At Water’s Edge

Driving out Fear

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Betsy

Are you a person with a great capacity to love? Do you believe that we are called to love one another? What does the Bible say about love?

1 John 4 may be the most love-saturated passage in the entire Bible. Take a look at this and see how many times the word “love” appears:

1 John 4 (Common English Bible)

⁷Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. ⁸The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. ¹⁰This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, if God loved us this way, we also ought to love each other.

Love is from God. If you don’t love, you don’t know God. The charge is so simple: if God loves us so much that he sacrificed his son for us, we ought to love each other in the same way.

12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. ¹³This is how we know we remain in him and he remains in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit. ¹⁴We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the savior of the world. ¹⁵If any of us confess that Jesus is God’s Son, God remains in us and we remain in God. ¹⁶We have known and have believed the love that God has for us.

So what do we make of “love” that abuses, shuns, or condemns? What evidence of love can be found in the person who refuses to accept the “other?” Where is love when judgment is being spewed?

God is love, and those who remain in love remain in God and God remains in them. ¹⁷This is how love has been perfected in us, so that we can have confidence on the Judgment Day, because we are exactly the same as God is in this world.

We will be judged by how we followed the commandment to love as God loves in this world. And God is the only one qualified to judge. He calls us to offer love to one another, not judgment. Perfect love is designed to drive out fear, even fear of people who are drastically different from us. If you claim to love God but hate a certain section of God’s people, you are a liar.

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The person who is afraid has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹We love because God first loved us.

²⁰Those who say, “I love God” and hate their brothers or sisters are liars.

After all, those who don’t love their brothers or sisters whom they have seen can hardly love God whom they have not seen!²¹This commandment we have from him: Those who claim to love God ought to love their brother and sister also.

Those who claim to love God have to love their brother and sister WITHOUT JUDGMENT. This is the Word of God for the people of God. If your response to this is “Yeah, but what about the people who….” then you have totally missed the point.

Desolate Roads

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Betsy

Of all of the eerie things this pandemic has brought, the images of desolate roads rank high at the top for me. There are still a lot of cars here on the Outer Banks, as apparently everyone has to go to Lowe’s every. single. day. But the stay-at-home order has definitely reduced traffic. Several times early on a Sunday morning I have waited at a red light to turn onto the bypass and not a single car has gone through the intersection. That never happens. But have you seen pictures of London, New York, or Las Vegas? City centers like those are truly desolate. The scenes of empty roads are disturbing.

One of my favorite post-apocalyptic movies is “Omega Man.” It is the story of a vaccine scientist named Dr. Robert Neville, who is the last human survivor of a germ-war pandemic that has wiped out humanity. There are other survivors, no longer human, who have turned into violent anti-technology and anti-science mutant-predators. They hunt Neville at night using primitive weapons. Neville eventually finds a small group of two adults and a few children who somehow have a natural immunity. But in the beginning of the movie, he has lived in his generator-powered apartment for three years without seeing a single human being.

The opening scenes are absolutely haunting. Filmed in 1971, the director took shots of Los Angeles’ empty business district from a helicopter early on a Sunday morning, inserted still shots where people had been erased from the film, and cut to empty back-lot scenes to create a shocking vision of a post-apocalyptic city.

The image of a desolate road caught my attention in today’s reading. I have come to realize after decades of bible study that it is often in these overlooked details that the story takes on life. Take a look:

Acts 8 (The Message)

^26-28Later God’s angel spoke to Philip: “At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.

Thus the scene is set. A member of the queen’s court, a busy man indeed, has been to the buzzing city of Jerusalem on a pilgrimage. He has been looking for something. He was wealthy enough to be riding in a chariot. He is a man versed in the Hebrew writings, and is reading Isaiah. This wealthy, educated, privileged man is traveling back from the Temple to his palace along a desolate road, and THAT is where he finds what he had been looking for.

^29-30The Spirit told Philip, “Climb into the chariot.” Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

^31-33He answered, “How can I without some help?” and invited Philip into the chariot with him.

I love the weird friendliness of this exchange. Was it normal to invite some random guy running beside your chariot to jump in and chat? Or do you suppose the Holy Spirit had something to do with it? Surely Philip had been led there by the Holy Spirit, but we get the sense that the eunuch was also being led in this exchange.

The passage he was reading was this:

As a sheep led to slaughter,
    and quiet as a lamb being sheared,
He was silent, saying nothing.
    He was mocked and put down, never got a fair trial.
But who now can count his kin
    since he’s been taken from the earth?

