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In The Moment

I was with some young families on Memorial Day!  It was a great time!  It was about 80 degrees out that day and we were enjoying being outside – but it seemed really hot to me, which is odd because I usually love temps in the mid 80’s to mid 90’s.  Why did I feel so hot?  Then it occurred to me:  Before moving here, I’ve always lived in places that had something called “Spring”.  Now just 5 days before being with these families, we had a frost warning!  It got down to 28 degrees just five days before that.  I had missed Spring! It can seem at times that events or special occasions we’ve been anticipating can skip right past us. One can look at their child and wonder “where have all the years gone?”

It’s important to stay in the moment.  God is always with us, and Jesus reminds us that his Spirit will never leave us.  That makes each moment and every occasion sacred; full of the presence of God.  Even if it might be a moment or an event of crisis, or loss, or pain.  God is with you in that moment – during (in the midst of) the distressful event.  That’s the promise of God’s faithfulness and steadfastness!  God is faithful even when we are faithless, even when we are broken, or scared, or angry, or whatever.

With this truth we can see that God can redeem or overcome or reconcile all the moments in our lives.  We need to be present in each moment through each day.  Daily commit ourselves to Christ; turn over each decision, each action, each encounter to God.  Find the Divine in all the occasions and opportunities that come your way each day.  Important note:  this doesn’t mean bad things are just good things “in disguise”.  No – moments of loss, brokenness, crisis, chaos, and pain are just plain hard and awful. Still, God is with us and never abandons us.  Often, people say it is only by leaning on God and God’s grace that they make it through these hard times.

Being a disciple is a daily (if not moment by moment) choice.  “Do I participate in God’s Kingdom in the moment, with this decision or with this action”?  What is the next right thing I need to do? Which choice is the one that most reflects Grace?  These are some of the questions to focus on and keep in the back of your mind as you move through the day.  I have a friend who always asks himself, “Who does this day belong to?” (Jesus or me?) or “Whose will I be today”?  (Jesus’ or the world’s?)  Each day my friend decides to live the day for Christ!

As we move through each day focusing on God’s presence, we can discover more beauty in the world and the people around us.  We can live into the moments of our lives and find that the events of our days are more gift than obstacle, more blessed that cursed, more vital than drab.

We’re moving into the next season of our lives together as a congregation.  Did you know our Discovery Zone has more teachers and more kids than in the past 15 years?  Do you know we averaged over 15 people at all three Bible studies this past program year?  We’re installing the new playground in just two weeks!  We had 27 kids sitting with Pastor Jim during Children’s Moment on Palm Sunday!  Our Youth Group has almost doubled this year!  God is at work in the life of UMCGR!  The Holy Spirit is moving through the members of our congregation in powerful, exciting and life changing ways!

Now we’re in the season after the day of Pentecost: The Birth of the Church!  What new doors will God’s Spirit be opening for us?  What new opportunities and blessings are in store – especially if we’re expectant and watching for the next new thing God is doing even in the next day, the next moment of our lives?

Be God’s, Pastor Jim

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