When God starts a change in our lives, God does a thorough change. God does not want you to improve by 10%, to be a 20% better person.
One day, near the farm, she meets up with a mean, hateful woman who doesn’t like Dorothy’s little dog Toto, so Dorothy returns to the farm, wanting to speak to someone about her hurtful encounter with the old woman.
But no one will listen. Not her Aunt, not her uncle, even none of the farmhands. No one has time to listen to Dorothy tell the story of her bad afternoon.
And so, in the magic of the musical, she sings:
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh, why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow.
Why, oh, why can't I?
(lyrics from the movie The Wizard of Oz)
And then, the tornado, the whirlwind comes.
Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15
Dorothy runs inside the house and is knocked out by debris. And in the movie – we’re not quite sure whether or not it is a real journey – Dorothy and Toto and the house fly off to the brightly colored land of Oz, and color enters our black-and-white world.
And that’s the way the world is, isn’t it?
We live in a dry and dusty, black-and-white world, a world where no one has time to listen to our problems, a world where people hurt us with words, a world where trouble lurks just over the horizon, gathering like a storm to destroy what stability we have – our families, our homes, our work – and the debris of the world comes crashing down on our heads and we are knocked down.
And then?
Do we fly off over the rainbow to another land, a land filled with bluebirds and beautiful flowers and beautiful magical people who always win the battles against evil?
It would be nice, so nice wouldn’t it, if our house would conveniently fall of top of our enemies, squashing them under its weight like the Wicked Witch of the East and allowing us to take those beautiful ruby slippers?
It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if, instead of putting us into jail, the people rewarded us like the Munchkins rewarded Dorothy for destroying evil – even if it was an accident?
And it would be nice, wouldn’t it, if our Scarecrow friends without brains became wise, if our cowardly Lion friends became brave, if our heartless Tin Woodmen friends developed big hearts, and if old con men Wizards stopped pretending to have all the answers and simply admitted that they were just old men filled with fear and trying to find a way home themselves?
But this appears to happen only in Oz, the land over the rainbow, and at the end of the movie – I trust you’ve all seen the movie – Dorothy wakes up in her bed in the farmhouse in Kansas, where everyone is okay and concerned about her and all is right in Kansas – except it is still black-and-white – though now sunny.
Rainbows are special to God, also.
...when God is ready to do something, it’s going to happen...
In ancient times, in our reading, God has finished with the great Flood. He sent water to cover the earth, and has given God’s worshiper Noah instructions – and time – to build the ark to escape the flood with Noah’s wife, sons, and daughters-in-law. God told Noah his plan to send a flood on the earth to kill all the people except Noah’s family. God gave Noah detailed instructions on how to build the ship, how to waterproof the ship, and exactly which animals to load aboard.
And after five months, the ark bumped into something and stuck. The water had gone down enough that they hit a mountain. But there was still nothing but water in sight. It was another two and a half months before land became visible above the water. After 7 and a half months on board the ark, the people could finally see land again.
I know you’ve had some difficult times. I know you’ve had a difficult year. I know things look bad, that nothing is happening, that life is just going to be tough and you’re seasick from all the floodwaters. But God is leading you to the top of a mountain and God will show you the other mountains that you will climb one day if you will just trust in God and have a bit of patience in his plan.
Noah’s journey started on the 17th day of the 2nd month. The surface of the earth was not dry until the first day of the first month. And the mud that was below that crust had not dried until the 27th day of the 2nd month. And all the evil people had been destroyed, leaving just Noah and Noah’s family to start again.
When God starts a change in our lives, God does a thorough change. God does not want you to improve by 10%, to be a 20% better person. God doesn’t want you to become a quarter or a third better. God doesn’t even want you to become half better. God doesn’t want you three-quarters better or even 90 percent better. God wants you to toss away every bit of your old troubled life and become a new person.
Our problem is that we love so much of our old life. Do you love your old life?
Addicts love their old lives, too. They love their chemicals, their short-lived high, they love their friends who provide them with their chemicals. And those chemicals and friendship kill them.
And so Noah built the ark, went into the ark - and Noah came out of the ark and walked upon dry ground again in a world which no longer had wicked people.
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
One day, near the farm, she meets up with a mean, hateful woman who doesn’t like Dorothy’s little dog Toto, so Dorothy returns to the farm, wanting to speak to someone about her hurtful encounter with the old woman.
But no one will listen. Not her Aunt, not her uncle, even none of the farmhands. No one has time to listen to Dorothy tell the story of her bad afternoon.
And so, in the magic of the musical, she sings:
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh, why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow.
Why, oh, why can't I?
