Sunday 28th June

RESTORATION

It is now 16 weeks since lockdown was thrust upon us. Gardens have never looked tidier nor cars so clean! Waistlines have expanded and hair has gone into meltdown! Many jigsaw puzzles have been completed and why is it that when car fuel is at its cheapest, we cannot travel anywhere?!?
For some it has been a confusing and uncertain time, whereas for others it has been an occasion to step aside and reflect. Personally I have squandered an opportunity to catch up on my spiritual reading, prayer life and tuning in to other church services on line. Some of these I have done but I have fallen far short on others.
One day we will all be back to where we were before but hopefully there will be a few changes. Church life will be not as we once knew it; we took so much for granted! A fleeting, “Hello, how are you?” and not really taking much notice of the reply. I would like to think that when we get back together there will be a unity that we never experienced before. A love that binds us together in spiritual harmony.  Restoration will certainly be on the cards!
But restoration will not only happen down here on earth. We sometimes sing, “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.” Heaven will be our permanent home for eternity; it will be there that restoration will really be complete.

Max Lucado quotes the following concerning restoration:

In May of 2008, Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, lost their five-year-old daughter in an automobile accident.  They were deluged by messages of kindness. One in particular gave Steven strength.  It was from a pastor friend who’d lost his son in an automobile accident.  “Remember, your future with your daughter in heaven will be greater than your past with her here on earth.”
Death seems to take so much.  We bury the wedding that never happened, the golden years we never knew.  We bury dreams.  But in heaven these dreams will come true.  Acts 3:21 says that God has promised a “restoration of all things.”  All things includes all relationships.

Our home in eternity will hear no ‘goodbyes.’  Let this promise change you. From sagging to seeking; from mournful to hopeful!  From dwellers in the land of goodbyes to a heaven of hellos!  We’ll get through this!

There now follows a rather unusual mixture of songs for today. They all have one thing in common; they put a smile on my face! They remind me of singing in the Gospel Hall so many years ago. No ‘fast forwarding’ stick with it and be blessed!
Chris

We’ve all learnt some new things in lockdown weeks. I’ve learnt to blog, to cut hair (of sorts), to upload videos to a YouTube account and, most recently, to TikTok (probably best you don’t ask for the evidence of that one!) I’ve also learnt that I don’t want to homeschool my children. I never really thought that I did, but lockdown has brought me clear confirmation of that!
Steve Sully has also been on a learning mission. He has learnt how to record himself preaching and, more importantly, how to send that video to me to upload to the blog when every way that he tries says that it won’t work as the file is too big! (Hooray for James Bennett!) Anyway, here he is – Steve Sully bringing you a message which he has called “Spectator to Spectacular!”
Katharine