^34-35The eunuch said, “Tell me, who is the prophet talking about: himself or some other?” Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him.

And so on this desolate road, we see a beautiful example of something Methodists call “prevenient grace.” Prevenient grace is the grace that goes before us, wooing us to God before we are aware of our need for him, or have any idea how to find him. Prevenient grace led Philip to the desolate road. Prevenient grace opened the eunuch’s mind and heart to receive him there. And as soon as the moment was right, Philip preached Jesus to him.

Such beauty can be born from desolation! And oh, how we needed to hear that this morning as we look down the empty road. Are you finding Jesus on this desolate road we are traveling?

Jesus is already on this road, having come before us. If we can begin to think of this pandemic as a journey to a pilgrimage rather than a terror to endure, how much better our hearts will be in the end! Because this WILL end.

And guess what? We are one day closer. So go and preach Jesus to someone.

Voice Recognition

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Betsy

A long time ago we had a hamster named Carmel. Carmel and I had a deep affection for one another. Even though she was my daughter’s pet, I discovered that petting Carmel and carrying her around in my pocket was a great stress-reliever. She and I had many conversations after work every day.

One night I got awake after hearing a loud crash. Carmel had managed to pop the lid off her specialized hamster house and was on the loose. I listened carefully and discovered that she had gotten into the ductwork downstairs. Climbing on top of a desk in our family room, I could hear her through a vent high up on the wall. She just scurrying along, happy as can be. There was one room in the house where the vents were on the floor, so I realized that if I could somehow get her over there, I might be able to take the grate off and get her out that way.

So there I was at 4AM, laying on the floor of the sun room and calling down the vent to her. I kept calling her name and talking to her. I’m glad we didn’t have security cameras back then…surely I looked like a lunatic. But crazy is as crazy does! In about 20 minutes I heard her little feet make their way up the duct where I was calling her, and sure enough, she crawled right up and into my waiting hand.

Carmel had recognized the voice of her Mama, and apparently exploring the house turned out to be scarier than she had thought it would be. I returned her to her abode and placed a Webster’s dictionary (you remember those) on top of the lid so she couldn’t push it up again.

In the passage below, Jesus is reminding us sheep that he is our shepherd, and he is a very, very good one. He loves us enough to sacrifice his life for ours. But we have to recognize his voice in order to be part of the flock.

John 10 (The Message)

^11-13“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.

^14-18“I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary.

You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice.

Sometimes God’s voice sounds like a guilty conscience. Sometimes it sounds like a good friend calling us out on our harmful behavior. Sometimes it comes in the form of a good sermon, a sidewalk chalk message, or a piece of music that moves us in a particular way. Sometimes it sounds exactly like Jesus whispering in our ear. The trick is to know him so well that you recognize him no matter what he chooses to speak through.

Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”

One day Jesus will return to rule the people of all ages, nations, and races. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. He longs to shepherd the entire flock, and be the One shepherd of all.

In the meantime, he speaks. He speaks words of comfort, hope, rebuke, correction, instruction, guidance, and above all, love. Jesus is speaking to us even now. Are you listening?

Pandemic Dreams

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Betsy

My pandemic dreams are getting wilder and louder. Some mornings I wake up exhausted by my dream-saturated sleep. Even in my tiredness, I am grateful for the silence that wakefulness brings. My deep consciousness is flooded with turbulence. I have read that others are experiencing this as well. How about you?

We understand that dreams are the mind’s way of unburdening itself of the daily pressures and disturbances that get shoved away throughout the day so that we can focus on what is at hand. Some posit that dreams are a form of memory processing, or are a type of protective act, i.e. a way to prepare the brain for danger and challenges. In any case, it stands to reason that the current pandemic would result in people having vivid dreams all night long.

In 1 Peter, we read a beautiful picture of life being ”a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.” That image is profound for us pandemic people. Oh, how we long to replace our deep consciousness of despair with the deep consciousness of God’s peace!

And I like that it reminds us that this is a journey, which implies that there is a destination. I am ready, as I’m sure you are, for us to ARRIVE at the end. Let me off this bus!!

Even better, we find God on this journey:

1 Peter 1 (The Message)

¹⁷You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.

^18-21Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought.

YOU are not an afterthought to God. You call out to him for help, and he responds like the good, responsible father that he is. He has removed us from our sloppy, dead-end, empty-headed way of life.

Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.

Don’t miss that…we have a future in God. This is comforting news in the midst of recent information that we might see a spike in COVID cases in the fall. A second wave may be imminent, and we are so weary of the first. But hang on. We have a future in God.

^22-25Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word.

