Damp Balloon

I woke up this morning on this 3rd from last day of the coach being tethered to the house well before Mona. It was raining, and cool so the electric fire instantly warmed the cabin.  Then I looked out the front bay windows and was reminded of all that is happening to us, to Hope Church, to our family scattered across the USA, (and becoming more scattered as grandson Kaream prepares to head off to Camp Wood in Missouri for a summer of Army National Guard basics).

The balloon which Hope Church gave to us almost two weeks ago at our surprise retirement party holds it's shape so well in warm and sunny weather.  But let the temperature drop a little, and a few drops of cold water fall on its shiny exterior, and it begins to droop like a, well, wet balloon.

Sometimes we do too.

I see so many Facebook posts like, "Woke up sad today.", " Hard day today." , "Can't deal today." etc.  As a pastor I hear these things all too often.  And none of them are wrong, inappropriate, or false.  They are what we truly feel at a given moment when our 'selves' are deflated balloons praying for some warmth of spirit or joy to refill their deformed skins.

No guilt.

It is SO EASY for a preacher to lay on guilt. Just quote the right (or wrong) Scripture and you'll have someone running from you or their hands covering their face as the tears fall. Sometimes the truth has to hurt.  But so often it just needs a little warmth to become full again.

Be filled!

Jesus told us to live as though victorious in life.  Because He made our victory sure. He told us to live an abundant life. Because He gives us all we'll ever need.  He said we must keep our eyes on Him so our hearts will stay full, our balloons of spirit inflated and UP.

So on this dreary wet day I left QUO's rain streaked front windows to make a cup of steaming French Dark coffee, sit down at my laptop, and send you, and myself, this little message:  The rain will go away; the air will warm up.  The sun will shine and the balloon will re-inflate. God is with us, not just in His heaven, and all things are well, even in the midst of sadness, grief, and pain. Rainbows and balloons, just two of God's many signs of redemption and new beginnings.

But don't get too hot out there!  You know what happens to balloons that get too hot, and the helium molecules in them expand beyond the skin's tensile strength, don't you?  POP!!!

Thank God, if our warmth comes from Jesus He gives us an auto temperature control.  When we start getting too hot... we faint in the Spirit!

Have a WARM and SUNNY day, at least inside.
-Pastor Ken