(lyrics from the movie The Wizard of Oz)
And then, the tornado, the whirlwind comes.
Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15
Dorothy runs inside the house and is knocked out by debris. And in the movie – we’re not quite sure whether or not it is a real journey – Dorothy and Toto and the house fly off to the brightly colored land of Oz, and color enters our black-and-white world.
And that’s the way the world is, isn’t it?
We live in a dry and dusty, black-and-white world, a world where no one has time to listen to our problems, a world where people hurt us with words, a world where trouble lurks just over the horizon, gathering like a storm to destroy what stability we have – our families, our homes, our work – and the debris of the world comes crashing down on our heads and we are knocked down.
And then?
Do we fly off over the rainbow to another land, a land filled with bluebirds and beautiful flowers and beautiful magical people who always win the battles against evil?
It would be nice, so nice wouldn’t it, if our house would conveniently fall of top of our enemies, squashing them under its weight like the Wicked Witch of the East and allowing us to take those beautiful ruby slippers?
It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if, instead of putting us into jail, the people rewarded us like the Munchkins rewarded Dorothy for destroying evil – even if it was an accident?
And it would be nice, wouldn’t it, if our Scarecrow friends without brains became wise, if our cowardly Lion friends became brave, if our heartless Tin Woodmen friends developed big hearts, and if old con men Wizards stopped pretending to have all the answers and simply admitted that they were just old men filled with fear and trying to find a way home themselves?
But this appears to happen only in Oz, the land over the rainbow, and at the end of the movie – I trust you’ve all seen the movie – Dorothy wakes up in her bed in the farmhouse in Kansas, where everyone is okay and concerned about her and all is right in Kansas – except it is still black-and-white – though now sunny.
Rainbows are special to God, also.
...when God is ready to do something, it’s going to happen...
In ancient times, in our reading, God has finished with the great Flood. He sent water to cover the earth, and has given God’s worshiper Noah instructions – and time – to build the ark to escape the flood with Noah’s wife, sons, and daughters-in-law. God told Noah his plan to send a flood on the earth to kill all the people except Noah’s family. God gave Noah detailed instructions on how to build the ship, how to waterproof the ship, and exactly which animals to load aboard.
Noah worked hard, even though he was over 500 years old, an old man, when his sons were born. Noah listened to his neighbors laugh at him, made the difficult decision to spend his years trusting in God’s plan even on sunny days because Noah believed God when God told Him to build. And then, one day, when Noah was 600 years old, the rain fell. And then, God closed the door and Noah was safe inside with his family.
Has God given you instructions for your life, for what God wants accomplished, for how you are to live your next couple of years? If you’ve been baptized and received the Holy Spirit, God is giving you guidance. The only question is whether or not you are listening to God – or prefer to dance in the rain that is falling in your life, like the unicorns in the old song. So many people prefer rainy days than listening to God speak to them about what to do, what hard work is required, what difficult decisions need to be made. Do you prefer the rain, or would you rather live in a dry ark while God pours the rain down on all those people who would not listen?
We know the story, how God gave Noah a seven day notice, how the animals came to the ark and loaded. Most came in pairs, two by two, but the clean animals, the one’s men and women could eat – they came in groups of 14, seven pairs, enough for plenty of food for the people. We know how it rained for forty days and nights, and how the ark floated away. The floodwaters lasted 5 months – 150 days – after the rains stopped, and the ark continued to float. And God took care of the ark and the people and animals inside it. God always takes care of his people.
Sometimes you get a bit of notice from God to “Get ready!” We’ve seen that over the years, I’ll tell you more about it later. We have to be ready when God tells us to get ready, He’s going to do something, for when God is ready to do something, it’s going to happen – are you ready, are you looking forward to what God is going to do or are you worried about what God’s going to do? The answer should depend on whether or not you’ve been sent to the ark or whether you’re going to be swimming, and if you’ve chosen to follow Jesus, you are being sent to the ark.
But there are people who God speaks to and they don’t listen. Yes, they’ve accepted Jesus as their Savior. Yes, they’ve been baptized with water and received the Holy Spirit. But they have been walking around in the mud of this world so much that they can’t hear the Holy Spirit telling them that the flood is coming because they prefer to slog around in the mud and the rain of the world and it covers up the still, small voice of God.
Has God given you instructions for your life, for what God wants accomplished, for how you are to live your next couple of years? If you’ve been baptized and received the Holy Spirit, God is giving you guidance. The only question is whether or not you are listening to God – or prefer to dance in the rain that is falling in your life, like the unicorns in the old song. So many people prefer rainy days than listening to God speak to them about what to do, what hard work is required, what difficult decisions need to be made. Do you prefer the rain, or would you rather live in a dry ark while God pours the rain down on all those people who would not listen?
