From the Pastor's Pen

Hello everyone,

Here is a devotional from Pastor Sally:

Dear friends,

Sometimes things are not what they seem.  I am currently stuck in Texas because of the weather.  I was scheduled to fly home yesterday, but my flight was cancelled along with 600 other flights because of the ice storm.  I watched the drizzle come down yesterday and was unimpressed.  We know what winter is in Indiana.  This looked like rain to me.  It iced up on my car window, but that’s what ice scrapers are for.  (Interesting side note:  They scrape ice with their credit cards in Texas!). Anyway, this morning I looked out and still didn’t see anything of substance.  It looked like it rained last night and the sidewalks and roads were wet.  Why am I still stuck in Texas??!  Then I ventured outside.  I stepped off the porch and my foot slipped beneath me.  It was so unexpected I almost lost my footing.  Once I caught my balance I started to unintentionally slide downhill on my sneakers.  Good thing I know how to ice skate!  Turns out the wet sidewalks and roads are a sheet of ice.  They are definitely not what they seem.

People of faith know that “Things are often not what they seem.”  When we look at the “facts – just the facts” of the world around us, there is no definite reason to assume a loving God has created everything around us and cares infinitely about his creatures.  But we who believe have stepped out in the world and have found a presence with us in our lives that guides and comforts, shapes and molds us.  That presence is so pervasive, it about knocks us off our feet at times.  Things are not what they seem.  We could go along as if God doesn’t exist.  We could pretend that the world is without purpose and that there is no loving companion for our journey. But for me, that’s not the real world.  The world I know includes a spiritual overlay that is seen with the eyes of faith and is known deep in one’s heart.  Paul writes:

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him.” (I Cor 2:9)

Today I am looking out at the ice that doesn’t look like ice and praying that God will help me to see his movement in my life.  I don’t want to miss it.

Peace,
Pastor Sally