Giver of Life
Do you remember in the not-so-distant past when a new word entered our vocabulary, COVID, and life as we knew it came almost to a stop? It seemed as if overnight everything familiar changed. We no longer went to work. The roads and freeways were quiet. Children didn’t go to school. We didn’t worship in church. I remember coming to the office every couple of days to check the mail and it was an eerie feeling to be in an almost empty building. Life seemed to have gone out of it because it had. Yet, God the giver of life, never left and he never left us.
Looking back, what happened was almost miraculous. No one gave up and said, well I guess we just won’t have church during the pandemic. We pivoted. Ryan preached from trails, groves, vineyards, beaches, and soon the courtyard as well. Our services went online and our staff began taking care of people in a whole new way. We formed teams to call people, we found new volunteers to help shut-ins and many others who needed help, we took prayer requests, we had online meetings and we PRAYED! We all learned the true meaning of working remotely and doing it in a completely different way. Thanks be to God. We learned so much about ourselves, other people, and our Creator.
There were so many unknowns during that time. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you. So instead let’s talk about what we did and do know. Life went on even though it was different. We found our strength in the One ultimately in control when everything seemed to be out of control. We knew that Jesus was interceding for us with the Father (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25) and was our advocate. (1 John 2:1) Jesus Christ alone mediates between God and man. “For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5) Jesus is always pleading our case, like a defense lawyer before the Father on our behalf. And he is appointed by his Father. John 5:26 says, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
Jesus tells us in John 10:10b, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” This promise means that though life changes, sometimes even drastically, we can count on the giver of life to see us through and give us purpose and a hope.
Deb Hill