The Best is Yet to Come

Habakkuk 2:3 - For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 

The words in this title have been the words for our church for about 20 years. Each year we feel like we're getting a little closer to this becoming a reality. God is in control and His timing is perfect. He's never too early, never too late. Sometimes we seek to do our own will rather than God's attempting to do what we think He would want. That's when He has to intervene and sift and shake. Acting on our own may not be the right season. How many people in the Old Testament have shown this to be true!? Acts 1:7 confirms this: And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

However, we are seeing one time and season closing and another beginning. We "passed the baton" to our new pastor yesterday morning. It was a bittersweet moment as we said goodbye, for a time anyway, to our interim pastor, Paul Hanson, and his delightful wife, Monica. For the very short eight months he graced us with his presence, teachings and sermons, he has been a blessing. He fit into our congregation immediately, as our associate pastor described. Despite the fact he's retired there were many who would have loved having him join our congregation as lead pastor. But that is not God's plan.

Not a thing has happened in our church that wasn't leading us in this direction. Nothing. There may be some who might grumble and complain for years to come about some of the difficult times we have seen as a church body, one that has decreased in size monumentally in just a few years. There has been a reason for all this and I will not be one to question why God allowed this to happen. I only look forward with anticipation to what the Lord has up His sleeve.

Pastor Rory Grooters "knew" years ago God would use him somewhere. He'd prayed about it and the Lord showed him glimpses, had impressed upon his spirit a church in pain, but the time was not quite right. Now we know, by the conviction and emotion in Pastor Rory's words, that somewhere is Victory International Fellowship. We don't know how or when the change will happen, but it will. Yes, we're fired up because new days are here and as the pastor well before my time some 20 years ago suggested: the best is yet to come. 

Pastor Paul reminisced about his short time with us. It didn't take him long at all to fit in with us and become part of the family instantaneously. He said he no sooner was here than he and his wife felt the love from our church! A new family emerged. He encouraged Pastor Rory saying it won't take him long either. Pastor Paul is sad to go, but knows we will be in good hands.

Pastor Rory said that while he was interviewing with us, he injured one of his legs very badly and was wearing a large bandage on the open wound. He described how without that bandage the wound would never have stopped bleeding. He suggested that Pastor Paul was like that bandage to our church. We'd been wounded and someone had to come in to stop the bleeding so we could begin to heal. And that fit the very personage of Pastor Paul. 

We have a God who has gotten us to where we are for an unknown, specific reason. Though we've felt discouragement, we are encouraged. We've been bruised, yet we are in the midst of healing. We desire a pastor who hears directly from God, who only wants what God wants for us, who follows the very heart of God and directs us to seek God in the same way. It's only this way, in this direction, that we might attain those best days.

How can we as a congregation best represent Jesus and show Him to others, be a reflection of His wonderful character and nature? This is what it's all about. It's not so much about what we will get, but how we can give. Maybe we've been wounded too long and in the search for healing missed that point. Perhaps we've been looking for something for ourselves rather than sharing what we know. We need to show a world there is more to life than what they have. 

I pray that we will all become an influence through God, our Creator, the words of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. That we would know where our strengths lie, where our help comes from, where there is fullness of life. That we would be emboldened to do things we have not yet even imagined we could. That we would see those best days filled with service to our Lord.

The best isn't just for our church, though. It's for those whose lives are touched by a loving Father. It's for those whose hope is in the Lord. The Best comes to all who seek Him. His timing is perfect and if there is a wound in your life that needs healing, He can do that. You can put that season to rest and begin anew. He is taking all you have experienced in this life and developing a plan. No matter what time of life you are in, He knows what you need and what He can do for you. He is there for all, to fulfill the plan He has. Receive Jesus, receive the Best.

We are seeing first hand what Romans 8:28 tells us: And we know that all things work together for good, for them that love God and are called according to his purpose. We wish Pastor Paul and Monica the best as they continue in obeying God in His specific all upon their lives. And let me end with a prayer for our church: 

1Thessalonians 3:12-13 - And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all...so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.