Pastor's Pen     
                  by Pastor Jimmy Sharp

April 2004
 

    April is framed with the flowers of spring. God is alive and well and demonstrates his presence vividly in our daily experiences.  Can you go through a day in April and not be aware of the presence of God?  When Easter falls in April it is a contrast to the celebration of Lent.  Lent is a time of reflection in the church and is usually observed by flat colorless displays, the removal of brass objects in the sanctuary, the replacement with rustic wooden objects, dried flower arrangements, etc... But in April God struts his stuff.  God puts on the most fantastic color display in the cosmos.  God brings to bud the barren twig. God brings to flower the dormant rose bush.  God awakens the seemingly lifeless countryside.  Not even in the magic of the movies can a more dazzling display of color and new life be seen by the eye of God's creation, humanity.  Yes, God is alive and well.
 
    The question is rarely whether God is alive or not.  The question usually doesn't get that lofty.  Most of the time it centers around the person asking the question and it's most likely about themselves, whether they are alive or not?  Different people seem to have different criteria for what is or is not alive.  I am not a philosopher, I am not a medical doctor, I am a preacher but what I do know about being alive is more than psychological, it is more than physical, it is spiritual.  God is spirit and God created humanity in His image and that makes humanity a spiritual being.  So if the question never is posed to God, then it is most likely not to receive an answer.  It is God that brings life through a dry twig to produce a bud.  It is God that brings the flower to a dormant rose bush and it is God that brings life to a person in the Lent of their life. Being alive, truly alive, is a gift from God.  God is alive and well. Are you?  Maybe you are asking the wrong questions?  Maybe you are asking the wrong person?  If you are concerned about being alive, may I suggest you ask God.  God will make you more alive than the flowers in spring.  For spring is a season and it comes and goes by the design of God.  But God will give you life that will never end.  Ask God, God wants to give life to you.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whosoever believed in him would have eternal life."   the book of John, chapter 3, verse 16, of The Holy Bible.
 

Back to Pastor's Pen