February 2012
SPRING TRAINING FOR DISCIPLES
February:
what a month; what a time of year.
Any month that begins its time with a celebration of a rodent
normally identified with road kill, that periodically changes the
number of days it contains (2012 is Leap Year), that is enveloped in
so much darkness, that has at its centerpiece a day most identified
with shoebox inhabiting cards and little heart-shaped candies that
taste like chalk . . . . Well, that's a month saturated with
problems. Yet, I like
February because once it is done, Winter is soon to leave, and
because it signals the official beginning of legitimate romance - -
not Valentine's Day, but Spring Training for baseball.
When I've gone to Florida for Pirates' Spring Training,
everything is greener and warmer and better.
The players run fast and hit hard and laugh a lot.
Hope pervades every activity; maybe this is the year we WIN!
The players play hard and the coaches coach hard, because
they are not held back by records or the mundane world or failure.
Hope encircles the future.
One could say that February is Spring Training for we who are
Disciples of Christ.
Even starting back on January 1st we in Greensburg began the 100-Day
Challenge, to read what someone has deemed the 100 most important
passages of Scripture in the Old and New Testaments.
We are about 60% through the 50 Old Testament passages, and
before February is through we will delve into the 50 New Testament
pas-sages, especially those that describe the life, words, actions,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.
We will encounter those wonderful, unbelievable stores that
give witness to His resurrection . . .
Story pictures that remind us that Christ chose to die-for
you, for me-and then refused to be conquered even by death!
He is ALIVE!!
That is winning to the ninth degree.
That is HOPE in its ultimate state.
Because He arose, we too can conquer death.
Our reading these foundational passages/stories from the Old and new testaments is Spring Training for each of us as followers of Christ. We can each sharpen our skills and become even better disciples of Christ. I know I can. We can each allow the love of God to overwhelm us in our actions, that we become distributors of God's love to others, while enjoying His hope and warmth and love for ourselves. Learning how to play the game of life and play it well is what the Bible gives us opportunity to consider. We see how God has acted in the past, and it informs us how God will act in the present and future. God becomes not just an inanimate, theoretical thought but a real, live being in the person of Jesus. Jesus shows us “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
Pastor Dr. Renny Domske
Grace & Peace
About Pastor Renny
