OnFire #309 Cold Hands and Perseverance

OnFire Encouragement Letter
OnFire #309 Cold Hands and Perseverance

Its been that kind of winter that we get once in a bunch of years, and its only early in the winter. On the positive side, we’ve had lots of opportunity to get some exercise outdoors. We returned from our trip to Florida in the middle of a snow storm, and for days I shoveled and ran the snow blower every day. As I write, our friends in Nova Scotia are being pounded by the snow once again. It looks like we’ll get off easy with only 5-10 cm.

Its been cold, too, well into the minus 20's Celsius here in Moncton. The cold brings its own difficulties with staying warm and comfortable, but when you combine the cold and snow, the difficulties multiply. Machinery doesn’t like to work in the cold, and neither do we. On an interesting side note, I put my window down to go through the drive-through yesterday and it wouldn’t go back up. Finally, it started nudging up at about a half inch at a time, every minute or two. It took 25 minutes to put the window back up, but it did go up, thankfully.

We were shoveling snow the other day at the church after the last storm. After a little while my hands were cold and stiff, quite painful really. But there was more snow to move, and some memories of cold hands in the past kicked in. I learned while lobster fishing on Grand Manan that my hands may hurt for a little while, but then it will feel like they’re warming up. It is not comfortable, but it is endurable.

The first time I learned my hands could handle the cold, it was kind of serendipitous, a joyful discovery. The second time I began to see the pattern. After that, I had a strategy. This is a lesson I relearn every winter, and that thought kept me going until we finished clearing the snow.

It reminded me of perseverance in the Christian life. By the power of God, we can handle more than we think we can. And through experience, we learn to handle more.

“... we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:3-5*)

As we go through difficulty and hardship, we also experience the strengthening presence of the Holy Spirit, which builds up our character and endurance because we realize we will get through. At some point we feel we just cannot make it, but, through prayer, if we press on just a little while longer we break through. I think this applies to both hardship and temptation. But we cannot give up quickly, as we are sometimes prone to do.

Something else I realized the other day. Sometimes I do things which make the situation worse. My gloves were a poor choice of cold-weather strategy. The pain of the day moved me to try a different set to shovel off my carport last night. Yesterday was actually colder, but my hands were much better and, in fact, did not get cold at all.

As in gloves, so also in life.  It is an uncomfortable thought to realize something I did made the situation worse in the past, but I can learn and change, and I believe this is part of the character development Paul talks about in Romans.

I hope this helps. Stay warm and dry. And stay on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. This letter published Jan 3, 2014. Troy is the Pastor of Next Generations and Connections at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. *New International Version, 1984. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at  www.onfireletter.com, but I’m a little behind in updating things. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com

OnFire #263 Stacking Stones

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #263 Stacking Stones

Summer means that OnFire will not be regular as we have vacation Bible school, a youth mission, vacation, and our annual Baptist assembly. I’ll send out as I’m able, but I know it will not be regular over the next few months.

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While on a canoe trip with some friends a few years ago, we came across a rock cairn. We were expecting it because we had read about it in our guidebook, and one of the guys also knew there was a geocache located there. Even still, I was a little surprised to see this pile of stones in the middle of the wilderness. I’ve forgotten the story of why it is there, but a pile of stones like that means something.

Not long ago I was reading in Joshua 4 and came to the passage where the Hebrew people crossed the Jordan. What a great day it was. After wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, they finally went into the Promised Land. And, what a miraculous set of circumstances it was. Just as their fathers and mothers had crossed over the Red Sea on dry land, they crossed the Jordan on dry land when it was at flood stage.

To commemorate the occasion, a man from each tribe picked up a rock from the river bed where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant had stood, and carried it to their camping location that night. The twelve rocks became a lasting marker of what the Lord had done.

As I read this passage, I was struck by the fact that someone had to carry those rocks. 12 men had to lift them from the river bed, hoist them to their shoulders, and carry them to wherever their camp was that night. We’re not talking river pebbles. To make an effective marker out of twelve stones, they would need to be large, as big as the men could carry. 12 marbles would never make someone stop and ask, “What happened here?”

It occurred to me that sometimes God asks us to pick up a big stone and to carry it for a while. Life hands us an additional burden which we must bear for some time.

That thought wasn’t very encouraging when I first had it. I considered that I had enough burden to carry without thinking of more. But thankfully another thought occurred. They only had to carry them from the river to the camp. I’m sure to those men it seemed long enough, perhaps too long depending on the location in the area of at Gilgal. But it was not indefinite or forever.

My problem is that I would like to know “How long?” There are some answers we just don’t have, but these words seemed to suggest that it would not be forever. There would be a time to set the burden down.

It’s not everyday that passages lift off the page, but that was a neat day and I had one more thought. At the end we’d be able to say, “Look what God has done.” In the same way those stones represented God’s power and strength to bring the Hebrews across the Jordan River, there would be something we can point to as a reminder that God was with us.

It’s not enjoyable to pick up a rock, to lift a burden for even a short time. But I drew some comfort that day and I hope it provides some comfort for you.

I hope this helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a weekly letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. Troy is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Highfield Baptist Church, Moncton NB Canada. This letter published July 5, 2011. To subscribe or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com. Blog located at http://www.onfireletter.blogspot.com/.