Out Our Way: Spring, summer and Fall

Out our, way we know it is not all fun and games. Though we live in Paradise, the winter has been something short of enjoyable. From October through March, the Alberta Clippers have hit and hit hard. Friends of mine in different parts of the country hear about our winter and ask me, “Why do you live there?” I respond, “Three words: spring, summer and fall.” Sometimes I add the real deal clincher — the fourth word: “chinooks.”

I have lived in other parts of the country and the worst was the Midwest, were the snow came in October or November and stayed until April, and the skies were usually cloudy and gray every day. You may have to move out of the west to understand why the phrase “and the skies are not cloudy all day” was such an important part of the song. I understood that others don’t see buffalo except in the zoo, and while folks everywhere have likely seen the deer, how many places still have antelope playing along the prairies and fields? But the sky is the sky. Andy Rooney once made fun of Montana’s license plates saying it was “ Big Sky Country,” saying “they have the same sky as everybody else.” But he was wrong.

I think he discovered that for himself, for years later, I noted in one of his books he had deleted the comments about Montana. Seems he came out here one day and learned. In the same way, I went back East to seminary and discovered where the skies are cloudy all day … for weeks at a time. Holy Frijolés! How do you people stand this?

For over 30 years I was out of the Big Open serving the Lord around the country. But always there was the hope that one day I would come home. For many long years it was only a hope and a prayer, but I kept the faith and finally, some 12 years ago, I made it home.

Homesickness is something the Bible speaks about — especially in the writings of the prophets. The 12 Tribes of Israel eventually became the nation of Israel and they finally had a homeland. But over time, they forgot the Lord and the basis of their people. Bit by bit they fell away until only some two tribes of the original 12 remained intact, and they, too, forgot their heritage. Mighty Babylon — modern Iraq — came and destroyed Jerusalem, the Holy Tmple, and took the remaining people into captivity far from home. For 70 years the people were in darkness, sorrowing and weeping for what was gone. But God sent to prophets like Isaiah to tell them that while their darkness was real, the dawn was coming. In time they would return, rebuild the Temple, and then the Messiah would come.

And so it came to pass. After 70 years Babylon fell and the Jews were allowed to come home. The city was rebuilt and then the Temple, and many years later King Herod restored and rebuilt it into an even greater and more glorious structure than before. And in that time the Messiah did come and laid new foundations for the Temple of the Lord, not of marble and gold, but of flesh and blood. The Temple of the Lord, built with the living stones of the Faithful, was no longer limited to Mount Zion, Jerusalem or Judah, but expanded to enfold the entire world. The People of God were not limited to the Jews, but through Christ all people were invited to become the family of God.

It is no coincidence that the Last Supper was the Passover,- when Israel recalled how God had called them out of darkness in the Exodus and led them to the Promised Land to become His people. At the Passover meal in the Upper Room, Jesus is called the Passover Lamb, sacrificing His body and blood for the salvation of His people. And the new Exodus began that following Sunday when Christ arose and like the pillar of the fire and the cloud, the Riesn Christ calls all to follow to the Promised Land — the New Jerusalem — the Kingdom of God.

Sometimes we enter “into the winter of our depair,” as Shakespeare put it. Like Israel of old the world has turned upside down and it seems hopeless. We cry out to God and the skies seem silent. But then a still small voice — perhaps a friend, a neighbor, even a stranger — comes into our heads. “Comfort, comfort ye, My People,” and it is the voice of the Lord. “This too shall pass and I have not forsaken thee. Now is the time of faith without seeing and hope without proof. Now is the time to discover the depth or shallowness of your love and strength in Me. Use this time to strengthen the faith and grow stronger that when the light does come — and it will—- you are ready to stride out into the new day with courage, direction and joy. You shall indeed become the light to others who do not know what you know nor have the reason for faith you have been given. Let your light so shine that the whole world shall see and know the truth at last. To you has been given My Name ‘I am!’ Now you will tell the world and demonstrate it as My People.”

Yup — a dark winter came to Israel,- but the chinook winds of the prophets told them spring was coming, and so it was. In our own dark times, we need to listen for the small, still voice of God speaking through whatever means He chooses — be still and know that He is God.

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John Bruington and Doc have spotted real honest to goodness ground and a hint of grass this week. The ice is melting the snow disappearing and the geese are flying. Hear the Word of the Lord being spoken by nature’s prophets.