What must change immediately is that we must “love one another as if our lives depend on it.” We are utterly failing at this. The vitriol, anger, and downright hatred that we see every day on our streets, on the news, and especially on social media must stop. We condemn ourselves with every post.

Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said,

The old life is a grass life,
its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers;
Grass dries up, flowers droop,
God’s Word goes on and on forever.

This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.

Today is a day to seek the deep consciousness of God. Today is an opportunity to allow God’s Word of hope, salvation, and unconditional love to bring forth a new life in us.

THIS is what I dream of: a world-wide community unified as one body, loving each other through this pandemic, and offering only words of comfort and peace to each other until this is over.

What do you dream of? Are you experiencing disturbing dreams right now? Do you wake up tired? Do you long for peace?

Listen. Stay in the Word, and get out of the world. Find ways, especially at bedtime, to turn everything off and go deep into the consciousness of God. Pray like you’ve never prayed before.

God will deliver us, of that I am sure. The Word will bring new life in us.

Heart-Change

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Betsy

It has long been said that it is a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. Any woman married to a man would probably add that it is also a man’s prerogative to change his mind. Changing your mind is not gender-specific. Changing your shoes, maybe, but not changing your mind.

As we follow along with our post-resurrection storyline, we discover the disciples continuing their work in Jerusalem, explaining and revealing the meaning and mystery of the resurrection. Peter is addressing a crowd in Jerusalem who is keenly aware of what has transpired. Not all were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection, but they know the rumors and have heard the stories.

Such a crowd is listening now to Peter speak, who is inspired by the Holy Spirit:

Acts 2 (Common English Bible)

³⁶“Therefore, let all Israel know beyond question that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

³⁷When the crowd heard this, they were deeply troubled. They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

³⁸Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.³⁹This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.”

Change your mind. Use your prerogative. Change how you think about this, how you feel about this, and most importantly, change your life to reflect your new belief. The power of repentance to bring us closer to God can never be understated. It is the only way to receive complete and utter forgiveness of sins.

⁴⁰With many other words he testified to them and encouraged them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” ⁴¹Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized. God brought about three thousand people into the community on that day.

Three thousand were brought into the community that day. Can you imagine their profound relief to know that Christ had died for their sin, and they carried that burden no more?

What burden of sin are you carrying right now? What heavy load can you remove with sincere repentance? Where is God calling you to change your mind, heart and LIFE?

This message wasn’t just for Peter’s audience that day, but is a living testimony to the power of God in YOUR life. It is never too late to repent. It is never too late to be cleansed of sin. It is never too late to unburden yourself of something you have carried for years.

It is never too late to change.

Songs of the Pandemic

Posted on April 28, 2020 by Betsy

The Psalms were originally written to be sung as songs. They provide a glimpse of ancient Hebrew life when we read them and hear what the people were experiencing. Music has always been a way to record the joys, sorrows, angst, and fears of a generation. In the Psalms, we experience the hope and sadness of that generation, and surprisingly, they translate into songs for our current circumstance as well.

As you read this, think of those who have lost a loved one to COVID 19. Think of the exhaustion of the front line workers who are taking care of us, feeding us, providing services for us, and putting their own lives at risk for us.

Psalm 116 (New King James Version)

I love the Lord, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
²Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

³The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
⁴Then I called upon the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

In every circumstance, God’s people have called upon the name of the Lord, and in every circumstance, God has inclined his ear. Wherever we find trouble and sorrow, we also find God, right there in the midst of it.

What shall I render to the Lord
For all His benefits toward me?
¹³I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
¹⁴I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people.

¹⁵Precious in the sight of the Lord
Is the death of His saints.

Many have died. Many more will die. All are precious in the sight of the Lord. We are one day closer to the end of this thing, but we aren’t finished yet. How can we continue to sing in the middle of this pandemic? What should our lyrics be?

I think we should join the chorus of the original Psalmists, and sing praises. We should lift our voices high in harmonies of thanksgiving. Let us simply praise the Lord. Praising God in the storm reminds us of who he is, and whose we are. God loosed our bonds so that we might be free of all fear and sadness. Yes, there is death, but death has no sting. Praise the Lord!

¹⁶O Lord, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;
You have loosed my bonds.
¹⁷I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the Lord.

¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people,
¹⁹In the courts of the Lord’s house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Singing Alone in the Pandemic by Wende Pritchard

One Man’s Trash

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Betsy

A few weeks ago, just before the world turned upside down, an original Salvador Dali wood engraving was found in a local thrift store here on the Outer Banks. A volunteer spotted it and took it to a local art appraiser. It turned out to be one of 100 engravings Dali did in the 1950’s on Dante’s Divine Comedy. It was quickly sold to a couple in Portsmouth. The donor of the artwork was not known, but we can probably assume that they did not understand the value of what they gave away to the thrift store.

