Verse:
“When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
Thought:
Stacks and stacks, all about, this is what my office still looked like. It was time to
face a hard truth, I needed to get rid of some of my stuff. The question was two fold; what to get rid of and where
to put the things I would keep. It is so funny how one beat up old book can bring back such memories, how a messy sheet
of paper can hold the key to future dreams and passions of the past. How can gifts gifts have the power to stop you
dead in your tracks? I'll tell you, it is the memory you you created, that moment in time that connected your heart
and head to the item or the place, the person or the idea. Last year I spent a week on a cattle drive, aches, pain,
cold nights, missing my family, yet I was approached to do it again and my heart
leapt. Not out of fear or angst, but
out of excitement that Maybe, just maybe there would be a repeat performance. The memories of that week were powerful
and will last, in fact, each time I see my hat, my coat, canteen, chinqs and boots, I am taken back to Kansas and Oklahoma.
This past week, I hit my office, with some help, and got rid of a lot, but with each touch or glance I was taken back to a
moment in time, taken back to a story and forced to stop. There is power in memories. There are the memories which cause
us to shutter with fear. As a child it might have been a bad experience at the Doctor's office, scary movies or embarrassing
moments. These experiences began to shape us, just as the positive experiences took hold and shape us. Even today, we go into
situation after situation, and either consciously or sub consciously, our thoughts go to something that we have experienced
before and our mind begins to process the experience and outcome over again. It is a time where we reconnect.
Hear the Good News, when we remember God and all He has done for us, we re-connect to another time and another
story. My Bible, the NRSV, has the word remember 156 times in the Old and New Testaments. Not the most
repetitive word in
the Bible, but certainly used quite often, this word tells a story. "Remember God's Faithfulness", "remember when we were
lost", "Remember who you are". The truth is life is a memory, it is the sum total of life lived, but what we do with that
life and how it is used is what sets us apart from another. It is our life which allows us to not only share our story, but
possibly lead and guide another along a path that has been traveled before. Our scriptures lead us not to the places spoken
of in Star Trek intros, but to places others have gone before. Dear friends life is faith shared, stories shared, love shared.
And. before you begin to believe your life is a little more than exciting and powerful than an earthworm tilling through the
rich soil, remember one, that the soil is rich because of the worm, and two, the world would be different without you, it would
be less. Remember, there is no junk in the world, just things that have less of a memory than others, and God has wonderful
things in store for you. Live life as a treasure, love others as a treasure, that in the end your memories are golden, alive and
full of love and grace.
Prayer:
Gracious God, You have remembered me my whole life, yet at times I forget about You, forgive me please. I love You, I really do and I do believe You have a special purpose and task for me in this world. Continue to enrich my life with experiences of Your love and grace. Help me to share my life with others that more may know You. I thank You for all You have done in my life and all You will continue to do, for I come to You through Jesus Christ, my Lord, my Savior! Amen.
Grace & Peace
David Banks
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