Spring Renewals

March 4, 2017

This past Wednesday was the beginning of the Lenten Season. While many of the protestant faiths see it as a solemn religious observance, it literally means 40 days. This is a time in the Christian church of 40 days leading up to the Easter (excluding Sundays) while the origin of the German word literally means spring. For many of us, it is a time to reflect, pray and try to understand our faith in a more powerful way. Kind of a “spring cleaning” of the soul for a lack of a better word. It also aligns itself in the scripture with the temptations of Christ talked about in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke. As described in the scriptures following His baptism and before He began His public ministry, Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness at which time Satan appeared to Him bringing forward three temptations. One temptation of the flesh, represented by food. One temptation of power, represented by the jumping from the temple roof and the last temptation represented by the gathering of earthly belongings represented by offering up the Earth for Him to rule.

Today’s temptations don’t seem to far from those three. Many of us eat too much, constantly seek power and want more things. After all we even have a saying that the person who dies with the most toys wins. Isn’t that also the basis of crime these days. Someone wants something, someone wants to control someone else or someone needs something because of an addiction. Brian (Head) Welch from Korn in his book, Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story talks about how all the temptations he faced while seeking glory in the music industry nearly destroyed him and it was when he took time away from it all that he began to get healthy emotionally and physically. If you haven’t watched his story on I Am Second, I encourage you to watch it at http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/brian-welch/

No matter what the journey of your life looks like, spring brings a time of renewal and time to look within yourself to see whether you are satisfied with who you are. It is time for all of us to look beyond our satisfactions to our dissatisfaction with ourselves. We should be looking at who we are in this world. What is the mark we will leave upon this world and others? I remember when I had my own personal crisis and realized that I didn’t want my epitaph to say, “he worked hard.” I wanted to have more of a mark on this world than to have something that eventually would rust and fade away. Don’t get me wrong, I love the motorcycle to ride but eventually they bust, rust and breakdown. While it’s a part of my life, it shouldn’t be my life. Thanks to folks like “Big Les”, Ed, Keith and many others I started working Saturday mornings feeding the homeless. It was through that time that I realized that I wasn’t that important, but it was what I did for others that matters. That Saturday morning ministry continues today.

All of us face a Lenten season, whether it is founded in faith or not. It is built within us to look at renewal. Snakes shed their skin, Animals shed their coats and trees grow their summer leaves. Even flowers begin their blooming at spring. This is the time to say at the heart level, “am I satisfied with who I am?” I challenged people in the last blog to quit talking about doing things for others but go do something. See you next time.

Preach