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    • Welcome to the Family
It is almost Spring
 
 
They have returned. Yes, each year about this time they come back to Lansing. I have been told that they also return to other parts of the country – Detroit, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York City and other Northern cities. I see them each day on the roads. There are lots of little ones, a few larger ones and just one or two really huge ones. I try to avoid them when I drive, but no matter how I swerve and turn, I run over a few. I usually get the small ones. Once I hit a large one and thought I would have to get my car repaired. It is not a good idea to hit a big one. State workers spend lots of time trying to get rid of them, but it seems that they multiply faster than the workers can destroy them. It is almost Spring.
 
Yes, the potholes are back. Water seeps into the cracks in the pavement, freezes, expands, widens the crack and soon a chunk of pavement is missing. Plows scrape, tires bounce and the hole expands. The larger the hole, the more water gets in and the larger the hole becomes. Pretty soon holes are so large that they can swallow small cars whole and bounce coffee cups around the inside of larger cars.
 
Another sign of Spring just appeared – the orange rectangle construction zone sign. Yes, when the potholes get too many to patch, the crews shut down long sections of highway to remove and renew the pavement. The orange signs spawn orange cones. The orange cones spawn concrete barriers, The concrete barriers mean only one thing – add lots of time to your travel day. Yes, it will not be until November that the barriers, cones and signs migrate off the roads – just in time for the ice, salt and plows to slow traffic, but that is another story.
 
As I was dodging potholes the other day, I was thinking, “Isn’t that the way it is with our life’s road?” On our life’s pathway, trouble will open a small crack. Into the small cracks seep our doubts, our worries, and our fears. The cracks expand and soon there is a pothole that can throw us off of our path. No matter how much we try to patch the hole – doubts, fears and worries continue to seep in and expand the obstacles.
 
Trouble comes in many sizes and lots of disguises. Trouble might be a child that is sick – crying through the night – causing anxiety. Trouble might be being told you have cancer – causing anxiety and fear. Trouble might be too much week at the end of the paycheck – causing anxiety, fear and tough choices. Trouble might be being downsized out of a job – causing anxiety, fear, tough choices, and loss of self-esteem.
 
Trouble might be the phone call that informs that your Dad just died or the phone call that informs that your son was in a car accident or the phone call that informs you of all of the troubles and grief’s happening in the school, church, VBS, music program, classroom, choir, or other areas of ministry that you are expected to fix. Trouble might be the parent who shares the hurt felt by other children – not her own – but others – just so that you are informed. Trouble might be the member who shakes hands at the church door with the greeting, “Nice sermon, too bad those sinners who don’t attend or don’t give didn’t hear it. What are you going to do about that?”
 
Stress, anxiety, fear are all byproducts of trouble. When trouble enters our lives, we want to “fix it.” The trouble with fixing trouble is that we often don’t fix it, but make it worse. The trouble comes and we immediately respond with the worse case scenario. My children take great delight in sharing this fact about their Dad. For when I missed the turn in downtown Chicago and ended up in an unfamiliar street, I panicked. I muttered some bits of advice to my wife about how she should take a map reading course and proceeded down the worse case scenario road with the lament, “That’s it, we’re lost – we are going to die!”
 
It seems as if in our sin-filled state the only exercise we are faithful in doing is – jumping to conclusions. We intensify, magnify and glorify the evil that surrounds us. We loose sight of who we are and whose we are.
 
We need to stop, take a deep breath and read Jeremiah 29:11:
 
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
 
Yes, God’s plans are for us to prosper – not despair – for hope – not doubt – for a future – not failure. God would have us prosper here on earth. God gives us His hope – His future – here and now. Yes, for eternity, but also for us on this side of eternity.
 
All of this means that we must remember His plans to prosper. Ah, but that is the hard part. We sink so much into ourselves that we can’t hear His words of comfort – consolation, peace.
 
That is when the family of Christ shines forth. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:
 
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
 
It is for the brothers and sisters in faith to step forward and offer the comfort from God.
They can help us cast aside our worries, doubts and fears. They can offer the listening, non-judgmental ear. They can offer the practical help of funds, goods or services. They can hold our hands and pray. They can hold our hearts as they remind us of God’s great gift of Jesus. It is only when we cast aside our worries, doubts and fears that we travel smoothly over the path. The really comforting thought is that Jesus already paved the way for us. We don’t have to do anything to His way. Even when we are deeply rutted in our own holes, His Way is there for us. He is always there guiding us on. We only get in trouble when we turn aside from Him.
 
“They” can and should be “us.” We need to bear one another’s burdens, wrap each other in God’s arms and pray. We need to offer the comfort first given to us by God the Father of compassion and comfort.
 
 

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