From Pastor's Desk
These last few months have been full of surprises and life-changing news. As the summer drew to an end, I thought I knew what to expect from this fall and winter. Little did I know what God had in store.
And so I approached this fall with the same expectations. Suffer through the first couple of games, and then turn my focus to the Sabres. But then it happened. Not only did we win the first week, but the first three weeks. And here we are at the start of November sitting 5-2! Yes, God is indeed gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. We are, at least for now, playing ball!
Of course I’m talking about the Buffalo Bills. What surprise and life-changing news did you think I was talking about?
Sometimes life’s greatest blessings come unexpectedly. I learned that another way this season. My wife, Carol, had quit her job and enrolled in a Masters program at the University at Buffalo. We weren’t thrilled with the notion of one of us in grad school after spending our first couple years of marriage putting me through seminary, but we knew it was best. We made a budget. We worked out a plan. We had it all figured out. Or so we thought. Before Carol even stepped foot in her first class this fall, we found out she was pregnant and we were expecting. Which is funny, because we definitely were not expecting that.
Advent is the season of unexpectedly blessing. We are reminded of that right off the bat by the gospel reading for the first week (November 27). In it Jesus tells the crowds,
“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.”
We are a people with a plan; a people who prefer to see things coming, yet our God shows up not on our time, but at the right time. And often that time is unexpected. But sometimes life’s greatest blessings come unexpectedly...
like a team with zero expectations, beating the Patriots...
or like trading in a back pack for a diaper bag...
or like the Savior of the world being born during a Roman census...
or like the Savior of the world coming like a thief in the night.
We may not know the day or the hour when God will bless us again, but we know that he will. Because he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. And he does tend to bless us when we least expect it.
Blessed in the journey,
Pastor Shawn
