It has been an odd fall. The year started out with rain and fast growth, followed by a very dry summer that didn’t give us any rain for almost two months. Quite a difference from the way things usually are.
Additionally, the lake behind our home has had chronic problems with the water level and last year, much to our dismay, there was actually a mud bottom visible for much of the summer and into the fall. Several engineers around our neighborhood devised a way to install a pump in an attempt to keep the lake level high and so far it has worked, no thanks to the dry spell we had through most of the summer.
And then, don’t even get me started on the disappointing display of color this fall. Fall is my favorite time of year – I spend the balance of the year looking forward to the miraculous show that Mother Nature usually puts on in October of each year. But this year was full of disappointment. I kept thinking that color was right around the color and I was wrong.
First, it looked like we may get a show. Then, out of nowhere, the yellow gave way to brown and with rare exception, the reds never made an appearance. So here we are, in the early days of November and the leaves are falling off the trees, with very little change in color.
When I was down in the southern part of the state last week, I heard a park ranger tell me that Mother Nature “hadn’t held up her part of the deal” this year. How right he was. But that also reminded me that Jesus always holds up his end of things. In fact, it is unfathomable to me that Jesus ever misses a step. More than that, we have the assurance of God that His promises are steadfast and immutable. Our verse for tonight highlights the fact that Jesus will not lose any of us who are entrusted to his care. We are told by John, the writer of the Gospel that bears his name, in John 6:39, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”
In other words, we can rest in the assurance that we belong to God and nothing will keep Jesus from making sure that we will spend eternity with Him. My encouragement this evening is that God wants us to rest in His promises to us. He is reliable and dependable and even when things look bleak, we know, as Christians, that we can trust the Father and His Son. My prayer is that we will all come to know the saving grace of God and that we can accept the fact that He will always be dependable. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…