I don’t know what I was expecting. In the end, by the time I got to the pulpit, I had left the expectations behind. Pentecost was here, and we were talking about the Holy Spirit, what had happened in Jerusalem all those many years ago. I suppose I was secretly hoping for something amazing, something like what Peter and John saw in Acts 3, when the were vessels of healing for a man who had been crippled for 40 years. Now that I know what its like to live through 40 years, I can only say, wow. There were no real “wows”, though–at least not like that. Two people were baptized, and their journey into faith is an amazing thing in itself, a “wow” of a different kind. And people wanting to “come home” who want a deeper faith and walk with God, who want to know He loves them, want to be obedient, all these people gathered around each other praying for the Holy Spirit to touch their lives in a new way.
I’m one of those. My disciplines are all aimed, in the end, in hearing Him speak more clearly, trying to follow more closely. Sometimes I think I get it, most times I think I’m fairly clueless. But I keep following, reading, studying, serving, trying to do as best I can with what I understand and hear at this moment. He is faithful, and I have no doubt there are “wows” still to come. Maybe they’re happening all around me even now, and I just don’t yet seem them.
Change is good, don’t you think? I have always loved variety, new ways of doing things, new adventures to be on. It seems that growth is a synonym for change, and while people are saying they want to grow all the time, they rarely want change. Not me. I want to grow, and I want change. So this is the year, especially as I think of rolling into my 50th birthday next year. It’s a time for new life, new energy, new brain-maps, and new who knows what else. I’ve thought of journaling it all pretty carefully, just seeing where it leads, where He leads. We’ll see. It made a difference in that way I got out of bed this morning.
It’s a start…
JEFF BERRYMAN 