Remember

Dear Faith Family,

"Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you." (Deuteronomy 32:7)

Ever take things for granted?  You know, like when you flip the light switch, the lights come on.  Or like when you raise a fork full of ribeye, your mouth opens.  Maybe like when the traffic light turns yellow, your foot mysteriously hits the accelerator pedal.

Everything changed and nothing changed.  My wife and I trekked the 800 miles west to visit with her parents.  The main entrance to their house is through the carport, up the stairs, through a doorway, into an open hallway, through the kitchen, and into the main living quarters.  It was forty years ago that in this very place I asked my father-in-law if I could marry his daughter. 

Forty years?!  How have forty years slipped by in just a few short months?  So much has been filed away in the "take for granted" folder in those elusive years!  The relationships.  The experiences.  The ebbs and flows.  Is there any way to access that "take for granted" folder?

In their kitchen through the carport, up the stairs, into the open hallway, and left into the kitchen you'll discover a desk.  On that desk is a computer.  On that computer is a screensaver.  And on that screensaver, you'll find a "take for granted" folder full of pictures from the past.  Many are the moments that we have gathered around that open folder and offered up commentary for each moment captured on film.  "Remember?"

Remember.  That was Moses' word.  Remember.  I know we can't rightly live in the past.  But we do need to slow down long enough to remember.  "Why," might you ask?  At least two reasons.  One.  To honor our God - the One who is faithful!  As you remember, recount His faithfulness - faithful to provide, faithful to protect, faithfully present.

Two.  To tell the next generation of God's faithfulness.  They need to know that God never left you.  They need to know that He was faithfully present even when you didn't recognize His presence.  So, come on in the kitchen.  Pull up a chair.  Open up the "take for granted" folder.  Remember.  And retell the stories of your faithful God.

Remembering and retelling,

Pastor Karl