RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY, COME ON BACK ANOTHER DAY
As I write this I look outside and it is raining. We have had heavy rain and storms for a few days now. The problem is that the Church Camp is on this weekend. The forecase is for a wet weekend. Though prayer has been known to change the weather forecasts.
I remember many years ago while on holidays we drove through the far western NSW towns of Nyngan, Cobar and Wilcannia. We saw bare dry ground, ravaged by drought and very few native animals. Dry rivers, creeks and dams. Water shortages were so severe that drinking water had to be purchased.
Yet three weeks later as we drove back through these towns we saw lush green grass, pools and puddles of water alongside the road. Native animals eating and active again.
What a difference rain makes to the land. Without rain everything dries up. Crops and grass don’t grow, animals starve and die, dust storms penetrate homes, little or no drinking water is available. People living in this environment are under constant day to day pressure to survive. Some rain falls and all this dramatically changes.
I was reminded that many of us can suffer the crippling effects of a “spiritual drought”. As life goes on, in the busy-ness of the society we live, our time with God is continually being squeezed. The effect can be that we focus more on the world around us than on God our Creator. Our relationship with God then begins to “dry up”. We begin to struggle in our Christian life.
The remedy for this is right at hand – the Bible. The words of God to us. The way we know God and have a relationship with him. Individually reading the bible, working together to understanding what it means for us today and living it out in such a way that we are seen as brothers and sisters in Christ.
The rain in the far west quickly changed the landscape for all to see. Being a Bible based Church joins us with God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe. Taking the Bible seriously will transform us, our Church and our Community.
Your Pastor Wayne.