We know the story, how God gave Noah a seven day notice, how the animals came to the ark and loaded. Most came in pairs, two by two, but the clean animals, the one’s men and women could eat – they came in groups of 14, seven pairs, enough for plenty of food for the people. We know how it rained for forty days and nights, and how the ark floated away. The floodwaters lasted 5 months – 150 days – after the rains stopped, and the ark continued to float. And God took care of the ark and the people and animals inside it. God always takes care of his people.
Sometimes you get a bit of notice from God to “Get ready!” We’ve seen that over the years, I’ll tell you more about it later. We have to be ready when God tells us to get ready, He’s going to do something, for when God is ready to do something, it’s going to happen – are you ready, are you looking forward to what God is going to do or are you worried about what God’s going to do? The answer should depend on whether or not you’ve been sent to the ark or whether you’re going to be swimming, and if you’ve chosen to follow Jesus, you are being sent to the ark.
But there are people who God speaks to and they don’t listen. Yes, they’ve accepted Jesus as their Savior. Yes, they’ve been baptized with water and received the Holy Spirit. But they have been walking around in the mud of this world so much that they can’t hear the Holy Spirit telling them that the flood is coming because they prefer to slog around in the mud and the rain of the world and it covers up the still, small voice of God.
After the rain in our lives stops, there is a period of time when we have to survive, when we have to last, when we have to trust God that God has a recovery plan.
Did you listen to God? Did you make the hard decision to do the hard work and build your ark – or did you decide to walk in the sunshine until the mud and the rain came, and now you can’t hear what God is saying to you, you can’t hear because of the rain pounding at you, the mud that’s dragging you down, the floodwaters that are right now rushing at you?
Those people in that day – they didn’t all drown that first day of rain. No, many of them ran for higher ground. But the rain kept coming. They ran for still higher ground. The rain kept coming down and the water kept coming up!
Some ran for the mountains, some found a little rowboat or a canoe or went and stood on their house roofs. And the rain kept coming down and the water kept coming up and it covered the roofs of their homes, and it covered the mountains, and the rain kept coming into the little rowboats and canoes and the people realized that they might not drown in their little rowboats and canoes, but they were going to starve to death because they had no food with them. Because unlike the ark, which had seven pair of each clean animal, the animals that could be eaten – those little rowboats and canoes didn’t have food. God had provided for his people. And the rain eventually stopped after forty days – almost five weeks of solid rain.
The ark floated on the water for a hundred and fifty days, five months. God didn’t speak to Noah or his family. God didn’t give them updates on the weather. They just had to wait, trusting in God, looking out the window at the water that surrounded them – no internet, no television, not even books were aboard. I personally think that that was when playing cards were invented...
No, I’m sure there was plenty of work on board with all those animals there, food to prepare, minor leaks to plug.
After the rain in our lives stops, there is a period of time when we have to survive, when we have to last, when we have to trust God that God has a recovery plan. And we have to wait. We have to wait on God.
Those people in that day – they didn’t all drown that first day of rain. No, many of them ran for higher ground. But the rain kept coming. They ran for still higher ground. The rain kept coming down and the water kept coming up!
Some ran for the mountains, some found a little rowboat or a canoe or went and stood on their house roofs. And the rain kept coming down and the water kept coming up and it covered the roofs of their homes, and it covered the mountains, and the rain kept coming into the little rowboats and canoes and the people realized that they might not drown in their little rowboats and canoes, but they were going to starve to death because they had no food with them. Because unlike the ark, which had seven pair of each clean animal, the animals that could be eaten – those little rowboats and canoes didn’t have food. God had provided for his people. And the rain eventually stopped after forty days – almost five weeks of solid rain.
The ark floated on the water for a hundred and fifty days, five months. God didn’t speak to Noah or his family. God didn’t give them updates on the weather. They just had to wait, trusting in God, looking out the window at the water that surrounded them – no internet, no television, not even books were aboard. I personally think that that was when playing cards were invented...
No, I’m sure there was plenty of work on board with all those animals there, food to prepare, minor leaks to plug.
After the rain in our lives stops, there is a period of time when we have to survive, when we have to last, when we have to trust God that God has a recovery plan. And we have to wait. We have to wait on God.
And after five months, the ark bumped into something and stuck. The water had gone down enough that they hit a mountain. But there was still nothing but water in sight. It was another two and a half months before land became visible above the water. After 7 and a half months on board the ark, the people could finally see land again.