The hackneyed phrase, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” comes to mind. People often have different opinions on the value of things.

What do you hold high in value? What do you treasure the most in your life?

One of the things I treasure the most in my life is something that was freely given to me…my salvation through Jesus Christ. Offered to us without price, Jesus died on the cross so that we might be saved. We can’t buy it. We don’t deserve it. We can’t work for it. It is like a priceless Dali sitting in a thrift store, just waiting to be claimed.

In the early chapters of Acts, the disciples are continuing their ministry after Jesus’ death. They were preaching and healing in Jesus’ name. The Jewish leaders were questioning them about where they got their power. Peter stood among the elders and gave them Jesus:

Acts 4 (Contemporary English Version)

⁵The next morning the leaders, the elders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses met in Jerusalem. ⁶The high priest Annas was there, as well as Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other members of the high priest’s family. ⁷They brought in Peter and John and made them stand in the middle while they questioned them. They asked, “By what power and in whose name have you done this?”

⁸Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and told the nation’s leaders and the elders:

⁹You are questioning us today about a kind deed in which a crippled man was healed. ¹⁰But there is something we must tell you and everyone else in Israel. This man is standing here completely well because of the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth. You put Jesus to death on a cross, but God raised him to life.

The world around them rejected the One who had the power to save them. They thought he was worthless because he didn’t fit into their image of what the Messiah should look like. Their image revolved around political power and dominance. Jesus’ messiahship was all about sacrificial love and salvation.

¹¹He is the stone that you builders thought was worthless, and now he is the most important stone of all. ¹²Only Jesus has the power to save! His name is the only one in all the world that can save anyone.

The rejected stone has become the capstone of the world.

If you treasure him, let your life reflect his value in everything you say, do, think, and post. People should be able to see God’s artwork in your life, and want His treasure for themselves. Remember… you’re the only Jesus some will ever see. That is priceless.

Coming Out of It

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Betsy

We are in soft shell crab season on the Outer Banks. Here on Colington, the shedders are being watched day and night, and crab harvesters are working under the hanging bulbs to capture these delicacies the minute they are ready. The dilemma is that the restaurants aren’t ready. So while the harvest is happening on its own timeline, there is not the usual demand. Friends of these hardworking folks are trying to help them sell their soft shells to locals to cook at home, and the community is responding. But this is just one small sadness in the midst of all that is sad about the economic impact the pandemic is having on our beautiful island.

What will you do first when we come out of this? Eventually we can go back to hugging, eating at a favorite restaurant with our friends, taking the kids to a real playground, getting on a plane…until then, this time of isolation and quarantine certainly feels like being in exile. If the pandemic ends in time, I would rush out and eat a fried soft shell crab sandwich at the Salt Box Cafe.

Today’s scripture invites us back to the time when Israel lived in exile. They had been overrun and carried away into Babylon, where they couldn’t live life as usual and were forced to adapt to a completely different culture. Jeremiah dreamed of the time when their exile would be over and they would return to a normal life:

Jeremiah 36 (Contemporary English Version)

At that time, declares the Lord,
I will be the God of all the families of Israel,
and they will be my people.

²The Lord proclaims:
The people who survived the sword
    found grace in the wilderness.
As Israel searched for a place of rest,
³    the Lord appeared to them from a distance:
I have loved you with a love that lasts forever.
    And so with unfailing love,
        I have drawn you to myself.

This picture of God appearing to Israel from a distance as they are returning from the wilderness is profound. We are immediately reminded of the story of the Prodigal Son, where the father was waiting at the edge of the field every day for his wayward son to return. God indeed has gone before us, and waits there to welcome us back to normal life when our exile is over. And notice the phrase “found grace in the wilderness.” Have you found grace in your pandemic wilderness? Can you list some “silver linings?”

⁴Again, I will build you up,
    and you will be rebuilt, virgin Israel.
Again, you will play your tambourines
    and dance with joy.
⁵Again, you will plant vineyards
    on the hills of Samaria;
    farmers will plant and then enjoy the harvests.

The hope in these verses make me tingle. God will build us up again. We will dance for joy again. We will plant vineyards and farmlands and harvest them again. We will have life as normal again. Gosh, I can’t wait for Again to begin. How about you?

