Ya Gotta Love March 
Kudos to my old friend Mike McKelvey from seminary who once carefully explained to me that "bone-chilling" cold is colder than cold that chills you, "to the bone." He said that cold temperatures only reaching the bone (to the bone) are less frightening than cold that actually chills the bone. That's right, aside from theology, doctrine, and preaching, men in preparation for ministry often engage in mindless banter.
Mike has a point though, that I came to appreciate this week. It's the first full week of March and in these few days, we've seen a representative sampling of the entire winter. Hey, March in New York is always an adventure.
March paints a picture for me of the human struggle. During this 31 day month, we witness winter taking a last few sucker punches in its dying fight against spring. Fight as it may, the cold dark days of winter inevetably loose the battle against renewal in the spring. We witness the rebirth of living from the dead as trees begin to bud, flowers bloom and brown grass turns to green.
Sin's grip on our life is like winter producing cold, harsh conditions in our hearts. When the Gospel takes hold of our lives it's like a spiritual month of March, bringing in the renewal of our hearts while our sinful nature continues to put up a good fight. As winter gives way to spring, so the Gospel transforms our hearts with the promise of a spring-like renewal.
The other thing about March is that it's the last month I have to live without baseball. That's right, just four weeks before I get to make regular sermonic anecdotes about my beloved New York Mets. After a disappointing post season last year, I'm most anxious for the season to start again.
I do need to cut this blog entry short here. With everything going on surrounding our EasterFest and other spring plans, together with Michael's trip out of town this weekend to gather material for a program we want to offer through the church, I still have a sermon to prepare for Sunday. Pray for me on that one, my prep time is limited this week.
Kudos to my old friend Mike McKelvey from seminary who once carefully explained to me that "bone-chilling" cold is colder than cold that chills you, "to the bone." He said that cold temperatures only reaching the bone (to the bone) are less frightening than cold that actually chills the bone. That's right, aside from theology, doctrine, and preaching, men in preparation for ministry often engage in mindless banter.
Mike has a point though, that I came to appreciate this week. It's the first full week of March and in these few days, we've seen a representative sampling of the entire winter. Hey, March in New York is always an adventure.
March paints a picture for me of the human struggle. During this 31 day month, we witness winter taking a last few sucker punches in its dying fight against spring. Fight as it may, the cold dark days of winter inevetably loose the battle against renewal in the spring. We witness the rebirth of living from the dead as trees begin to bud, flowers bloom and brown grass turns to green.Sin's grip on our life is like winter producing cold, harsh conditions in our hearts. When the Gospel takes hold of our lives it's like a spiritual month of March, bringing in the renewal of our hearts while our sinful nature continues to put up a good fight. As winter gives way to spring, so the Gospel transforms our hearts with the promise of a spring-like renewal.
The other thing about March is that it's the last month I have to live without baseball. That's right, just four weeks before I get to make regular sermonic anecdotes about my beloved New York Mets. After a disappointing post season last year, I'm most anxious for the season to start again.
I do need to cut this blog entry short here. With everything going on surrounding our EasterFest and other spring plans, together with Michael's trip out of town this weekend to gather material for a program we want to offer through the church, I still have a sermon to prepare for Sunday. Pray for me on that one, my prep time is limited this week.
posted by Jack at 4:23 PM
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