Dear Glen Mar friends,
May I share a word or two about God’s creative genius? Isn’t the human body a sign of that genius? I’ve thought about this often and believe that healing is one of the biggest miracles ever. Consider what you might look like if none of your “boo boos” from childhood ever healed! As an active child who took more tumbles than I can count while playing, thinking about the appearance of my knees alone by the age of 5, had they never healed, is pretty scary! Perhaps you can relate.
Perhaps you can also relate to the things that happen in the course of a life: injury, illness, accident or trauma. Though not as obvious as the healing of scabs on scraped knees, I believe that God is involved in the journey through all of life’s difficult moments. Things happen. Sometimes they are a result of poor choices or questionable allegiances. They are things we can control and can wreak havoc when we make wrong judgments. My faith is that even then, God walks with us, giving us strength to move forward.
The tougher ones, though, are the surprises, the things that happen that are not faults of our own, and sometimes no fault of anyone else. There is risk and randomness in the human life which cannot always be planned for, or controlled, or prevented. Perhaps you have noticed, as I have, that even then, there is someone in your life who understands, who reaches out, who lends a hand.
And that brings me to my second word about God’s creative genius. God does not intend us to navigate this life alone. God didn’t create just one person. Even Jesus knew the value and preciousness of community as he called and nurtured a band of disciples. God’s people are never perfect. Far from it! But at their best, they know they don’t walk alone.
This year’s Disciple classes just finished, and it was bittersweet. At the last session, one of the quieter members said something like, “I’m not ready to quit seeing these people regularly. I get so much from them.” Had everyone in both classes heard that, I know there would have been a loud “Amen!”
I just had a pretty significant surgery with plenty of pain and challenges in recovery. Why is my back so rotten? “Genetics” was the doctor’s answer. What I never forgot was that the community God has given me was praying and was there to support me. I have received cards and emails and so much love. God’s creative genius has been manifested in community.
Sometimes, God spurs someone in the community to say just the right thing in the right moment. In an email exchange with someone also dealing with health stuff, that person wrote “God is outrageously faithful!” Indeed!
Pastor Gayle
P.S. Thanks to all who have returned their estimate of giving cards for 2025-2026. If you haven’t done that yet, please do.
