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ps from ps: This box of keys in the photo is from St. Paul’s. It’s all the keys to all the doors in the entire building. An old building. With a lot of different doors and locks. Some changing multiple times over the years. Without the old keys being tossed. Dozens and dozens of keys. Luckily years age a Master List was created that told you what number key went to what corresponding door. Perfect! And then the Master List disappeared. Less perfect. So now there’s just a box of keys with no real connections or directions to which lock they fit into. The keys are all there. But figuring out which one goes where is a huge and frustrating challenge. I don’t know about your faith life, but mine often feels like this box of random keys. Messy. Frustrating. And sometimes feeling like you’ve lost the Master List to figure out the key to a lock…in life. I pray for peace in Ukraine…..and yet the war drags on. We work hard to teach kids to be smart and safe….and then car accidents happen. We struggle through a pandemic and finally can return to a more normal routine and movement…..and now gas prices and inflation make our dollars and time less effective and fluid. Sometimes it feels like you’re staring at a box of keys but just can’t quite figure out where they fit. How do we navigate through the confusion? Paul said to one of his churches: Stand firm. Stand firm in the face of all of it. Stand firm in the confusion. Stand firm on the solid ground of God’s faith in us. Stand firm on the solid ground in God’s gift of faith for us. He reminds that church that there will be people and events and evil and distractions and life that occurs, making it feel as if the Master List is missing. Even so he says, stand firm. The keys are still there. Even when it’s hard to figure out what things…in life…they unlock. We probably need to hear his message again today for this church too. Keep praying. Keep loving. Keep teaching. Keep struggling. The keys are there! Stand firm. Lord, remind us in all we face today to continue standing firm . Amen Be well, safe and blessed! ps |