May nearly always bring thoughts of May Day to mind, and with those thoughts come recollections of Soviet parades of military might, now just memories and only for those of us who are older than 20. For the Soviet Union is no more, and their celebrations and their trophies of the ultimate triumph of the state and the good of man have been proven to be nothing but a pipe dream, and a bad one at that.

But that makes me think of the trophies we all have, the things we all celebrate. In my half-century of life I have collected one trophy: for an all–school math game/contest when I was in ninth grade. Many of you have lots of trophies, some of you none. But, then again, all of us have “trophies?” What are yours? By that I mean, what are your accomplishments? What are you most proud of? On this May Day in your life, what would you parade before men? Are those not your “trophies?”

The Apostle Paul speaks to that idea in two ways. First, he speaks of his trophies as his weaknesses. What he parades before men are his weaknesses. No, I am serious! In 2 Corinthians 12.9, he says, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.” He does so because what he desires above anything else in life is Christ’s glory, and Christ is glorified most when Paul is weak, when everyone sees Paul’s weaknesses and Christ’s grace and strength enabling Paul to serve him anyway. Imagine that! Paul’s trophies are his weaknesses! Man, I’d never display mine as trophies… would you? But isn’t that what Christ wants of us?

The second way Paul speaks of his trophies has to do with the prize toward which he works: the crown, or crowns, Christ will give him when He comes again, or when Paul goes to be with Him. He calls it the “crown of righteousness” that is “laid up for him,” (2 Timothy 4.8.) In Philippians 3.14, he says that he “presses on toward the goal” of that prize. He works at fulfilling the call of God on his life so as to qualify for and win that prize. For Paul, the trophy is a future crown given by Christ to His faithful servants.

So, let me ask you again: what are you most proud of? What are your trophies? What do you display before men? Is it something that will pass away like the military might of the Soviets? Or is it something that will last forever, like the crown of righteousness, the grace of Christ at work within you producing something of eternal consequence? What are you working toward? Now that’s something to think about!

- Pastor Jim

There is an interesting irony this month. March, named for the Roman god of war, Mars, (until 750 B.C., the first month in the Roman calendar-I guess the Romans thought war the most important thing to schedule first), is also the birth month of the Peace Corps.� On March 1, 1961 President John F. Kennedy started that organization.� What a fascinating concurrence, an organization dedicated to the service of others in he name of peace, started in the month named for war.

On the other hand, according to Exodus 12.2, the first month for the Jews was to be the month of Passover, the month of remembering God’s deliverance from slavery to Egypt, a prefiguring of God’s delivering us from our slavery to sin.� The first month was a picture of war in one sense, God’s war against sin and the gods of this world, (think of the ten plagues in Egypt), and a picture of peace on the other, the peace that God brought about for and with His people in delivering them from Egypt and sin and calling them to Himself, to His worship, and to the place He had prepared for them.

My point is simply this: God placed war and peace in a juxtaposition in the first month in His calendar for us to understand the importance of His and our war against sin and especially the importance of His purchasing peace in the blood of the true Passover Lamb:� the Lord Jesus Christ.� That the celebration of Passover is no longer in the first month, and that it does not always occur in March, but often occurs in April does not lessen the significance.

We need to appreciate and remember that in this world, every day of the calendar means war for the Christian, a never-ending war against sin and its strangle-hold on us.� But the really good news, and the really important thing to remember, again every day of the calendar, is that Jesus won that war on Calvary and purchased our peace with Himself: we are free from sin and victors over sin, daily.

So, this month when you look at the calendar, reflect on the irony:� March, named for a pagan god of war, and the birth month of the Peace Corps.� And then reflect on the compound irony:� God, the God of peace uses such ironies in our world to remind us of His war that purchased our peace, in this month and every month.� You think about that.� And praise the God of war and peace.

It’s February. It’s Spring! I know—you think I’m nuts! No, I’m not thinking of the southern hemisphere—it’s the equivalent of August and summer down there. No, I’m thinking major league baseball, when pitchers report to spring training in February, so it must be Spring, right?

Similar thoughts must have gone through the minds of the disciples when Jesus, fours months before the harvest, said, “It’s harvest time!” (See John 4.35.) But it’s all a matter of perspective and experience.

Jesus’ perspective on that day in Sychar at the well was that people had already planted the seed of the Gospel, the law of seed, time, and harvest had already been at work, and the day He stood there with His disciples was the day of harvest. Jesus’ experience was that the Holy Spirit had already worked in the heart of the woman at the well, had already prepared the hearts of the men of the city on their way out to meet Him, had sent Him to Sychar for the express purpose of glorifying God by reaping His harvest, so He expected God to harvest these men and women for the Kingdom—He expected the harvest. He knew it was harvest time, just like pitchers headed for Florida or Arizona in February know it’s Spring.

Our challenge today is this. Do we know that the Holy Spirit is at work in this world? Do we know that He has prepared hearts to receive His Gospel? Do we know that He has people who have faithfully broadcast the seed, that He has nurtured that seed, and granted life and faith to the ones who have heard? Do we know that it is harvest time for the Kingdom?

We can know it because we have His Word. Jesus said “My Father is always at his work,” (John 5.17), and, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd,” (John 10.16.) God is still at work bringing people to faith in Christ. And we know that the Gospel is His only means for doing so, (see Romans 1.16, and Romans 10.14-17.)

We also know that because we can know what God is doing. Jesus sought the will of His Father in prayer. We can know God’s will and His work through that same means. We can seek to know God’s harvest by getting on our knees and asking Him. Jesus said, (in the Old King James version), “Lift up your eyes…” We need to lift our eyes and our thoughts toward Heaven, toward the God Who controls the harvest, and to see the world from His perspective and to match our experience to His timetable. New Hope Presbyterian Church - Pastor’s Pndering

I know, it’s really February in Wisconsin and it’s still cold. But for baseball it’s Spring. And I know, this world is cold and a tough place to proclaim the Gospel of Christ, but it’s harvest time! Think about that!