Best News of All

 Good afternoon, and welcome to another Thursday Thought.

 This past week has been a hodge-podge of events, thoughts, and just things in general that have found themselves sort of swirling around in my head.  Sometimes we all, I think, get these times when things just seem to be a combination of randomness, unexpected, surprising, and even sort of out of control.  It’s almost as if one is some kind of a sidelines observer watching all of this stuff happen, except that all too often, that same observer is also a participant in some way of most, if not all of what one is observing.

As I write this, I am trying to gather my thoughts into something rather coherent that will be of some benefit to both you and me.  So, let’s just begin and see where this goes.

I really don’t want to get into politics first thing out.  However, that seems to be first on my mind.  I know some pretty much stay away from anything political.  Others dabble in it from time to time, and still others are immersed in every campaign event, every election, and every decision made by politicians both local and national.  I’m not sure where I fall in that, but I know I am more interested in the local than the national, because it’s the decisions made by the locals…the city councils, the county commissions, and the school boards that most impact my daily life.

I’ve had my stint in local politics, having been elected twice to the Harper, Kansas city council in the 1990’s.  I have no interest in serving on any boards, commissions, or the like, but I do try to foster relationships with my representatives, and have had some success with that.  This is a busy season for many, as the elections are coming up in November, and many are up for election or re-election.

Of course, the national stage is all abuzz with the recent events of the party conventions and the changes in nominees.  It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens there.

In our church family, we’ve had a couple of funeral services recently.  Last week, we served a family who no longer is part of our church family, but has roots and history in our fellowship.  Today, we laid to rest a dear woman who was part of our church family until the day she passed.  Ruby had a golden heart and didn’t, it seemed, know a stranger.  She was a great hostess, cook, and friend.  She will be sorely missed here at RiverWalk, even though for the past months, she couldn’t attend services.

This kind of thing always prompts me to do some deeper thinking about the more serious side of life and living.  We are all mortal.  We will all die.  We will all one day find out with certainty just how real God, Jesus Christ, heaven, and hell are.  There is no way out of that.  And that, friends, can be a bit unnerving to someone who likes to be in control…to know what’s coming.  I’m one of those.

I’m still recovering from a Facebook account hack of some weeks ago.  I don’t have all of my friends back that I want back, and am slowly working on that as I can.  Having one’s account invaded seems like a personal invasion of one’s space.  And in a way, it is.  One feels violated somehow…more vulnerable…and becomes more suspicious and watchful about other parts of one’s on-line life.

I’ve gone in and changed some passwords, activated two-factor authentication, and some other things of that kind…just to be sure.  And there is no such thing as “being sure” anymore.  No matter how much one tries, someone else will, if they want to badly enough, find a way in.  It’s really kind of a crapshoot anymore…one is luckily ignored, or one could well be the victim of multiple hits.

And finally, it’s already beginning to change over from summer to fall.  Oh, it’s still hot outside.  But the environment is beginning to look a little more worn.  Nut trees are beginning to drop mature nuts onto the ground.  Prairie grasses are beginning to head out seed pods.  Days are getting noticeably shorter.  Birds are migrating.  It’s changing out there.

Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that the spring rains brought out the beauty of tulips, iris, and roses?  Wasn’t it just a short time ago that the woods were filled with birds of all kinds…both those who were settling in for the summer and those who were just passing through?  The days were warm and the nights were cool.  The weather was perfect for sitting on the back patio just taking in the beauty…the sounds…the sights of the creation.

I’ll end this thought with something I said in a sermon I preached last Sunday.  I was speaking generally about how we tend to divide into sides…politically, socially, playing games, in war, just about anything having to do with humanity.  And we always, it seems, want God to be on a side.  We seem to always want to put God on one side or the other of any conflict, whether that be a conflict of ideas, ideology, or even physical conflict.  And we tend to think that we have to help God accomplish what we just know He wants to get done here on earth…that God somehow needs us to accomplish his purposes.

 

Here’s what I said about that.

 

God isn’t limited to be on one side or the other of some kind of human conflict, whether that conflict is a conflict of ideas or a conflict of physical aggression.  God is perfectly capable of seeing to it that His will is done without having to choose sides, and without relying on humans to get it done.  God chooses to work however he wants and is not accountable to anyone or anything for what he does or how he does it.

 

If you don’t get anything else out of this, get that last statement.  God is perfectly capable of seeing to it that His will is done without having to choose sides, and without relying on humans to get it done.  God chooses to work however he wants and is not accountable to anyone or anything for what he does or how he does it.  Get that.  Understand that.  Understand too that even though God doesn’t NEED us for anything, God WANTS us for relationship.  So much so that he paid the price in order clear the way to have that relationship…His son Jesus Christ on a cross.  And that, dear friend, is the best news of all.

 

Blessings,