spring shows hope

Daffodils are coming up… I saw my first Cardinals today… as I went for a long hard walk that was much needed this morning… I have been woefully negligent in my walking the last couple of months… today I struck out for a fast paced 28 minutes and saw that the neighborhood landscapers had been down to the pond and done some greatly needed trimming. No longer does one need to dodge limbs, the path is now clear… that makes me think of the life of following Jesus – there are issues in our lives that make us have to dodge our own stuff, when in fact we should not be dodging it – we should be cutting it clean, confessing our sin to Jesus and whomever we have offended or judged… and for the stuff that is deep in our hearts from our past that are hurting us and dragging us down, we need to lay that at the cross too… Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save the world… this is what spring reminds me of… rebirth… resurrection… redemption… relief.
The recent events in the Balkans (see previous posts), the newly awakened unrest (its not new, it is old, very, very old) shows us the need for the Gospel to the nations… all nations: Serbs and Albanians, these people groups are among the people groups who Jesus came to redeem… all the nations, all the peoples… for we ought to remember that the Greek word from which we get ‘nations’ is better understood as ethnicities… Jesus loves the Serb and the Albanian alike, He died and rose for them all, for us all… we all need the spring with its rebirth… resurrection… redemption… relief – thank you Jesus.