My message this week has been inspired by some life cycles.  I have been contemplating God's faithfulness and the evidence of His attention to our lives.  The Lord is gracious and compassionate, always drawing us closer so that we can see life through His eyes.  He uses everything we experience to strengthen our understanding of His amazing love for us and what it means to live in the Kingdom of Light.  He loves all of creation and has set times and seasons for each. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)  Changing  seasons are meant to give us unique encounters with different aspects of the Lord's character.
 
Three years of marriage to my wonderful husband, Jac, is worth celebrating and thanking the Lord for His goodness.  We decided to do so by taking a trip to Bushkill Falls in the Poconos.  One cannot travel this time of year without being in awe of God's creation.  Hillsides full of evergreens and deciduous trees bearing leaves of golden yellow, rust, red and brown are like painted pictures that take your breath away.  It was only seven months ago that the trees were beginning to push out their new leaves for the season.  Quickly the leaves matured so that they could fulfill their God-given purpose—to supply food for the plants through photosynthesis.  Having completed their job, the leaves give us a final gift by going out in a blaze of glory.  What a blessing it is to live through these cycles of life!
 
As my husband and I walked through the forest at Bushkill Falls, we were delighted by a native, multi-stemmed shrub that does things differently than most others.  The Common Witch Hazel is native to the moist soil of the PA woodlands and is growing in abundance at the side of the waterfalls.  They display their yellow, spider-like flowers in the fall along with their yellow leaves, looking quite beautiful next to the bold, green leaves of the native rhododendron. God surely does have beauty for every season. Listening to the sound of the waterfalls and seeing the clear water splashing down on the rocks reminded us of Psalm 42:7-8.  "Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and breakers have swept over me.  By day, the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life.”
 
We came home filled with awe and wonder at the magnificence of God and the precision by which He orders the seasons of the earth.  However, we were about to experience the completion of another life cycle.  Sixteen years ago, my daughter, Laura, told me about a skinny cat she saw who was eating out of her college dumpster. She begged me to allow her to bring the cat home for adoption.  Not wanting the responsibility of caring for an animal, I directly said "No!"  God had other plans.  That night He gave me a dream in which I was holding a gray cat with gold eyes.  I heard Him say, "I want you to adopt the cat." Waking up, I started a conversation with God that went like this:  "Why would you ask me to adopt a cat who I do not want?"  "Because, through this cat I will show you beauty for ashes.  I will take the ashes of your life and transform them into something beautiful."  I told Laura that I wanted to see the cat.  Of course, she was the cat that God showed me in my dreams.  We named her Cinder.  After taking her to the vet for de-worming and cleaning, she joined me at my condo and became my constant companion.  
 
I have no regrets. Cinder was faithful to greet me at the top of the stairs every time I came home.  In her early years, she would amuse me by doing "calisthenics" on the open staircase.  She loved to sleep next to me on the bed until my husband joined us.  Jac would joke with me and say, "Beauty has arrived.  It is time for ashes to go."  Cinder's season of life came to an end on Friday.  She had been losing weight and struggling with bad health.  I delayed the inevitable.  Thursday night God gave me another dream.  It was time for Cinder's life to end.  Even though the vet told us we were doing the best thing for Cinder, my heart broke.  I am grateful for the years I had with her.
 
Seasons come and go.  There is beauty and ashes.  And, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." (V. 11)  An artist by the name of Josh Baldwin recently wrote a song that seems appropriate to repeat.  Here is part of it:   "All throughout my history, Your faithfulness has walked beside me.  The winter storms made way for spring in every season from where I'm standing. I see the evidence of Your goodness, all over my life, all over my life.  I see Your promises in fulfillment, all over my life, all over my life."  Let us remember that no matter what season we are living in, God is by our sides orchestrating events, changing times and seasons, and drawing us closer to Him.  What more could we ask for?

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has been the mainstay of the organization Samaritan's Purse. They have delivered 178 million shoeboxes to 170 countries and territories in that time.  Every shoebox contains gifts and a few essentials for day-to-day life.  Most important, however, is the telling of the Gospel to the children who receive the boxes.  Each child is invited to participate in discipleship classes called "The Greatest Journey."
 
