Seeing. This past week I have gotten to spend much time seeing the unexpected. The first major snow of the winter will do that for you. Two brief examples to illustrate what I mean from the "Didn't see that coming" category.
Driving eastbound on 118th Ave. a one ton truck with dualies in the back jumps out in front of me. He hasn't accounted for the height of the windrow of snow in the middle of the road. So, he straddles it until his fish-tailing stops. And then speeds off in my lane. In a completely different direction but in the same category: Taraneh Alidoosti, Maura Healey and Josh Shapiro. All three have taken a stand against systems that were supposed to defeat them and they won. God is full of surprises about whom He will choose to do work that is intended from His plan.
I was then reminded of how much we see this in the whole of the bible. At the end of the church year, we come to apocalyptic texts. Sayings of Jesus about the end of the world. They are full of surprises and yet simply further warnings. Luke 21 and Matthew 24 are very instructive here. Yet, they are fuller explanations of passages such as Daniel 8. And all of this is in God's plan at the end of the world. But that is not new either. King Nebuchadnezzar is doing God's will in 2 Kings 24 and 25. Naaman who is commander of the Syrian army is a witness for the Lord in 2 Kings 5. The parents of baby boys in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 have no idea who these children will be or how mighty they will become. And then there is the story of an Ethiopian treasurer and one of the apostles in Acts 8. We never see it coming. But God is always at work.
Now are you prepared for what's coming? It is about six weeks to Christmas when we celebrate, with great joy, the coming of our Saviour. The coming of our salvation; of our redemption, of our God in human form. We will not get Easter if we have no Christmas that does not include Jesus.
Time to begin our preparations. Pr. Scott