I know you’ve had some difficult times. I know you’ve had a difficult year. I know things look bad, that nothing is happening, that life is just going to be tough and you’re seasick from all the floodwaters. But God is leading you to the top of a mountain and God will show you the other mountains that you will climb one day if you will just trust in God and have a bit of patience in his plan.
Noah’s journey started on the 17th day of the 2nd month. The surface of the earth was not dry until the first day of the first month. And the mud that was below that crust had not dried until the 27th day of the 2nd month. And all the evil people had been destroyed, leaving just Noah and Noah’s family to start again.
When God starts a change in our lives, God does a thorough change. God does not want you to improve by 10%, to be a 20% better person. God doesn’t want you to become a quarter or a third better. God doesn’t even want you to become half better. God doesn’t want you three-quarters better or even 90 percent better. God wants you to toss away every bit of your old troubled life and become a new person.
Our problem is that we love so much of our old life. Do you love your old life?
Addicts love their old lives, too. They love their chemicals, their short-lived high, they love their friends who provide them with their chemicals. And those chemicals and friendship kill them.
- What do you love about your old life that God wants to wash away? What is killing you?
- Do you love being angry?
- Do you love hating certain people or politics or companies?
- Do you love those man-and-woman made objects around you, those trinkets, those movies, those television shows, those sports? Are they slowly putting you to sleep, a slow death?
- Do you love having money to spend, your job, your home? Are they lulling you into a belief that the sunny days will continue forever, that the rain and flood will never come and wash you away?
And so Noah built the ark, went into the ark - and Noah came out of the ark and walked upon dry ground again in a world which no longer had wicked people.
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Notice how many times God repeats the message about the covenant, a contract between God and people and all living things.
In the original Hebrew, the word our Bible has translated as “rainbow” is qesheth. (keh'-sheth).
Qesheth simply means “bow”, as in a hunter’s bow, a weapon. God leaves his great bow, his great weapon in the sky. God has put it up and is not hunting. He is at peace. Yet, God has a great weapon that can destroy the earth and the people if God were to change God's mind.
You may have noticed, it is after the storm that the rainbow appears. It is only after the storm that we are able to see God’s reminder to us of his promise – not before the storm. Why do you think that is so?
I think it is because God want’s us to remember His promises as the storm is coming toward us, to remember for the long term. We are to look at the storm barreling down upon us and say, “Don’t worry, God’s rainbow is on the other side. God promises to not destroy the world in a storm with water again. Don’t worry. God loves us. “
And then afterwards, there is the rainbow to drive home the lesson.
So just because you can’t see the rainbow before the storm – or in the storm – remember that the rainbow will be there after the storm. God’s got it. God knows the storm is there.
The Apostle Peter survived many storms in his life, including the one that weekend when Christ was crucified. Peter wrote
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
Where were these spirits imprisoned? In Hell. Christ literally went through Hell for you and me and the folks that were disobedient before the Flood came.
Peter continues: In it [the ark] only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.
Our baptism changes our conscience and makes us right with God.
And the water does more, as Peter says:
It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Somewhere over the rainbow, Christ is waiting on us.
I promised to tell you a bit about how God sends us notice of changes.
When we were living in a home in Atlanta once, things were getting a bit rough in the neighborhood. A woman who was an active pagan worshipper lived in the cul-de-sac, and a gang of teens had begun to party there almost every night. Fights were breaking out, and we were becoming concerned about stray bullets flying into our home – But we were also wondering, is this a place to minister?
Saundra went to a meeting where the leader gave a talk based upon Isaiah 40:31
...but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
The speake focused upon the eagles and how the mother builds a safe, comfortable nest for her baby eagles, even plucking out her chest down to make a nice, soft nest. Then, when the eagles are ready to leave the nest, she removed the down and everything soft from the nest so the nest is just a collection of prickly twigs and it becomes uncomfortable. In this way the eaglets begin to move to the edge of the nest and eventually fall and fly away.
Saundra was listening to this intently. Was there a message for her? The women then said, “If your nest is uncomfortable, maybe it is time for you to fly!”
Saundra came home in tears and told me this, and within two weeks, we’d found a new home and moved in.
Then, a few years later, we were in Atlanta when another pastor preached on the same passage from Isaiah, and once again focused upon eagles. Within two weeks we were living in Marietta, OH after a successful house closing.
In Williamstown, Pastor Steve Gedon preached about the eagles, and a couple weeks later I received an appointment to two churches near St. Marys.
It seems that this is how God gives us notice of changes in our lives. Be alert – look to how God and the Holy Spirit are guiding you toward changes.