⁶The time will come when
    the watchmen shout from
        the highlands of Ephraim:
“Get ready! We’re going up to Zion
    to the Lord our God!”

Hold on to these words. There will be a time when this virus is completely gone from this earth. Get ready! And in the meantime, look for grace in the wilderness.

Grace in the Wilderness by Michelle Robertson

Enduring Love

Posted on April 23, 2020 by Betsy

One of the harder aspects of being a member of the clergy is doing marriage counseling. Two people sit before you, having declared their enduring love for one another at one point in their lives, and are now are questioning everything. Especially when infidelity has broken all trust, a love that was once expected to endure forever is now shattered and lying in pieces on the ground.

Some couples make it through, if they submit to raw honesty, painful truth-telling, a lot of deep soul searching, and prayer. Sadly, many do not. The breach of trust that occurs is extremely difficult to rebuild. Most couples give up before they can reach that point.

What is enduring love anyway? Can we really have it in our earthly relationships? I believe we can, if people are willing to yield their lives and passions to the image of love that God provides. God’s love is unconditional, eternal, and sacrificial. God offers us a steadfast love that indeed endures forever.

Psalm 136 (New Revised Standard Version)

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
²O give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
³O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁴who alone does great wonders,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁵who by understanding made the heavens,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁶who spread out the earth on the waters,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁷who made the great lights,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁸the sun to rule over the day,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁹the moon and stars to rule over the night,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.

The key to steadfast, enduring love is to realize that it is a CHOICE. To love as God loves is something we choose to do (or not) everyday. To be willing to be humble and put someone else’s needs first leads to enduring love. To love unconditionally, even when you have been betrayed and dismissed, is enduring love. To offer loving forgiveness in response to true repentance is Christ-like love. To give shelter and provision with no expectation of return is God-like love.

We are invited to love as God loves. Steadfastly. Enduringly. Sacrificially. Hopefully. And most of all, unconditionally.

Where is God calling you to love the way he loves?

His Love Endures Forever by Bonnie Bennett

Every Kind of Aggravation

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Betsy

We are living in the days of every kind of aggravation. In all of my years of living, I have never experienced this level of sustained aggravation before. There were certainly times of grief, trial, exhaustion, and all manner of challenges, but not like this. How about you? I won’t even attempt to list them, but just a snapshot of trying to buy groceries once a week should give you a picture. Spoiler alert: there is a lot of WHINING in this next section.

I don’t report to work early on Sundays anymore since we are now taping the service on Thursdays. That should make for a nice, slow Sabbath. But in the early days of the pandemic, when I was still driving to church on Sunday to do Facebook Live, I discovered that my local Publix opened at 8AM and was very uncrowded…and the toilet paper was restocked every Saturday night.

So now I get out early on Sundays just to shop. That is the beginning of all kinds of aggravation. Mostly it is my N95 mask and disposable gloves that aggravate the heck out of me. By the time I speed through the aisles, being careful to follow the one-way arrows and social distancing, my claustrophobia is peaking and my hands are literally dripping with sweat. And even though I have a concise list, I spend time waiting my turn to go down an aisle that already has a looky-loo leisurely standing in front of an array of products and seemingly reading the ingredient list of each one. She can see me waiting (I dare not pass her) yet she lingers…and ends up not putting anything in her cart.

A friend and I were commiserating about the fact that we used to enjoy shopping and found it relaxing. Now it is like entering a war zone of mine fields, and your heart is racing to just get out. Not to mention all the shortages of products, resulting in having to think on the fly of different meals based on what is actually available. OK, RANT OVER.

Our passage from 1 Peter takes us away from whatever is aggravating us right now, and reminds us that we have been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for:

1 Peter 1 (The Message)

^3-5What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.

My mantra for months now has been, “we are one day closer to the end of this thing.” Look at that last sentence: “The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—-life healed and whole.” Man, did I need to hear that this morning! How about you?

^6-7I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

Peter reminds us that faith, like gold, gets refined in the fire. Folks, we are in the fire right now. What a time to refine our faith! What an opportunity to come out of this thing stronger, better, and more deeply connected with God because we’ve worked hard to stay in the Word. Think about it…what would you normally be doing right now? Our hustle-bustle life got slammed shut. God is inviting us to use the SLOW to reevaluate EVERYTHING.

^8-9You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

What is God asking you to reevaluate today? Where do you need further refining? Will you go back to your old self when this is over?

I hope not. I hope that enduring every kind of aggravation right now bears the fruit of all kinds of godly behavior in all of us. And maybe I’ll learn to be more patient with the looky-loos in the grocery store. Anything is possible with God!