I just realized the last time I posted was on the one-year anniversary of the biggest flood these parts have seen in I don't know how long. On my way home from the Traders Point farmer's market that Friday evening in June there were times when it was hard to see the road through the wall of water falling from the sky. The ensuing 10 inches overnight on already-saturated ground resulted in water where most people had never seen it!We were some of the more fortunate ones. A couple of flooded basements to clean up and refurbish, and life goes on as usual. Well, maybe "usual" is a thing of the past.
Last fall God brought a family into our lives for mutual ministry. They needed a place to stay while waiting for the Lord to fulfill their calling to ministry on a Reservation in the state of Washington. They opened our eyes to more of what God is doing and helped us grow closer to Him. Their stay here ended up being a year (minus a week or two). Armed with their few possessions and faith in a sovereign God but no contacts for anyone out in Washington, they have called to tell us the amazing ways in which God has led them on their journey to the right people. Though they told no one there they were coming, upon meeting the leaders of the reservation our friends were told, "We've been expecting you."
This summer a family from New Zealand forever left their imprint on the lives of many in Clay City. Andy and Claire and their four children wanted to experience life in a community during their stay in America, and the nearly 3 months they spent in our town gave them the chance to do just that. It was another of those path-crossings that I know wasn't by accident. The relationships begun here will continue, and the full extent of the purpose of our meeting is yet to be discovered.
The other day I was setting up a portable fence for the cows in a pasture near the barn. In this pasture is a tree that has been dead for years. So dead all the little twigs and branches have long fallen off and there is a hole at the base almost big enough to crawl through. So dead I have worried that one day it might fall on a cow grazing innocently nearby. Naturally, I checked on the tree as I set up the fence and stared in disbelief at what I saw...
New life has shattered the reign of death! Unmistakable in parallel, that is the message of the gospel we wrap our lives around. Our God is a God of new life, of resurrection, of hope! He left the perfection of heaven to live as a man named Jesus on this sin-stained earth in order to prove his love for us. He showed us by example the only path to true life. And it involves death. He gave his life because He loves (John 3:16). He sacrificed because he knew what joy awaited (Hebrews 12:2). He asks us to do no less, but the reward is just as great. We can live for ourselves, or we can give ourselves away and really live. So many people have been wounded by the brokenness in this world and just want to know someone cares. And someone does. And He's (at least in part) relying on those who have experienced His healing touch to show them that life can and does come from death.One thing the family who lived here this past year told us many times is that God does things in the natural realm first to explain the spiritual. Could it be that the floodgates are being opened for the waters of cleansing? The immersion that results may look curiously like death, but resurrection is not far behind. I think we've been baptized.