Noah was tipped off to changes outside the ark by his birds. First he sent out a raven which just flew back and forth over the water and returned. Then a dove flew out and returned since it could not find a place to land. Then, the dove came back with an olive branch, which told Noah the trees were still living, and now were uncovered. Then the dove left for good, meaning dry land was there. Be alert to the signs God sends us.
And then, two weeks ago, on Pioneer Club Sunday, the passage just came up as one of the readings. One of the children read the passage about eagles. Saundra and I also listened to T D Jakes preach a sermon on eagles. Saundra remarked – “eagles? Hm.”
And Sunday night, Mary Ellen Finegan, the District Superintendent, called me and said, “It is the intention of the Bishop to appoint you to Calvary and Mt Clare charge, effective the first of July of this year. “ So I'll be moving on to a new set of churches.
And so, let me close with this passage from Isaiah 40:
...but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
And, may I say,
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow.
Why, oh, why can't I?
In the original Hebrew, the word our Bible has translated as “rainbow” is qesheth. (keh'-sheth).
Qesheth simply means “bow”, as in a hunter’s bow, a weapon. God leaves his great bow, his great weapon in the sky. God has put it up and is not hunting. He is at peace. Yet, God has a great weapon that can destroy the earth and the people if God were to change God's mind.
You may have noticed, it is after the storm that the rainbow appears. It is only after the storm that we are able to see God’s reminder to us of his promise – not before the storm. Why do you think that is so?
I think it is because God want’s us to remember His promises as the storm is coming toward us, to remember for the long term. We are to look at the storm barreling down upon us and say, “Don’t worry, God’s rainbow is on the other side. God promises to not destroy the world in a storm with water again. Don’t worry. God loves us. “
And then afterwards, there is the rainbow to drive home the lesson.
So just because you can’t see the rainbow before the storm – or in the storm – remember that the rainbow will be there after the storm. God’s got it. God knows the storm is there.
The Apostle Peter survived many storms in his life, including the one that weekend when Christ was crucified. Peter wrote
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
Where were these spirits imprisoned? In Hell. Christ literally went through Hell for you and me and the folks that were disobedient before the Flood came.
Peter continues: In it [the ark] only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.
Our baptism changes our conscience and makes us right with God.
And the water does more, as Peter says:
It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Somewhere over the rainbow, Christ is waiting on us.
I promised to tell you a bit about how God sends us notice of changes.
When we were living in a home in Atlanta once, things were getting a bit rough in the neighborhood. A woman who was an active pagan worshipper lived in the cul-de-sac, and a gang of teens had begun to party there almost every night. Fights were breaking out, and we were becoming concerned about stray bullets flying into our home – But we were also wondering, is this a place to minister?
Saundra went to a meeting where the leader gave a talk based upon Isaiah 40:31
...but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
The speake focused upon the eagles and how the mother builds a safe, comfortable nest for her baby eagles, even plucking out her chest down to make a nice, soft nest. Then, when the eagles are ready to leave the nest, she removed the down and everything soft from the nest so the nest is just a collection of prickly twigs and it becomes uncomfortable. In this way the eaglets begin to move to the edge of the nest and eventually fall and fly away.
Saundra was listening to this intently. Was there a message for her? The women then said, “If your nest is uncomfortable, maybe it is time for you to fly!”
Saundra came home in tears and told me this, and within two weeks, we’d found a new home and moved in.
Then, a few years later, we were in Atlanta when another pastor preached on the same passage from Isaiah, and once again focused upon eagles. Within two weeks we were living in Marietta, OH after a successful house closing.
In Williamstown, Pastor Steve Gedon preached about the eagles, and a couple weeks later I received an appointment to two churches near St. Marys.
It seems that this is how God gives us notice of changes in our lives. Be alert – look to how God and the Holy Spirit are guiding you toward changes.
Noah was tipped off to changes outside the ark by his birds. First he sent out a raven which just flew back and forth over the water and returned. Then a dove flew out and returned since it could not find a place to land. Then, the dove came back with an olive branch, which told Noah the trees were still living, and now were uncovered. Then the dove left for good, meaning dry land was there. Be alert to the signs God sends us.
And then, two weeks ago, on Pioneer Club Sunday, the passage just came up as one of the readings. One of the children read the passage about eagles. Saundra and I also listened to T D Jakes preach a sermon on eagles. Saundra remarked – “eagles? Hm.”
And Sunday night, Mary Ellen Finegan, the District Superintendent, called me and said, “It is the intention of the Bishop to appoint you to Calvary and Mt Clare charge, effective the first of July of this year. “ So I'll be moving on to a new set of churches.
And so, let me close with this passage from Isaiah 40:
...but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
And, may I say,
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow.
Why, oh, why can't I?
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