Perspectives by Rev. Clarence Witten

A piece of our local heritage in South Dundas is staying put. The locomotive and railway cars at the Aultsville station display in Crysler Park will remain where it has been for the past 60 […]

Peace, Is It Possible?

I’ve been thinking about peace a lot lately. I’m not sure why. It may be because several of my family have been experiencing some serious health problems. I expect that happens as a family ages. It may be because my wife and I are going through a significant transition in our lives. Whatever it is, I pray for peace for all involved.

I was reading my Bible, as I do every day, and a verse from the letter Paul writes to the Colossians seemed to grab my attention. It is found in chapter three verse 15. It says, “Let the peace of God rule in your heart.” I began to meditate on that, and I would like to share today what came to my mind.

In my dictionary the word ‘rule’ has the following meaning: to exercise authority or dominion. These are words that really got me thinking.

We all face crisis in our lives, we go through tough times, a doctor breaks bad news to us, or we lose a spouse to death, or we get a notice that we no longer have a job. Can we, when we go through theses times, have peace?

I was reminded of the words of Jesus found in John’s gospel chapter 14, verse 27. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Jesus spoke these words to His followers. They were experiencing turmoil in their lives. Jesus had told them that He was going away and they were distraught. Did they experience the peace He gave them? 

As we follow their lives through the Book of Acts, we find that indeed they did. Even though they were threatened, beaten, imprisoned and even put to death, we see peace reigning in their lives.

In the verse I mentioned in the beginning, what it really means for the one whose hope and trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ is, whatever we may experience in life, peace will override the fear, anxiety, doubt or uncertainty that may threaten us, because for the child of God, our peace is Christ who lives and reigns in us.

Is it realistic in our day? Yes, I believe it is.

Back in the 1800’s, a man by the name of Horatio Spafford, a business man in the United States, lost everything he had. So he put his wife and children on a steamship to send them home to England while he cared for the remaining details. 

On the voyage home, the ship hit an iceberg and went down. Only his wife from his family survived. His children drowned in the cold Atlantic waters. Upon passing the place of the disaster, Horatio was made aware that this was the place where his children had perished. We are told he went back to his cabin and penned the words of the well-known hymn.

When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll,

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

What could have caused bitterness, rather resulted in the composition of one of the greatest hymns ever sung. How could that be, you may ask? His heart was ruled by the peace of God. And that, my friends, is God’s will for every one of us. Why not ask Him to come in today and give you that peace.

Rev. Duncan Perry,

Morrisburg

Pentecostal Tabernacle

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If I Had A Hammer

Have you ever lost something? Back in the fall, I lost my hammer. Maybe misplaced is a better word. Last fall I was working on some stuff around the house in preparation for the coming winter and I misplaced my hammer. 

All winter long I have been looking for my hammer. I know I had it. I know I used it in the fall. It has to be here somewhere. But it is not in my tool box, or any of the other normal places it would or should be. I misplaced my hammer. I knew it had to be around somewhere but it was lost. 

In its place for the last five or six months I have been using my wife’s ‘pink trimmed in support of breast cancer research ladies toolkit’ hammer.  And each time I had to work on something with this pink trimmed hammer I resolved to go out a buy a new one. 

But I knew my hammer had to be around someone. Maybe someone borrowed it, and it did not get put back where I could find it. I hinted and suggested and almost accused others of hiding my hammer on me. 

Can you guess where this is all going?

The other day I found my hammer! I found it.

Oh yeah…now I remember. It was right where I had left it back in the fall. I remember now. The hammer was on the shelf of the step ladder and when I folded up the ladder the hammer fell to the ground. No problem. I would put away the ladder and come back and get my hammer. 

The only thing was I never went back to pick up the hammer. I don’t know if I got distracted or busy with something else, or maybe I just plain forgot to go back and get it. 

And since I did not go back and get it, overnight, when the snow fell, the hammer disappeared underneath a blanket of the white stuff. And that’s where it was all winter long! 

And it was only with the coming of the spring, the final melting of the snow and ice, that the hammer reappeared, right where I had left it. 

Spring. Everything has a new start. Sure it takes some effort and work to clean up from the winter, deal with leftovers and forgotten bits and pieces in preparation of a new growing season. And of course that new planting and growing will take time and effort over the coming months, but if it was not worth it we wouldn’t do it.  

I meaning planting and tending and fertilizing the lawn only so I will have to cut it on a regular basis…

And you know as I think about it the Christian faith is something like that. 

God has given us so much, so freely in Jesus. And yet it does take some effort and work on our part. And maybe with the Spring comes a good opportunity to replant and grow that faith. 

Maybe along with spring planting there is a place for God in your life. Maybe you might try finding your way back to church. No the roof won’t fall in. 

And maybe it begins with us looking for and expecting to see God in our gardens and plantings, in our lives and in the lives of those we love, and yes, even in church. 

Yes, I know sometimes the church messes up. Jesus sometimes gets lost. Maybe misplaced is the better word. It happens. 

But usually it doesn’t go on for long before God breaks through. God remembers what it’s all about. Even if we sometimes don’t. Even if the church, sometimes doesn’t.

It is not about a hammer lost for a winter or something else frustratingly misplaced in our lives. It is all about Jesus. God’s love for us made real, in the flesh. 

With spring comes new starts and it all makes me think…

But right now I see something that needs a little fixing up for spring and I know where my hammer is.

Blessings…

Rev. Geoff Howard, Knox 

Presbyterian, Iroquois

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