still alive, but stunned.

“Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water.  Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.

“Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

“A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. ‘Well,’ she replied, ‘Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore – he just sits and stares.’

“It’s hard not to see why.  Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . That’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.”  (Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 11)

After the past number of weeks of rain, hail, thunder, lightning, tornados, damaged homes and cars, and destroyed crops, it is understandable if we become overwhelmed.  We never saw it coming and in such a short time all the hard work and positive feelings for the future are pulled out from underneath.  But the beauty of being a child of God is that current circumstances, no matter how horrific, traumatic, and difficult, do not change the hope we have for the future.  Not the future of the next few years, but our eternal future.  Christ has not left us.  God has not abandoned us.  God’s people find their hope in Him and the salvation He provides.

This week may God speak to us through Romans 8:12-39, encouraging us, teaching us, and reminding us about our salvation found in Him.

The Groaning Within Me

"And not only the creation, but we ourselves,

who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,

groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons,

the redemption of our bodies."

Romans 8:23 (ESV)

Each day we turn on the television, computer, or radio we are bombarded with the reality of a fallen world.  Ungodliness, hatred, greed, selfishness, and death pervade every aspect of the human race.  This is the reality of the legacy of Adam and Eve.  And yet in the middle of all this fallenness is a group of people who, though just as fallen, have been redeemed and made fellow heirs with Christ.

Creation "groans" for its redemption.  It "waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God" (Romans 8:19).  And along with creation the heirs of God groan inwardly for the second coming of Christ. 

On June 10th a group of seven from our church will be heading down to Pine Ridge Reservation to hold a Vacation Bible School for the children of the community.  Most of these children have no hope because they do not have Christ.  Standing in the middle of a large group of children who have no hope makes my groaning come to a crescendo.  Christ, come back.  Bring all people to yourself.  Renew my body.  Renew my inmost being.  Renew this fallen world.
But I must wait patiently.  For God does not move because I ask him.  He moves because it is his time to move.  He has set the time of his return since before the beginning of history.  It will not change because I ask.

So, as I wait the redemption of creation and my body, I will serve him with all of my being.  I will love the children of Pine Ridge.  I will share with others the work Christ has done within me.  And I will wait.