God's Covenat

Genesis 8:20 - 9:17

¹² And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:

It's Friday, February 27th, about 4:40 pm. As I pull to a stop at my parents, it begins to rain. As I walk into the house, I realize that pea sized hail is falling. They had returned from the Panhandle of Texas, so as I catch up with them and their visit with relatives, it starts to hail harder. It seems that no sooner than the hail starts, that it stops. It's 4:55 pm and I'm driving out to the road. There are heavy clouds hanging in the sky with sunlight shining through. Then I see it ... a rainbow.

When's the last time I saw a rainbow? I can't recall. I stop my Jeep mesmerized by the sight. The colors are clear and crisp. The rainbow disappears into the clouds and I follow to where I think that it will come out. It's a beautiful sight.

I immediately thought of Noah and the covenant God made with him and the earth. After the waters recede, Noah offers a sacrifice that pleases God. As a sign of His covenant, He decrees that a rainbow will be set in the clouds. When He sees the rainbow in the cloud, He will remember the covenant He made with Noah and the generations to come.

It is an awesome experience to sit there and look at a rainbow and know that at that very moment God is remembering a covenant He made thousands of years ago with Noah. What a connection with God and ancient Bible heroes.

Dear Lord, Thank-you for being a merciful God, and continuing to remember the covenant that you made with your Creation generations ago and that we can see being honored even to this day. Amen.

This World is not My Home

Philippians 1:19-26 (New International Version)

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. ²⁰I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²²If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

This has been a passage that has challenged me for many years. Our society does not like to talk about death and dying, but it is a natural process that each of us will eventually experience. I can remember as a teenager, a couple going overseas to evaluate a mission field. She made the comment that she was afraid about going to some places because of political unrest and the possibility of being killed. Being young and naive, I made the comment that if you are a Christian, why should you worry about dying? Now it is over 20 years later and I am concerned about my immortality. Yet Paul looks forward to death and anticipates it, he is eager for the chance to be with Jesus. But if he has to, he can stay here and continue to preach Christ.

A classmate of mine had to go in for surgery because of an impacted tooth. Normally this is just a routine procedure. Because of his health issues and medication to thin his blood, there was a very real concern about him bleeding to death from the surgery. He found someone who believed he could perform the surgery successfully. His attitude about the whole thing caught my attention. If he were to die because of the surgery, his view was "Great, I get to go home." And if he survived, "I get to live pain free." He viewed it as a win/win situation.

My challenge is to bring my faith to the point were I look forward to going home to be with Jesus. But if I have to stay here, then my mission is to preach Christ to a lost world. Just like Paul, I would find myself in a win/win situation.