As the weather becomes more appealing, have you noticed the beauty of the greenery around our valley? The fields on the way toward Pendleton are a sea of green carpet laid by the Creator God for our admiration and enjoyment. The trees in Walla Walla near Pioneer Park are budding with their beautiful white flowers of glory. The air seems pregnant with joy and anticipation!
Spring is in the air! And in our valley, it is evident that this time of the year is before us. What makes this time of the year great is the beauty we behold as…what was dead, lives again! And the life that it bears allows our minds to bask in the fruit of pure beauty. I have realized that things that die in nature during the winter live again. Now, I realize not all things die and live again, but most things do.
I am reminded of the beauty of these words penned hundreds of years ago, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)… - Eph. 2:1-5.
Each and every one of us has a past in this world that has made us dead in trespasses. But now, in Christ, we are saved by His Grace and empowered to live a different life. One in which others can see the beauty that lies in the change wrought by God Himself…when we allow and desire it to be so. May you this Sabbath receive that which God so eagerly desires for you…His change, His transformation for your life!
Pastor Howard Tello