Taking It In Stride

April Fool's Day. Looking out the window, I wonder if the weather forcasters over the past few days were not pulling off an April Fool's joke on us. From the hype of a "good ol' fashioned Nor'Easter with high winds, falling trees, power outages and a foot of snow, we now see an inch of slush before us. Yes, there were delays, the streets are not pleasant, and the snow shovels we put away had to come out again, but again, the reality was much less than forcasted. It makes me wonder about other dire predictions: the future price of gasoline, the end of our oil supply, etc. If we let all these "predictions" overtake us, we won't have a moment's peace. Certainly a life of worry and agitation is not the life God intends for us. So, taking it all in stride, again let us "return to the Lord," a familiar refrain dating back to the prophets who saw Israel as a growing child, faithful at one phase, slackening off in another, definitely out of step at another, and finally repentant when the "botton" had been hit. The prophets accurately foretold this (with a better record that our weather"persons"), and were always on hand to hold out a helping adminishment, like a good parent, to bring the errant child back into tow. Their words ring home with us, thousands of years away from them, for they bore the Word of the Lord, a living Word, that is never outdated. Today is a First Friday, and a Friday in Lent, when we especially remember the Death of Jesus. Let us heed the call to turn to him, and look to him for the peace that the world and the forecasters cannot give. Bro. Rene