May 2018...

Dear Friends,

Tim Williams tells this story:
Kristina, the youth director at our church, asked if I could teach her high school Bible study. I agreed, but wanted to meet her students first. She introduced me to the three students who were attending that week’s study. Kristina asked about their week, prayed and then jumped onto a chair. “I want two of you to grab my hands and see if you can pull me off this chair.” All three of the students were boys, two of them were large enough to lift Kristina and the chair. Only one shyly stood up to take Kristina’s hand. I volunteered to take the other. With very little effort we pulled her forward and forced her to jump from the chair. She climbed bak onto the chair and said, “Now I’m going to lift Tim to my level.” She couldn’t, of course. Then she said, “It’s a lot easier to pull someone down than it is to lift someone up.”

Isn’t that the truth? But, with attention and effort we can lift one another up. And that result is worth the effort.

Do you feel the tensions of our culture right now? Weeks and months have been filled with uncertainty and strife. We continue to hear about North Korea’s nuclear capability though there may be progress. Mass shootings continue and just this week a police officer was killed in Maine. He was the 25th officer to be killed in the line of duty in 2018. Washington continues to be awash with charges and counter-charges. The politics of destruction are being used on all sides. Just this week the nominee for Director of the VA, who had served three presidents and been highly praise by all, withdrew his name from consideration, We will never know if he was qualified because he wasn’t vetted. He withdrew because of anonymous accusations. It’s a mess!

We are sometimes pulled down by the atmosphere of mistrust and worry. But we can remember, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Jn 1:5) If the light is still shining, if Christ is still Lord, if the Kingdom is still coming, we have hope! I don’t want you to bury your head in the sand, but I do want you to hold onto hope. Be lifted up by your Lord.

And then be the instrument of encouragement and of hope to others. How? Through the hope in you. Kirk Franklin says, “...when we don’t say something, we are saying something. We have the spirit of redemption when we speak.”

Here’s the thing: in a world of turmoil, we can be caught in the downward spiral or we can be lifted and lift others. The result is worth the effort. 

~ Pastor Byron

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