Hello,
There is
a commercial on TV, and maybe you have seen it, where a couple of people have
the latest and fastest internet delivery, 4G. Their friends and coworkers are still locked into slower
internet carriers, and they, of course receive “necessary” information later
than their 4G friends. “That is so
29 seconds ago,” they are told by their more speedily informed friends who have
already bought presents in response to a birth announcement and dealt with
overseas customers.
I have to admit as
one who grew up the days of snail mail, that I am thankful for the speed of
reply that has come with e-mail and text messaging. And I have to admit as one who grew up in the era of one
phone for 40 college students, I am grateful for the cell phone which connects
me to my kids even when they are not home. I know that I get impatient when my computer is slowly
loading a web-page at a speed that is far faster than it would have loaded just
10 years ago. I have to admit that
there is part of this fast paced world in which we live for which I am highly
thankful.
But there are times when
the speed of information accumulation seems like a winter blizzard, coming at
me faster than I can shovel my way through, and piling up in mounds that I
cannot see over. There are times
when the electronic requests come so fast and from so many directions that I
get dizzy being spun in circles and exhausted trying to keep up with their
pace. And there are times when the
notes and texts, although timely, just don’t fill the hole in my heart the way
a hug, a smile, or a tear does.
Well, for those times when we yearn for a quick and unrestricted
connection to God, God’s response is, “Ok. I can do that.”
When suffering hits and 29 seconds seems like 29 years, God says, “Call
on me anytime, and I will hear your prayer.” When we have fallen into a deep hole, even a hole of our own
making, God says, “There is no place where my love and forgiveness won’t reach
you.” And when it seems like no
one cares about you, God answered that wondering a long time ago when he
enveloped you in his eternal care in the waters of Baptism. Even the response time by the earthly 4G network is slug-like compared to the
range and speed of the divine 4G (For God) network.
And for those times when speed and range fall short of what we need, God
is able, and in fact he does, deliver.
When our strength is overwhelmed by the blizzard of life, God delivers
an army of people, the church, to give their strength to ours to slug our way
through the mountainous drifts.
When life has you spinning as if you had been flushed down a toilet, God
opens the doors of his church, often called the Sanctuary, and says, “Be still
and know that I am God.” And when
the word of God doesn’t hit our hearts with convincing power, God gives us a
hug deeper than humanly possible when he says, “Take and eat, this is my body….and
Take and drink, this is my blood.”
The wonder of our God is that he can keep up with the speed of this
world to reach us….after all, he set it in motion…and he can slow this world
down when we need it….after all, he set it in motion.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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