“See, I am doing a new thing!” – God

It is Sunday morning, November 8th. Out on my deck, where I just finished a mug of coffee, it is 56-degrees and the sun is beginning to backlight the gorgeous fall colors that are emerging in response to the change of seasons.

I have been contemplating the scripture that Rebekah will be preaching on (10:00) and that – also – my Sunday school class will be discussing today. It’s from Isaiah 43 (18-19) and it goes like this:

Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland. – Isaiah 43

So this morning, watching the edge of the world roll around and draw all of us toward the early sunlight, I want to invite us to be grateful to God for this new day, and to move without fear into the gift of today.

Oh, and by the way, I went back and read the beginning of that chapter too. Here – in words of deep reassurance – is how God gets this part of the conversation going:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…”
– Isaiah 43

I have called you by name, you are mine!!!

Let’s clam that amazing truth and live into it!

In love, and because of love – God’s love through Jesus – DEREK