Fresh and New!

I just got home from dropping off Fiver to the Vet for a much-needed bath and regular checkup.  When I walked back into the house, my immediate subconscious thought was on the little game that we play almost every time I return home after being out for a while.  I’ll call out his name and then peek my head around the hall archway, look into the study… where he is laying on the couch… and say “well?”  To which he responds by flying off the couch and running up to me!

This time though… I had to catch myself from calling out… and stood in the kitchen absorbing the utter quiet that was surrounding me.  It was almost a little unsettling!  I can’t remember the last time that I was totally alone in the house… whether here or in North Carolina.  Since Piper’s promotion to heaven, the dog has been my almost constant companion.  The house today feels rather empty without him!  But… he’ll be back home in a few hours and life will return to normal once again.

Or will it?  What is normal?  That has been a question that I’ve been asking myself ever since the morning of September 2, 2018 when Piper left this world.  One of the main themes that I keep rehearsing is how different things are today in contrast to the way they were fourteen years ago when we received that first negative diagnosis of Piper’s health.  I often times wonder if I should have returned to California and attempted to reintegrate into my old life, instead of moving to Oklahoma after she passed.

I once again found myself running that old scenario over and over in my mind while lying in bed after turning off the light for the night last evening.  I’ve discovered over the years… beginning when Piper was sick… that those first moments of fresh darkness after a very busy day, tended to yield themselves to intimate times of conversation between the Lord and I… and last night afforded itself to one of those revelation moments.

As I laid on my back staring up at the darkened ceiling… with the occasional snore of the dog as he snuggled into his bed on the floor against the wall, where he also tends to begin his evening rest on his back with his feet resting on the wall… I audibly addressed the same conversation that the Lord and I have had countless times about the past… When I suddenly had the revelation that when Piper and I went to Oklahoma and Bible School in the late summer of 2006, we were going forth with an exciting vision of starting a brand-new chapter in our lives.

We drove out of town on that Wednesday evening knowing full well that things at home would never be as they were again.  The old jobs in both the secular and sacred positions I had held were over and they most likely would not be there when we returned.  Piper’s long tenure as a homeschooling Mom would come to completion in the next school year and she was looking forward to attending Bible School.

After serving in various ministry positions, assisting the senior Pastors and their visions for over 30 years, we were beyond ourselves in excitement with the possibility of starting up and pastoring our own church.  We weren’t even planning on returning to the old hometown.  Yes, we planned on returning to northern California, but to another town away from our home county so as to not interfere with the ministry of the Santa Rosa church, that had begun in our living room in the 1980’s.

I’m not totally sure why that revelation meant so much to me, but it most definitely blanketed me with a warm covering of God’s love and peace!  Sure, we were side-tracked from our original plan with a long-term, life-changing and horrific event, but I am beginning to find deep comfort in knowing that my position today is one of returning to the plan and purpose that Piper and I had already prayed over and initiated together.

And while some of the players, locations and circumstances have changed, all the experiences, education, preparations, both planned and un-planned, have stayed on track for the vision of the Lord to continue through me in these mid-summer days of 2021, here while in my new home in Oklahoma (like the 1946 Roy Rodgers movie with a similar title)!

The Apostle Paul tells us in The Message Bible “that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!”  The Passion Translation says “All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.”  And while I understand that in the context of the usage of this verse, he was talking about the Born-Again experience, it also lends itself to the plenty of other verses in the Bible that tell us to take each day as a new and fresh experience in God’s mercy, love, grace, peace or any other promise that the word of God holds for us who believe.

So folks… for me… and for you as well… God is presenting before us a fresh and new beginning.  You and I are most likely very different in our family backgrounds, life experiences, levels and types of education and a whole bunch of other areas… but I firmly believe that God made me to be me and you to be the person you have become for special purposes and callings that only you and I… with our unique equipping… can fulfil for Him!

Sometimes I look back at Piper’s and my combined experiences and note how very wide-ranging, sometimes seemingly unrelated to anything else, and in many ways… totally different than the rest of our perspective family’s life choices and experiences and wonder what God was up to with that! 

You might even have had similar thoughts about the story of your life!  But you and I can rest in peace knowing that God has planned for everything.  I don’t think that we could ever catch Him off guard.  He knows exactly what He is preparing each of us for!

When I had my Mustang, I would go out into the garage every-so-often and wipe down the car with one of my expensive polishing cloths and then stand back and just enjoy it from every angle.  (Hummm… come to think of it… I liked to do that with Piper as well – and she’d just stand there and say “Jim!” and then give me a cute wink and one of her patented gorgeous smiles!)

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if God does the same thing with us!  He’s very proud of us, His kids.  That’s why there are so many words of encouragement from Him to us within the pages of our Bibles!  He prepares us and then sends us out to do His bidding with the knowledge that “We can do everything through Christ who strengthens us.” (Philippians 4:13 God’s Word ©)

I’m looking forward to stepping out for Him… HOW ABOUT YOU?

Have a wonderful weekend... as me and my poofy-haired, very clean dog do the same… and while you're at it… Thank the Lord for everything that He has put in you over the years and get ready to EXPECT God’s best for you (while you give Him, your best!)