A pastor in Guam told those who visited his island with shoeboxes, "We're seeing salvation come not just to one or two children, but to families through Operation Christmas Child."  Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."  (Luke 18:16-17)  God knew that the joy and faith of children would have an impact on those around them.  So, these boxes given to children have the potential to transform entire families.  Here is another exciting fact written about in the newsletter:  "Over the past two years, God has used this project to plant more than 2,000 churches in 73 countries."  Wow!!
 
The focus of this month's newsletter from Samaritan's Purse is testimonies of children and adults who received or gave shoeboxes.  One young man from a kingdom in southern Africa called Lesotho lost both his parents and grandmother by the time he was 11 years old.  This sad and lonely little boy was encouraged through receiving the gift of a shoebox and by hearing the Gospel at a local church.  Years later he reports that he still carries the comb that was in his shoebox.  Here is his testimony:  "It is a reminder that God knows my needs.  Even the little things can bring joy.  God used the shoebox to give me hope and to fill my brokenness.  I had a desire to know Him more, and I surrendered my life to Him.  Today, I have eternal life in Christ because of His love for me."
 
There is a 24-year old woman named Amanda in Pennsylvania who is packing almost 1,000 shoeboxes this year.  The number of boxes is amazing in itself, but what is more amazing is that she packs the boxes from her wheelchair.  She believes in prayer and prays for each child who will receive a gift from her.  She said, "I want them to feel loved and know that Jesus is the reason we packed them."
 
From the impoverished nation of Burundi came a thank you note sent by one of the church workers:  "As I think of those who are packing the boxes, frankly I have tears in my eyes.  How can someone from a different continent think of someone on another continent in Africa?  All I can do is pray for them, that the Lord will continue to cover them with His love—each one who packs boxes.  Some day we will all rejoice together when one day the Lord says, 'Well done, my faithful servant.'  That will be you, that will be me, and we will rejoice in this work."
 
Franklin Graham, the organization's leader, says, "Many are desperately looking for comfort and peace, and we want to do all we can to help them find eternal hope in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I'm thankful that God has given us a simple yet powerful way to do this—by packing shoebox gifts for Operation Christmas Child, sending them overseas in the name of Jesus, and handing them out to millions of children through our global church network."  "Shoebox gifts can go to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8)—even places that missionaries can't reach right now.  Operation Christmas Child is a global missions opportunity that can be done safely at home...I hope that you and your church have already started packing shoebox gifts this year.  Remember that the most important thing you can put into a shoebox is your prayers."
 
More details about this vital ministry can be found on their website at samaritanspurse.org/occ.  Why not help by packing a shoebox, donating money and/or praying?

​We can read the prescribed way that the leaders of Israel were to take a census in Exodus 30:11-12. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted.  Then no plague will come on them when you number them.'"  Here is the bottom line:  God wanted His people to trust Him in all things.  The small ransom required (a half shekel) was to support the service of the Tent of Meeting and became part of the Israelite worship of God.  When King David made plans to take a census of the fighting men in his ranks without collecting the half shekel, Joab, the commander of the army, asked him, "Why does my lord want to do this?  Why should he bring guilt on Israel?" (1 Chronicles 21:3)  Joab was overruled and spent nine months and 20 days counting the troops.  After receiving the report, David was conscience-stricken.  "And he said to the Lord, 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done.  Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant.  I have done a very foolish thing.’" (2 Samuel 24:10) However, the Lord's anger rose, and He instructed David's seer, Gad to tell him the ramifications of his action.
 
It is interesting to note that God gave David the opportunity to select the punishment for Israel.  His choices were three years of famine in the land, or three months of fleeing from Israel's enemies, or three days of plague.  David told Gad, "Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men." (2 Samuel 24:14)  The plague in Israel took 70,000 lives.  When the angel of the Lord was about to ravage Jerusalem, the Lord became so distressed that he said, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." (1 Chronicles 21:15)
 
We must remember that Jerusalem was at the heart of God's plans for HIs people.  The angel of death was stopped at the very site where God wanted the temple to be built—the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.  David told him that he would like to purchase the threshing floor so that he could build an altar of sacrifice to the Lord to stop the plague.  Araunah generously offered to give David the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering.  Here is David's reply:  "No, I insist on paying full price.  I will not take for the Lord what is yours or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing." (1 Chronicles 21:24)  David paid for the site and sacrificed burnt and fellowship offerings to God.  As he called on Him, "The Lord answered him with fire from heaven." 
(1 Chronicles 21:26)
 
