Volume 19, No.4

APRIL 2004

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CONTENTS

Resurrection Life

An Honest Appraisal

Easter Morn

Hugs 'N Tugs
By Wendy Greiner Lefko

Best of Lifeline
By
Rev. Larry W. Greiner

A Weaving

Thanks

Praise & Prayer

Greiner Itinerary

RESURRECTION LIFE

The immortality of man is a certainty only when we are assured that God is love, from whom neither life nor death can separate us, and of whom we can be assured that He will not let us go.  Immortality is a certainty only when we know that He, who loved us and gave Himself for us, was not held by the cords of death, but rose again triumphant from the grace.  What Jesus did for death by His resurrection has been set in one shining sentence, “He hath abolished death, and brought to light immortality and life through the Gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10)  He hath abolished death!  That is to say He hath made death nothing, He has made death no longer a thing to be feared, though men still shrink from its darkness, and weakness, and pain.  He has made death to be not simply a falling asleep, a going to the Father, and an exodus, but what it was for Himself, a gate through which we shall pass into the city of God .  “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”  That clear voice of faith has never been silent since the first eyes saw the empty tomb.  As often as men are assured that Jesus rose from the dead, and walked in the garden, and was seen of men, and has gone to prepare a room for them, they will, like Paul, “unmoor” their boat with cheerfulness.  For they know that,  though never shown its green fields to them, there is One who  awaits them there. “To depart and to be with Christ is far better.”  Christ says with assurance of the One who has known, and has now made the way clear, “Let not your hearts be troubled,” “In My Father’s house are many mansions.”

—William M. Clow

 “Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps 16:11 )  

AN HONEST APPRAISAL

A woman who had been teaching school for twenty-five years, applied for a job that she wanted, but another person who had only been a teacher for one year got the position.  The older teacher was incensed and went to the principal. “I don’t understand,” she said, “why you would give this job to an inexperienced person when I’ve had twenty-five years’ experience!”   The principal said to her, “No I’m sorry, you haven’t had twenty years of experience; you’ve had one year’s experience twenty-five times.”

      That is so often what happens to us. We go through the same problems, the same difficulties, year after year after year. It is because we never stop to find out what made us act this way and to confess before God the condition that led us into a position of unbelief.

                                                                —Ray Stedman

EASTER MORN

Two hundred miles northeast of Los Angeles is a baked-out gorge called Death Valley -the lowest place in the United States , dropping 276 feet below sea level. It is also the hottest place in the country, with an official recording of 134 degrees.  Streams flow into Death Valley only to disappear, and a scant two and a half inches of rain falls on the barren wasteland each year.    But, sometime ago, an amazing thing happened. For nineteen straight days rain fell onto the bone-dry earth. Suddenly all kinds of seed, dormant for years, burst into bloom.  In a valley of death there was life! 

That is the Easter message.  A desert becomes a garden. Beauty transcends the ugly. Love outwits and outlasts hatred. A tomb is emptied. The grim and haunting outline of a cross disappears in the glow of Easter morn.  —Floyd Thatcher

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By Wendy Greiner Lefko  

It’s finally Spring!  I like winter and snow, but after months of low temperatures, high heating bills, heavy coats and extra blankets I’m ready for some short-sleeve-friendly weather.  It seemed to be one of those winters where the temperatures continually dipped way below freezing with teeth-chattering wind chills, and just enough snow falls to make one wonder if the grass would ever show its silky green blades again.  At any given time you could turn on a weather forecast and hear such terms as “blustery”, “frigid”, “Arctic-like”, along with adjectives such as “ridiculous”, “unending”, “brutal”, or “unrelenting” when describing the bitter cold and snow that filled our winter.  But only once did I ever hear a term used that truly summed it all up in one word….”seasonable”.  With all our complaining and questioning of why it was so brutally cold and precipitous, it seemed many forgot that this was indeed Winter.  Maybe it was colder than we’re used to, or a bit snowier than we remember from winters past, but this was still “seasonable” weather.  It was a welcome reminder to hear our current weather conditions referred to in this most simplest of terms.

        It also reminded me of the current life we live on this earth.  When the winds of trouble blow, and the warm temperatures of comfort dip “below normal”, and the precipitation of trials pile up around us in drifts of discouragement, we need to be gently reminded that this is only “seasonable”.  In the span of our eternal lives, for the believer, this is our winter!  We live in a fallen world where heartache, sickness, conflict and turmoil are part of the weather pattern for as long as we live on this earth.  It is seasonable!  But we are not left to the mercy of the elements!  We have a Mighty Fortress in Whom we can take refuge where not a single wind can knock us down, no blizzard of sorrow can overtake us, and no chill of trouble can shake our foundation.  Our God doesn’t promise to take away the winter, but He promises to protect us from its bitter effects and take us through it in the warmth of His protective embrace.  And our eternal Spring is just around the corner!  

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:12,13).