It is the place of costly sacrifice where the fire of God falls and destruction ends.  It is the place where God's mercy is poured out, and we position ourselves for the future.  There is much significance to the site God chose for David’s costly sacrifice.   It is Mt. Moriah, whose name means "seen by Jehovah." 
Our heavenly Father sees us through the lens of our destiny.  If we look back to Abraham, we see that God selected David’s altar for another costly sacrifice.  Abraham was instructed to take his only son, Isaac, to Mt. Moriah where he would lay him on the altar as a sacrifice.  His willingness to trust God to make good on His promise gave Abraham the faith he needed to bind Isaac to the altar.  Both Abraham and David saw God's judgment and mercy meet on Mt. Moriah, the site God had chosen for the temple to be built before time began.  Indeed, shortly after David had his encounter with the Lord, he began to make preparations for the building of the Temple on this holy land.  He said, "The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel." (1 Chronicles 22:1)
 
Does what happened to David and the people of Israel have any significance for us today?  Here are the results of my contemplations:  (1) I believe that The United States of America has been ordained by God as a godly nation whose purpose is to worship Him, to show other nations the generosity of God through blessing them with costly sacrifices, and to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. (2) I believe that God is grieved by the way we have pulled away from our godly roots, established by our forefathers.  Our habit of counting our resources instead of trusting in the Lord must be put to an end. (3) I believe we could experience the mercy of God being poured out upon us if we laid costly sacrifices before Him.  Would our  investments in Kingdom ministries and fervent prayers for revival catch His attention?  I think so!  Oh God, "Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in You?  Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation." (Psalm 85:6-7 - NKJV)

​During the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles the Israelites cut branches from three different trees--the palm, the myrtle, and the willow.  The branches were an integral part of their celebration that included remembering their wilderness journey.  According to Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, the people were reminded of the desert plains by the palms, the desert mountains by the myrtle, and the desert brooks that gave them water by the willow.  Yearly, the Jews celebrate the journey of life as they remember the wilderness times that led them to the Promised Land.
 
The Feast of Tabernacles is a celebration of the harvest and a time of remembering God's provision and protection in the wilderness.  It is referred to as "The Feast" because it is the culmination of all the Biblical holy days and is a time to meet with God.  It actually points toward the culmination of God's redemptive plan and represents the final stage of His plan of salvation.  The Feast is a fore-shadow of the millennial kingdom.  The prophet Zechariah tells us that "The Feast" or Sukkot, will be celebrated in the millennial kingdom:  "Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, The Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.  If any of the people of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.  If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain.  The Lord will bring on them the plague He inflicts on the nations that do not celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles." (Zechariah 14:16-18)
 
The feasts of the Lord were appointed by God before Jesus was born.  We can read how they were celebrated in the Old Testament.  However, they would have lacked authority because they were not celebrated under the authority of the name of Jesus.  Now, we can see Jesus revealed in the feasts.  We must look forward to that day when He returns as a triumphant King on a white horse. (Revelation 19:11)  Believers from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue will worship Him, waving palm branches before Him.
 
Do not miss the significance of the week of celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles; it is rich in symbolism. Contemplating these times appointed by God can bring us into a deeper communion with Him.  We must celebrate our journey of life.  The wilderness is a symbol for our life on earth now, and the Promised Land is a symbol of heaven.  That is our goal!  Rabbi Cahn says, "Remember, in heaven, you will give thanks for the heavenly road you're walking on right now, on your way to the Promised Land."
 
Why not pause and reflect on your journey during this season?  Life is full of struggles, sorrows, and disappointments along with times of joy, fruit bearing, and harvest.  God's plan for us is written about in John 15:8. "This is my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit..."  The journey is meant to strengthen us and point us in the direction of our ultimate destination—Heaven!  Let us meet with the Lord during this kairos (opportune or strategic) time at the table He sets for us.  It is time to feast with Him as we look for His victorious return!